''Romany'' is the twelfth UK studio album by

The Hollies The Hollies are a British pop rock band, formed in 1962. One of the leading British groups of the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, they are known for their distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. Allan Clarke (singer), Allan Clarke and Graham ...

, the first not to feature their lead singer Allan Clarke, who had left to embark on a solo career. He was replaced by Swedish singer

Mikael Rickfors Mikael Rickfors (born 4 December 1948) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. From 1968, he was the lead singer and bass guitarist in Swedish band Bamboo. The band released two singles before breaking up in 1970. Rickfors later performed with the ...

. In the opinion of contemporary and retrospective critics, this album moved the band further away from the original vocal harmony style of Allan Clarke,

Tony Hicks Anthony Christopher Hicks (born 16 December 1945) is an English guitarist and singer who has been a member of the British rock/pop band the Hollies since 1963, and as such was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. His main rol ...

and

Graham Nash Graham William Nash (born 2 February 1942) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, photographer, and activist. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and the supergroups Crosby, Stills ...

. The album only features two songwriting contributions from band members: one song was co-written by Tony Hicks, who had been a co-writer on a significant proportion of the band's material since their second album; and another was written by new member Rickfors. Previous albums, with the exception of ''

Hollies Sing Dylan ''Hollies Sing Dylan'' is a 1969 cover album featuring songs written by Bob Dylan and performed by the Hollies. It is their eighth UK album. It was also released in the US as ''Words and Music by Bob Dylan'' with a different cover but using the ...

'' and the band's debut album, had much more original material. The US

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

version of the album, which reached number 84 on the ''Billboard'' 200, omitted the track "Lizzy and the Rainman", and has a slightly altered side one track order. The album failed to chart in the UK. The cover of ''Romany'' is a rendering of the summer location depicted on '' Distant Light'' as a winter scene. As the album was nearing release the members of the group were getting nervous and made at least three changes in the album, announced a single before retracting it, which delayed the album for three months. Due to the success of the previous album and its smash hit single, the LP initially sold very well in the US. Upon its release, ''Romany'' sold six times more copies in the first week in the US than any previous Hollies album had sold in a year. It also received more US FM airplay than the band had ever got in their previous nine years.

Circus Magazine ''Circus'' was a monthly American magazine devoted to rock music. It was published from October 1966 to May 2006. The magazine had a full-time editorial staff that were prolific in rock journalism, such as Paul Nelson, Judy Wieder, David Fricke ...

, May 1973. - "Romany - The Hollies Hop Over Disaster" by Janis Schacht.

Track listing

UK Version

;Side one #"Won't We Feel Good That Morning" (Day, Leslie) #"Touch" (

) #"Words Don't Come Easy" (Colin Jennings) #"Magic Woman Touch" (Colin Jennings, Garth Watt-Roy) #" Lizzy and the Rainman" (

Larry Henley Larry Joel Henley (June 30, 1937 – December 18, 2014) was an American singer and songwriter, best known for co-writing (with Jeff Silbar) the 1989 hit record "Wind Beneath My Wings". Early life Henley was born to Carl Henley and Helen Quinn in Od ...

Kenny O'Dell Kenneth Guy Gist Jr. (June 21, 1944 – March 27, 2018), known as Kenny O'Dell, was an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for writing the number-one country hits " Behind Closed Doors" (recorded by Charlie Rich, 1973) and ...

) #"Down River" (

David Ackles David Thomas Ackles (February 20, 1937 – March 2, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, pianist, and child actor. He recorded four albums between 1968 and 1973. Describing Ackles' style in 2003, critic Colin McElligatt wrote, "An unlikely ...

) ;Side two #"Slow Down" (Day, Leslie) #"Delaware Taggett and the Outlaw Boys" (Colin Jennings) #"

Jesus Was a Cross Maker "Jesus Was a Cross Maker" is a 1971 song by American singer-songwriter Judee Sill from her eponymous debut album. It has subsequently been recorded by the likes of Cass Elliot, The Hollies, Warren Zevon, and Linda Ronstadt. Composition Months ...

" (

Judee Sill Judith Lynne Sill (October 7, 1944 – November 23, 1979) was an American singer and songwriter. The first artist signed to David Geffen's Asylum label, she released two albums on Asylum and partially completed a third album before dying of a d ...

) #"Romany" (Colin Jennings) #"Blue in the Morning" (

Kenny Lynch Kenneth Lynch, OBE (18 March 1938 – 18 December 2019) was an English singer, songwriter, entertainer, and actor. He appeared in many variety shows in the 1960s. At the time, he was among the few black singers in British pop music. He was app ...

) #"Courage of Your Convictions" (Alan Rush, Randy Cullers)

US Version

;Side one #"Magic Woman Touch" (Colin Jennings, Garth Watt-Roy) #"Touch" (Mikael Rickfors) #"Words Don't Come Easy" (Colin Jennings) #"Won't We Feel Good" (M. Leslie, B. Day) #"Down River" (David Ackles) ;Side two #"Slow Down" (M. