Romany (album)

Romany
Studio album by The Hollies
Released	1 November 1972
Genre	Rock/Pop
Length	45:29
Label	U.K.: Polydor LP 2383144 U.S.: Epic KE 31992
The Hollies chronology
Distant Light (1971) Romany (1972) Hollies (1974)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Romany is an album by The Hollies, the first not to feature distinctive, tenor-range lead singer Allan Clarke, who had left to try a solo career and was replaced by a Swedish singer with lower vocal register, Mikael Rickfors---prompting a somewhat radical reshaping of their trademark vocal harmony style. It was also the first Hollies album to feature only one song written or co-written by lead guitarist Tony Hicks, a member of the band's two in-house songwriting teams, Clarke-Hicks-Nash and Clarke-Hicks-Sylvester. Hicks was the only member of those teams to contribute a song to the album; Rickfors was the only other band member to contribute an original composition to it. The U.S. Epic version which reached #84 on the Billboard 200, omitted the track "Lizzy and the Rainman", and has a slightly altered side one track order. "Courage of Your Convictions" was the one song that sounded most like their previous smash hit "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress", but was inexplicably never issued as a single. The cover of "Romany" shows exactly the same scene as the previous album, but in the winter time as opposed to the summer scene on Distant Light.

As the album was nearing release the members of the group were getting nervous.^[2] They made at least three changes in the album, announced a single before retracting it again which held it up for three months before finally seeing release.^[2]

After the album was released, it sold six times more copies in the first week after its release than any previous Hollies album had sold in a year.^[2] It also received more FM airplay than the band had ever got in their previous nine years.^[2]

Tracks

UK Version Side 1

1. "Won't We Feel Good" (Leslie/Day)
2. "Touch" (Mikael Rickfors)
3. "Words Don't Come Easy" (Jennings)
4. "Magic Woman Touch" (Jennings / Watt-Roy)
5. "Lizzy and the Rainman" (Henley / O'Dell)
6. "Down River" (David Ackles)

Side 2

1. "Slow Down" (Leslie/Day)
2. "Delaware Taggett and the Outlaw Boys" (Jennings)
3. "Jesus Was a Crossmaker" (Judee Sill)
4. "Romany" (Jennings)
5. "Blue in the Morning" (Kenny Lynch, Tony Hicks)
6. "Courage Of Your Convictions" (Rush/Cullers)

US Version Side 1

1. "Magic Woman Touch" (Jennings / Watt-Roy)
2. "Touch" (Rickfors)
3. "Words Don't Come Easy" (Jennings)
4. "Won't We Feel Good" (Leslie/Day)
5. "Down River" (Ackles)

Side 2

1. "Slow Down" (Leslie/Day)
2. "Delaware Taggett and the Outlaw Boys" (Jennings)
3. "Jesus Was a Crossmaker" (Judee Sill)
4. "Romany" (Jennings)
5. "Blue in the Morning" (Kenny Lynch, Tony Hicks)
6. "Courage Of Your Convictions" (Rush/Cullers)

Remastered CD

The album was released on CD by EMI in 2007, featuring the (remastered) 12 tracks from the original UK release plus the following bonus tracks:^[3]

1. "The Baby" (2003 Digital Remaster)
2. "Magic Woman Touch" (Acoustic Version) (2007 Digital Remaster)
3. "Indian Girl" (2007 Digital Remaster)
4. "If It Wasn't For The Reason That I Love You"
5. "Papa Rain"
6. "Witchy Woman"
7. "Oh Granny" (Terry Sylvester Version) (2007 Digital Remaster)
8. "I Had A Dream"

References