THE HOLLIES – "I'm Alive"

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

“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?

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.

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.

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!

I wasn’t there, I don’t think my parents had even met yet, but The Hollies’ best moments (of which this is one) possess an irresistible, life-affirming pop rush which gets me every time. It’s not quite ‘I Can’t Let Go’ but this gets 8.5 from me; the unstoppable build-and-build of the chorus is just delirious.

TOTPWatch: The Hollies performed ‘I’m Alive’ on Top Of The Pops on five occasions;

27 May 1965. Also in the studio that week were; Marianne Faithful, Sandie Shaw, The Rockin’ Berries and The Walker Brothers. Jimmy Saville was the host.

3 June 1965. Also in the studio that week were; Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas, Donovan and The Kinks. David Jacobs was the host.

24 June 1965. Also in the studio that week were; Adam Faith & The Roulettes, Dusty Springfield and The Yardbirds. Jimmy Saville was the host.

1 July 1965. Also in the studio that week were; The Dave Clark Five, Dusty Springfield and Tom Jones. Alan Freeman was the host.

25 December 1965. Also in the studio that Christmas were; Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames, Jackie Trent, The Kinks, The Seekers, The Walker Brothers and Unit 4 + 2. Jimmy Saville, Alan Freeman, Pete Murray and David Jacobs.

as others have said, this sounds like a serviceable example of the pop music of its era but it does’t really stand out as particularly memorable. With a few exceptions The Hollies always seemed a bit too tasteful for their own good