The Hollies - I Had A Dream (1974)

After Allan Clarke left the band in 1971, the hits dried up for The Hollies, Their first album with Rickfors as singer - 'Romany' - was released in 1972, but he single from it, 'Magic Woman Touch', failed to chart in the UK, becoming the band's first official single to miss the UK charts since 1963, although it did chart in seven other countries. In 1973 they issued the 'Out On The Road' album, which was recorded and issued in Germany, and later that year, egged on by the success of his last album with the band, Clarke decided to rejoin them, and Rickfors left. Because of this the 'Out On The Road' album was not released in the UK or the US, giving this 'lost' Hollies album legendary status among the band's fans, and subsequently commanding high prices for the original German release. After Clarke's return, the Hollies returned to the UK Top 30 with another swamp rock-style song penned by Clarke, 'The Day That Curly Billy Shot Down Crazy Sam McGee', and in 1974 they scored what was to be their last major hit single with the Albert Hammond/Mike Hazlewood-composed love song 'The Air That I Breathe'. After the US failure of the Hollies' single release of the Bruce Springsteen-penned 'Sandy (4th July, Ashbury Park)', Epic gave up on the band in the US, combining their two 1976 albums into their last US release of the decade, 'Clarke, Hicks, Sylvester, Calvert, Elliott'. The Hollies continued to have hit singles during the rest of the seventies, but mostly in Europe and New Zealand, and so this second collection mops up their sole non-album single of 1973/74, plus some b-sides and quite a few out-takes, for an over-view of the last two years of their most productive period.

Track listing

01 I Had A Dream (b-side of 'Jesus Was A Crossmaker' 1973)
02 If It Wasn't For The Reason That I Love You (previously unreleased)
03 Papa Rain (previously unreleased)
04 Witchy Woman (previously unreleased)
05 Born A Man (b-side of 'The Day That Curly Billy Shot Down Crazy McGee' 1973)
06 Tip Of The Iceberg (previously unreleased')
07 Mexico Gold (previously unreleased)
08 Burn Fire Burn (previously unreleased)
09 No More Riders (b-side of 'The Air That I Breathe' 1974)
10 Son Of A Rotten Gambler (single 1974)
11 Layin' On The Music (b-side of 'Son Of A Rotten Gambler')
12 Come Down To The Shore (previously unreleased)
13 Hello Lady Goodbye (b-side of 'I'm Down' 1974)