THE HOLLIES - “I’m Alive”
(26th June 1965)
Solid beat-groups-to-order record which I’d guess lands unerringly in the “had to be there” box. If this hit you at a certain age or in the right situation then maybe something would spark - but what pop song can’t you say that about? Everything about “I’m Alive” is well done but the Hollies throw away their best hook in the intro and the drummer only really starts having fun in the last ten seconds. In between is a song which to my first-time ears sounds like a reasonable exercise in a waning style, and a chorus that protests too much. 5
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Anonymous on March 7th, 2005
One of the perversities of the pop charts is that artists’ biggest hits aren’t necessarily their best hits. The Hollies produced a long, steady progression of hits over a number of years before going into a late sixties self-indulgent decline. (”He’s Not Heavy,” their biggest Stateside hit–I think–impressed me greatly then, but now strikes me as overblown, sentimental, and cliched.)
“I’m Alive,” basically a good, solid pop song, shows some spark of what the Hollies could do. (I “was there,” Tom, in the “you had to be there” sense, even though this was only a minor hit here, so I’m more sympathetic to the charge it once had.) What we don’t hear is the lead vocal switching between Alan Clarke and Graham Nash (this sounds like Clarke alone) or intricate vocal and guitar harmonies that the Hollies did so well. You’d have to look to “Look Through Any Window” (even though the lyrics are a bit incoherent) or “Bus Stop” to hear them at their peak.
I remember this as a song I really liked, but, listening to it retrospectively as I write this, I can see why someone who wasn’t there finds it a bit lacklustre.
Doctor Mod
Robin on March 7th, 2005
“Bus Stop” is their finest single, no question.
Marcello on March 8th, 2005
“I Can’t Let Go” seemed to me a far more urgent and animated take on the same dying Merseybeat-by-proxy (Mancbeat?) template, but that stopped at #2.
And the next time we encounter the Hollies on Popular will, sadly, be 23 years down the line. Guess what the (TV advert-prompted reissue) song was?
Anonymous on March 8th, 2005
(Sigh) Of course–”He Ain’t Heavy” to promote “lite” beer. Strange how the most grotesque juxtapositions drive commercial success……
Right about “I Can’t Let Go.” But I think that the Hollies are at their most “textbook perfect” Beat group style in “Here I Go Again,” Mersey/Manc Beat refined to its highest essence; and, of course, such refinement is usually the harbinger of the end of an phenomenon.
Doctor Mod
Alan Connor on March 15th, 2005
Resurrection Watch: Boots Winter Medicine and Holland & Barrett.
Additional crap: first offered to Wayne Fontana. Hey, why don’t we make Tom’s job less fun with an expectation of Writer / Producer credits for each entry? Or try and add them ourselves.
Marcello on March 15th, 2005
Tip for Alan; if you see a battered second-hand copy of one of those old Charlie Gillett/Simon Frith Rock File books from the early ’70s, pick it up; they do tables of all UK top 20 hits from 1955-1973 complete with writer and producer credits, as well as both UK and US chart positions where appropriate.
Tom on March 15th, 2005
One of the recent Guinness Books has writer credits but not producers. The very recent 1000 No.1s book has both but I’m not 100% certain I trust it.
bramble on September 7th, 2006
At the core of all the Hollies songs was the creative and subtle jazz-based drumming of Bobby Elliot, probably the finest drummer to come out of 60’s British pop.Even on I’m Alive, not their greatest,listen to the ride cymbal throughout and the interplay of snare and bass drum. His skill was in enhancing a song whilst barely making his presence obvious -the opposite of the Keith Moons.
JangleRadio on June 7th, 2008
Along with “Here I Go Again” this was one of the first records to establish the Hollies long running pop formula. Alan Clarke’s sharp voice that cut through radio speakers, those always great harmonies, Bobby Elliot’s tasteful drumming and Tony Hicks jangly guitar work. Hicks is one of the best and yet most underrated lead guitarists of the 60’s. He was using a Vox “teardrop” 12 string during at this time and it really shines on this track.
“I’m Alive” is a textbook example of knowing when to lay back on the verses and when to “go for the kill” on the choruses and the big finish. To my ears it’s a perfectly executed pop record, though it lacks the urgency or novelty of the Hollies later singles.
And it’s a shame that Imperial records in the USA never gave the Hollies early singles any promotion. This track “bubbled under” the Billboard Hot 100 at 101!