This set collects
the Hollies' first two U.S. albums, 1964’s
Here I Go Again and 1965’s
Hear! Here!, on a single disc. Both LPs were originally released in the States by Imperial Records, a label founded in 1947 by
Lew Chudd, who had sold his rights in the imprint to Liberty Records in 1963. Liberty began leasing material by popular U.K. artists for U.S. distribution that same year, which led to
the Hollies' initial single in the American market, a cover version of
Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs' 1960 hit “Stay.” Although several of the cuts found here got extensive radio airplay in the U.S. at the time, “Just One Look” and “Here I Go Again” from 1964 and “I’m Alive” and “Look Through Any Window” from 1965 among them,
the Hollies didn’t really break through on the continent until a year later in 1966 with the hits “Bus Stop” and “Stop Stop Stop,” and neither of those songs is found here. Aside from the singles, most of the cuts on these two albums are covers of American R&B tunes that are done capably but without a whole lot of originality. The end result is a portrait of a promising band just beginning to come into its own.
–
Steve Leggett, Rovi