The Hollies - Carrie Anne

This week in Set-Up-And-Play, The Hollies!

I have always admired a band that could set up and nail their hits live without breaking a sweat. I'm pretty sure that this performance is live in all of its particulars. These guys were an excellent band. They're nailing the vocals here too, not long after Graham Nash left the group. They seem to have recovered nicely.

The Hollies are a cautionary tale about the difficulties of making a living in the music business. They were great, and they were popular, but they never made the big bucks. They worked hard, too. They had something like fourteen consecutive top-ten hits in England, quite a few of which sold very well in America. Their LPs, though, languished in the second hundred on the Billboard charts, and they were never a stadium band. If it couldn't be done with talent like this, and great material, man, that is one tough gig.