Tony Hicks - Great Guitar Moments

[John S. Damm]

Mar 5, 2011 12:41:31 GMT -5 scousette said:

Thanks!

Paul Hicks just won another Grammy, this time for being one of the engineers on the Beatles box set. In a recent radio interview with NZ radio station Coast FM, Tony mentioned that Paul was over at Friar Park working on some Harrison stuff. I wonder if it's the soundtrack for Scorsese's documentary, or some other George recording?

Whoa, that is a HUGE story! Obviously Olivia or Dhani let Paul in! ;D

BTW, is Paul Hicks as man-crushworthy as his father?

[scousette]

Here's young Mr Hicks at the 2008 Grammy Awards. He's a good looking chap, but not as beautiful as his dad.

[pegasus]

here are a few Hollies / Beatles links....

Hollies producer Ron Richards produced The Beatles 'Andy White' album version of 'Love Me Do' as George Martin was partially unavailable for that session - Martin and Richards co-produced Gerry And The Pacemakers tracks

Brian Epstein once met The Hollies travelling either to or from London around the time 'Just One Look' was riding high in the UK chart in 1964 and brought lunch for the group !

The Beatles had The Hollies as guests on their UK BBC Radio shows

there was a bit of (brief) acrimony with first John then Paul making some unkind comments re The Hollies then the 'If I needed Someone' fiasco (where a UK Music paper writer grabbed George backstage in Glasgow just pre-show and made various 'leading' comments that annoyed George - such as asking 'if he'd written the song FOR The Hollies' etc - and rather 'goaded' him into making some unkind remarks about The Hollies - that were then gleefully printed ! - at his pre-wedding news conference the reporters joked 'Will you be inviting The Hollies ? - to press laughter - which further annoyed George who tersely said; 'I wish you hadn't said that...' to the reporter) - Graham Nash then had a 'dig' back at The Beatles...

I suspect EMI were NOT amused about the brief 'rift' between bands as they had both bands under contract...

In 'Help !' George's comment (to irritate Ringo !) about; 'There's a good drummer in Manchester...' probably refers to Hollies Bobby Elliott who had just won the 'Best Drummer' poll in NME (ahead of Ringo !) in 1965...

Paul was amazed at Graham Nash's high harmony voice on 'I Can't Let Go' wondering if it was a trumpet !

by 1966 the situation between the two bands was completely resolved as John Lennon & Graham Nash became friends - then in 1967 Lennon gave Nash a 'white copy' early promo of 'Sgt Pepper' (which had cover artwork by 'Simon & Marjike' aka 'The Fool' who had done The Hollies 'Evolution' artwork just before the 'Sgt Pepper' job working with Peter Blake), Nash played it to visiting American friends Mark Volman & Howard Kaylan of The Turtles.

Ron Richards was with George Martin in the recording booth to listen to the playback of 'A Day in The Life' - Richards praised it highly

George Martin led a camera crew into The Hollies recording studio to film them doing 'On A Carousel' (while The Beatles were next door working on 'Penny Lane' overdubs) 

Graham Nash & wife Rosemary (nee 'Eccles') were among The Beatles 'inner circle' of close friends invited to sit in with them for 'All You Need is Love' recording in 1967 (along with Mike McCartney, Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, etc)

Graham Nash can be seen (behind Ringo) in the crowd all singing 'Hey Jude' on 'The David Frost Show' in 1968

Nash took a guest verse lead vocal on Mike McCartney's group The Scaffold's 1968 No.1 hit 'Lily The Pink' singing the 'Jennifer Eccles' parody verse...

The Hollies namecheck The Beatles 'Lovely Rita Meter Maid' in their 1968 song; 'Do The Best You Can' referring to;
'If you leave your car and you're not going far remember what time to be back...if it slips your mind I'm sure in time you'll find a "Rita" waiting in a mac...'

At Abbey Road studios Paul McCartney sought out Tony Hicks to listen to a 'promo' copy of 'Abbey Road' album in 1969 wanting Tony's opinion of it (Tony said he felt it was even better than 'Sgt Pepper' tho' Paul thought 'Pepper' was the better album)

the early 'synth' used on 'Abbey Road' album was also featured on Tony Hicks Hollies song 'Don't Give Up Easily' (on 'Hollies Sing Hollies') - it was programmed by ex-Manfred Mann guitarist Mike Vickers

Both The Beatles ('Across The Universe'- version one ) & The Hollies ('Wings'- Nash version one) donated a song to the charity album 'No One's Gonna Change Our World' in aid of The World Wildlife fund issued in November 1969

George Harrison gave fellow Liverpudlian Terry Sylvester a hug at Abbey Road on hearing he'd got the Hollies job (replacing Nash) in January 1969 saying; 'congratulations on your new boast...'

Terry, aged 14, once had worked for George's brother as a panel beater in Liverpool
- Terry's band The Escorts opened for The Beatles at their final Cavern Club show

John Lennon said The Hollies new single 'Hey Willy' would; 'shoot up the charts like a rocket..' when doing a guest record review in a UK music paper in 1971 (sadly that proved the 'kiss of death' as the single then stalled outside the UK Top Twenty !)

