Saturday, December 17, 2005

Sing Hollies In Reverse

From Sing Hollies In Reverse
E - Jennifer Eccles
Jon Brion - Sorry Suzanne

the hollies were among the most prominent bands of the 60's brit invasion, but i think it's fair to say their legacy is by and large under appreciated outside the ranks of the musical elitist. maybe not to the extent of perhaps the equally influential band the move, but as a top tier brit band from that era, you aren't going to hear their name (or the move for that matter) alongside the likes of the yardbirds or the the who, the zombies, small faces, dusty springfield, or even hermans hermits.

they recorded some pretty significant chart hits like long cool woman, and bus stop. but a lot of their catalog is fairly unknown. they're sort of like the worst best band of the brit invastion lot. Sing Hollies In Reverse is a tribute record recorded back in 95 and featured some pretty awesome artists - jon brion, E, Lisa Marr, and personal favorite John Easdale. Easdale is one of my favorite vocalists - he's got that great rock voice that's an alternating mix of howl and croon. Lisa Marr and Cub were one of the early underground girl rock bands (kind of like that dog), E is one of those guys who i can't decide either does more with less or less with more than any recording artist i can think of. Jon Brion... whew... i've spent countless friday nights at largo since i turned 21 in stunned admiration of his unending talents. if it makes noise, he can play it. he's a living breathing juke box of pop hits, obscurities, classics, and a downright guitar wizard. the un-amplified harpsichord sing-alongs to the beach boys 'god only knows' are about as good a time as you can have in a crowded bar.

the jon brion track suffers from his studio madness and clocks in at nearly 8 minutes - the urban mythology around it is that he was such a control freak in the studio that he would over compose his recordings. this is why he started playing live, improvisational sets at largo to begin with - to free up his approach. again, this is all just sort of the mythology surrounding friday nights at largo. i can't really say how true it is or not.