Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Good version of a good song. 360/12 with only six strings. Don't overlook the drumming.


Tom and Matthew

I always liked that song.

"After The Beatles, The Hollies were the most successful British 'singles' bands of the 1960s, scoring twenty-two UK Top 40 placings between 1964 and 1970."

RRHOF material!

But what's with the 360-12 with 6 strings? Tony Hicks is no stranger to a 12-er.

The Hollies have some of my favorite tunes to come out of Britain in that era. The time around the Stop, Stop, Stop and Evolution albums was outstanding for them...it's just that they were perhaps overshadowed by their contemporaries. If you've never heard "Tell Me To My Face" from the Stop Stop Stop album, check it out...it's one of the best 12 string songs, hands down.

Great song! Thanks for the video.

Much better than I remember them! You're right, some really energetic drumming. Graham Nash must have left shortly after this. I believe I read somewhere that Lennon had a hate on for The Hollies, didn't he?

lennon211 wrote:If you've never heard "Tell Me To My Face" from the Stop Stop Stop album, check it out...it's one of the best 12 string songs, hands down.

Here's "Tell Me To My Face". This is a 12 string, but it is probably his Vox Phantom and not the Ric. The basic chords to this songs are Am, E, and Fmaj7.



There have been reports that John Lennon thought their 3 part harmonies too closely paralleled what the Beatles were doing early on and he thought they had gone too far to imitate the sound.
The Hollies released a song called "Hey Willy" in 1971 and there are also reports that Lennon raved about the song. The Hollies were from Manchester, the sister city to Liverpool. These people all knew each other. (Graham Nash was sitting next to Mick Jagger in the "All You Need Is Love" video.) It was probably a friendly rivalry.
(In case you're interested, here's "Hey Willy": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlO9evhQQ60. Good song, no Rics.)

Tom and Matthew

Just as an aside, I can't believe how extremely high they sang. But I guess if you have Graham Nash in your band, well that's what you'll do.

Here's one of my favorite Hollies tunes:



JimK

Jennifer Eccles and Oriental Sadness, beautiful aural snapshots in time!

I remember I posted a video to "Carrie Ann" when Tony played the 360/12 with only 6 strings. Perhaps he was too lazy to string the octaves in their correct holes, due to the trickiness of restringing a Ric 12?

JakeK wrote:I remember I posted a video to "Carrie Ann" when Tony played the 360/12 with only 6 strings. Perhaps he was too lazy to string the octaves in their correct holes, due to the trickiness of restringing a Ric 12?

We figured Tony Hicks's Ric conversion was for one of three reasons:

1. He already had his Vox 12-string that he was using more.
2. The last electric 12-string on a Hollies record I can think of is on "You Need Love", which was on the Evolution album, from 1967. Our post and the "Carrie Anne" video are both from 1968, so Hicks may have only wanted a 6-string at that point.
3. The "Laziness" reason you just mentioned.

Matthew

rickosound wrote:

JakeK wrote:I remember I posted a video to "Carrie Ann" when Tony played the 360/12 with only 6 strings. Perhaps he was too lazy to string the octaves in their correct holes, due to the trickiness of restringing a Ric 12?

We figured Tony Hicks's Ric conversion was for one of three reasons:

1. He already had his Vox 12-string that he was using more.
2. The last electric 12-string on a Hollies record I can think of is on "You Need Love", which was on the Evolution album, from 1967. Our post and the "Carrie Anne" video are both from 1968, so Hicks may have only wanted a 6-string at that point.
3. The "Laziness" reason you just mentioned.

Matthew

He may well have purchased it with the intention of using it as a 12 and just found that he couldn't get used to it after playing the Vox and converted it to a 6. Paul Atkinson of the Zombies also tried to make a go of it with a Ric 12, but only found success with his 1997.

lennon211 wrote:

rickosound wrote:

JakeK wrote:I remember I posted a video to "Carrie Ann" when Tony played the 360/12 with only 6 strings. Perhaps he was too lazy to string the octaves in their correct holes, due to the trickiness of restringing a Ric 12?

We figured Tony Hicks's Ric conversion was for one of three reasons:

1. He already had his Vox 12-string that he was using more.
2. The last electric 12-string on a Hollies record I can think of is on "You Need Love", which was on the Evolution album, from 1967. Our post and the "Carrie Anne" video are both from 1968, so Hicks may have only wanted a 6-string at that point.
3. The "Laziness" reason you just mentioned.

Matthew

He may well have purchased it with the intention of using it as a 12 and just found that he couldn't get used to it after playing the Vox and converted it to a 6. Paul Atkinson of the Zombies also tried to make a go of it with a Ric 12, but only found success with his 1997.

What model Ric 12 did Paul Atkinson have? I recall he had a Burns 12 string that he used on recordings but not live because the "damn thing kept going out of tune" (I'll have to re-read where I found that quote). At some point his 1997 had a chicken head style knob on the switch. Not sure if this was just screwed on top of the switch shaft, or if he had the switch replaced with a rotary knob.

ataritoobin wrote:

lennon211 wrote: Matthew

He may well have purchased it with the intention of using it as a 12 and just found that he couldn't get used to it after playing the Vox and converted it to a 6. Paul Atkinson of the Zombies also tried to make a go of it with a Ric 12, but only found success with his 1997.

What model Ric 12 did Paul Atkinson have? I recall he had a Burns 12 string that he used on recordings but not live because the "damn thing kept going out of tune" (I'll have to re-read where I found that quote). At some point his 1997 had a chicken head style knob on the switch. Not sure if this was just screwed on top of the switch shaft, or if he had the switch replaced with a rotary knob.

[/quote]
It didn't say in the interview in the liner notes of the outstanding Zombie Heaven set. It simply said that he had the Burns and it kept going out of tune and that he tried a Ric but that he found the spacing too close to be any good on it.

lennon211 wrote:

ataritoobin wrote:

lennon211 wrote:

He may well have purchased it with the intention of using it as a 12 and just found that he couldn't get used to it after playing the Vox and converted it to a 6. Paul Atkinson of the Zombies also tried to make a go of it with a Ric 12, but only found success with his 1997.

What model Ric 12 did Paul Atkinson have? I recall he had a Burns 12 string that he used on recordings but not live because the "damn thing kept going out of tune" (I'll have to re-read where I found that quote). At some point his 1997 had a chicken head style knob on the switch. Not sure if this was just screwed on top of the switch shaft, or if he had the switch replaced with a rotary knob.

It didn't say in the interview in the liner notes of the outstanding Zombie Heaven set. It simply said that he had the Burns and it kept going out of tune and that he tried a Ric but that he found the spacing too close to be any good on it.

Cool info! I just recently ordered the Zombies boxed set. I've got the Decca LP, EP, the Parrot LP and Odessey and Oracle..can't wait to check out the rest of the stuff on the boxed set!

Back to the Hollies! Another great 12 string song is "Don't Run and Hide." Kind of "I Can't Explain"-ish. I love how progressively sloppy the harmonica gets during the first verse "Pay You Back With Interest" and their cover of "Just One Look" are also some favorites of mine.

Just watched the Carousel video. Even cooler than the Ric and the drummer are the brand new Vox amps. What are they? Defiants or Supremes? That's the first video I've seen where the band is actually plugged into them.

Janglyman