Paul & Linda McCartney loaned The Hollies their distinctive moog synth' (used on 'Band on The Run') for 'Another Night' (played by Alan Parsons) in 1975...

Liverpool musician & friend of Paul's  Howie Casey who appeared playing brass on 'Wings Over America' appeared on The Hollies album 'Buddy Holly' in 1980

The Hollies did live concert version of 'Let it Be' in their 1971 concerts as a tribute to the recently disbanded Beatles

Graham Nash with CSN & Y later did a cover of Paul's 'Blackbird' in concerts.

George Harrison and Tony Hicks were later neighbours in Henley-On-Thames - Tony's award winning recording engineer son Paul Hicks worked on Beatles, Paul McCartney & Pink Floyd tracks besides Hollies tracks and is good friends with George's son Dhani - they have formed a group together 'The 2'

Beatles & Hollies albums often were issued close together
- The Beatles  'Revolver' & The Hollies 'Would You Believe ?' albums were consecutive Parlophone releases in 1966 - PMC/PCS 7009 and PMC/PCS 7008 respectively - curiously both albums covers featured sketches of the band members faces...

The Beatles German friend and 'Revolver' cover artist Klaus Voorman (of Manfred Mann & later Plastic Ono Band, etc) guested as bass player for The Hollies in 1966 on 'The London Palladium Show' and for some BBC Radio sessions


'Sgt Pepper' (PMC/PCS 7027) & 'Evolution' (PMC/PCS 7022) were released on the same day by EMI in 1967. 

John Lennon mentioned The Hollies during his 1980 interview with Andy Peebles saying;

'Plastic Ono Band was just a concept...it's not a proper group 'name' as such like Wings or Hollies...'

[winstonoboogie]

Interesting, Pegasus - thanks!

[debjorgo]

We do know that son Paul Hicks is in thenewno2, don't we.

I just clicked on his wiki and got this:

"Paul Hicks is a three-time Grammy Award winning musician, engineer and mixer who got his start working at Abbey Road Studios. Hicks has worked with notable artists including: Coldplay, Elliott Smith, in addition to his own band thenewno2. Paul has also been heavily involved in preserving The Beatles recordings, working hand in hand with George Martin in remixing and remastering their entire catalogue. This effort has won Hicks 3 Grammy Awards. His father is The Hollies guitarist Tony Hicks. Paul is a member of Dhani Harrison's band thenewno2."


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hicks_(musician)

[pegasus]

Re the 'If I Needed Someone' contoversy - as I understand it:

Beatles Producer George Martin suggested to Hollies producer Ron Richards that it might be a good song for The Hollies to cover - Graham Nash was against them doing it (like 'Hollies Sing Dylan' later) possibly thinking it might suggest The Hollies were another group who relied on The Beatles to write hits for them...(?)

Some people didn't realise The Hollies (Clarke-Hicks-Nash) actually wrote songs they recorded too...often album tracks, 'B' sides & EP tracks - tho' 'We're Through' (UK No.7 in 1964) was a self written hit, but these earlier original Hollies songs were then put under the name 'Ransford' (a pen name) until they wrote 'Stop Stop Stop' in 1966 from then on putting the songs under 'Clarke-Hicks-Nash' credit

Allan Clarke loved 'If I Needed Someone'  and (unlike Nash) really wanted to cover it, The Hollies believed The Beatles wern't going to release it (as George Martin suggested they cover it) so 'rocked it up' as a pop single (the total opposite of George Harrison's 'Byrds inspired' jangly Rickenbacker led gentler version so obviously influenced by The Byrds 'Bells of Rhymney' which WAS then released on 'Rubber Soul')

Now the Hollies single charted and was climbing UP the UK chart...when the guy from NME collard George in Glasgow just before he went onstage (when George might have been feeling some 'pre-show nerves' - Paul claims he still gets those even now !) it was just prior to George's wedding to Patti - so again George might have been feeling a bit stressed re that too (?)

Obviously caught at an unprepared bad moment George was led on a bit by the NME guy who asked if he had written the song for The Hollies ? - which understandably annoyed George who was pushing the song for himself & they had included it on the new Beatles album so George got a bit irate at that idea...and then spoke of how he didn't personally like the cover and of the point of how The Hollies worked so differently to The Beatles in a far more 'workmanlike' manner in the recording studio ( partly that was due to the more 'Sgt Major' style of producer Ron Richards compared to the younger George Martin).

George Harrison had seen them all trooping off to the Abbey Tavern pub (where Ron Richards liked a drink) and - wrongly - felt they were 'souless sessionmen' in the way they recorded (which was really quite an unfair thing to say as George back then didn't realise The Hollies were very quick competent workers in the studio who often 'nailed' a hit single in just a few takes)

... however  George did also say that he thought The Hollies were very good at what they did  (a comment which quickly got 'forgotten' !) then he told the guy NOT to print his remarks feeling it was 'off the record'

The guy DID of course....causing a brief 'issue' as Graham Nash (who had been opposed to his band covering the song) hit back at once feeling upset saying; 'if George dislikes our version so much will he be donating all his royalties to a charity ? - our next American single certainly WON'T be 'If I Needed Someone...!'

