Hollies At Abbey Road, The

If this 20-song, 78-minute compilation is less compelling than its two predecessors, it's only because it represents a period in the Hollies' history in which the group lost its decade-long grip on the pop charts, even as they retained their fan base. The producers have interspersed the key hits and B-sides with what they regard as important album tracks and throw in a handful of previously unissued songs for a good cross-section of what is probably, for many of us, the least familiar period in the group's history of recording. The first track, "The Day That Curly Billy Shot Down Crazy Sam McGee," was an attempt to emulate the sound of their earlier hit "Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)," which succeeded only part way, reaching the Top 30 in England. "Transatlantic Westbound Jet," a rare Bobby Elliott/Terry Sylvester collaboration, in this version featuring Allan Clarke on lead vocals, and the bouncy (and previously unissued) rocker "Iceberg" lead us to the group's last major international hit, "The Air That I Breathe." The album and B-side tracks that follow are enjoyable enough, the Calypso-flavored "Layin' to the Music" being the best of the cuts leading into "4th of July Asbury Park (Sandy)," which is followed by a delightful rumba-style rock number, "Come Down to the Shore," which sees its first release on this CD, although they never succeeded remotely the way "The Air That I Breathe" did. Another superb (and previously lost) outtake, "Samuel," makes its debut here as well, featuring some newly-recorded Tony Hicks guitar parts. An unusually large portion of the rest of the disc is devoted to tracks off of the Five Three One-Double Seven O Four album from 1979, but these pale next to the radiant harmonies and overall exuberance of the group's 1981 reunion with co-founder Graham Nash on "Take My Love and Run," which deserved a lot more chart action than it ever saw. As late as the mid-1980s, as this compilation shows, the group was creating brilliant pop/rock, and it's worth getting to "Too Many Hearts Get Broken," "Find Me a Family," and "No Rules." The sound is state of the art, and the annotation is informative and entertaining. ~ Bruce Eder|