A's B's & EP's [CCCD]

EMI's A's B's & EP's series -- which takes a page out of the See for Miles playbook -- gets its strongest entry to date with this 24-song Hollies entry. The beauty of the A's B's & EP's collections is that they restore the original order to the release history of a group's hits, juxtaposing familiar A-sides with their often extremely obscure B-sides. Thus, "(Ain't That) Just Like Me" stands next to the very early Allan Clarke/Graham Nash original "Hey What's Wrong With Me," and "Searchin'" is back with its original companion side, the equally early Nash/Clarke original "Whole World Over." Coupled with the fact that the CD uses the finest master sources, in original, first-generation mono transferred in 24-bit digital audio, this disc gives one a chance to hear the Hollies putting their best foot forward (their singles were stronger than their LPs in those days), including some quirky songwriting -- most notably the Tony Hicks/Bobby Elliott original "Keep Off of That Friend of Mine," with its catchy bridges and highly animated lead guitar part, and the trippy "All the World Is Love" -- in the highest quality sound that the music has ever had. The result is the best showcase many of these obscurities have had since 1964-1965, leading to the revelation that not all of the group's obscurities are important simply as obscurities -- a few, like "Baby That's All," are so beautiful that they deserved to be much better known, while others, such as "You Know He Did" and "I've Got a Way of My Own," are more of interest to collectors and hardcore fans, but the former outnumber the latter on this CD. The disc comes with a decent overview of the band's history, though no annotation about the songs themselves, nor is the latter really that essential -- these were pop singles after all, only asking that they be enjoyed, and this disc shows precisely how well the Hollies lived up to that goal, on their B-sides as well as their A-sides. ~ Bruce Eder|