George was then embaressed at his pre-wedding news conference as the press all laughed at the NME guy's 'will you be inviting The Hollies ?' dig at him
- George glared back at the NME guy saying; 'yeah...you mean 'If I Needed Someone', I wish you hadn't said that !'

one totally negative aspect was George's printed remarks caused The Hollies cover version to immediatly stall in the UK chart at no.20 - depriving The Hollies of a bigger hit...and George of more songwriting royalties plus even greater recognition as a decent songwriter !

It should be remembered The Hollies were in fact the FIRST artists to have a UK chart hit with a George Harrison song back in 1965, putting his 'If I Needed Someone' into the UK Top Twenty (just)...which George himself was then unable to do and never did until his song 'Something' charted for The Beatles four years later in 1969...

Also we can be sure messrs Lennon, McCartney...and producer George Martin must all have noticed The Hollies were at no.20 in the UK singles chart with 'a George song' (!!)

Note that George Harrison then got THREE songs on their next album; 'Revolver' including the all important opening track 'Taxman'

so The Hollies UK chart single cover of 'If I Needed Someone' must have helped George's songwriting cause in 1965, in the eyes of John, Paul, & George Martin as thereafter they took him more seriously as a songwriter...leading up to George getting his first Beatles 'A' side in 1969 with 'Something'

George always admitted he wrote at a far slower pace than John & Paul did back in the sixties often only having one or two songs completed when The Beatles recorded an album...

So The Hollies cover of a 'Harrison' song back in 1965 (suggested by George Martin) was in retrospect an important 'plus' for George as a songwriter - A young George Harrison quickly learned to be careful what he said to reporters, and not to ever again 'cut off his nose to spite his face' royalty wise in the future, whatever he personally felt about any covers of his songs (covers always meant more cash coming in as John and Paul already knew !)

my own view is I like BOTH Beatles & Hollies respective versions, even tho' they are quite different - The Beatles do it very much the way George envisaged it with 'Byrds' like janging guitars, cool harmonies, and George's typical unarrogant lead vocal a gentler take on the number very much an 'album track'
- while The Hollies rocked it up as a far more commercial 'pop/rocker' with strident Allan Clarke lead vocal, powering Clarke-Hicks-Nash vocal harmonies, cutting Hicks guitarwork &  more dynamic approach as a 'hit single'

I do think Bobby Elliott's drumming is far superior here to Ringo's however (the irony of  George;  'There's a good drummer in Manchester' quip in 'Help !')

To me John, Paul, & Ringo sound far more "into the song" when performing George's 'Taxman' on 'Revolver' than they do on The Beatles 'If I Needed Someone' on 'Rubber Soul' where they maybe sound while competent perhaps a little bit 'on auto pilot' (!)

George Harrison was soon a friend of The Hollies (he later asked Clarke, Hicks & Nash to sing on a song for his proposed second Romanian charity album, but the project fell through...)

George & Tony Hicks later were next door neighbours in Henley-On-Thames when their sons Dhanni Harrison & Paul Hicks became good friends

The Hollies later also took some critical 'flak' for doing 'Hollies Sing Dylan' (after Nash left) in 1969 - tho' the album did reach No.3 in the UK album chart- and Hollies drummer Bobby Elliott said Bob Dylan sent them a note thanking them for doing a 'tribute' album of his songs (back then in 1969 I think it was the first such 'Tribute' album devoted to just one artist by a vocal group) - such 'Tribute' albums are common now...

[mikev]

sounds pretty cool to me.

[scousette]

Hi Pegasus! Thanks for the great info.

[John S. Damm]

Nov 30, 2015 8:38:25 GMT -5 mikev said:

sounds pretty cool to me.

Very cool! Tony Hicks, lead guitarist of The Hollies, is not just dreamy but a fine guitarist!

[scousette]

Dreamy Tony Hicks turns 70 on December 16. Watch this forum for more info!

[debjorgo]

Nov 29, 2015 22:43:19 GMT -5 debjorgo said:

We do know that son Paul Hicks is in thenewno2, don't we.

I just clicked on his wiki and got this:

"Paul Hicks is a three-time Grammy Award winning musician, engineer and mixer who got his start working at Abbey Road Studios. Hicks has worked with notable artists including: Coldplay, Elliott Smith, in addition to his own band thenewno2. Paul has also been heavily involved in preserving The Beatles recordings, working hand in hand with George Martin in remixing and remastering their entire catalogue. This effort has won Hicks 3 Grammy Awards. His father is The Hollies guitarist Tony Hicks. Paul is a member of Dhani Harrison's band thenewno2."


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hicks_(musician)

Wow. I just noticed Paul Hicks name on my 2006 Electric Light Orchestra remasters. On ELO II he is credited with "Tape transfer from analogue". On On a Third Day, Face the Music and A New World Record, he just gets a "thanks".

I did not get the new reissues for the other albums.