The Hollies - Abbey Road 1966-1970 (Remastered) (1998)

With a few exceptions, the song lineup on this 24-track CD sounds familiar, but that's a misconception. The remastering job has been done so well that precious little on this CD sounds familiar, and it's all good. This collection picks up right where its predecessor left off, presenting a string of Hollies hits, B-sides, and notable album tracks, newly remastered in state-of-the-art sound off of original session masters. The results are frequently startling; rather than just enhancing the hits, the producers have applied the same care to their B-sides, and those are a deceptively fine group of songs in their own right. It rips the envelope altogether by throwing in the group's previously unissued recording of Graham Gouldman's "Schoolgirl," maybe the best unreleased track to come out of an EMI group this side of the Beatles' pounding version of "Leave My Kitten Alone." The remastering also makes the standard material sound more spacious and less compressed than ever before and opens up layers of sound on the guitars, percussion, and vocals that were previously obscured. Hollies fans may love this CD for a reason beyond the particular individual tracks or the dazzling sound textures; it's very much an affirmation of the peak that the band achieved in the late '60s, depicting their moves from British invasion-style rock & roll through psychedelia to pop/rock, all of it beautifully crafted and played. The notes by Bobby Elliott are highly entertaining as well as informative.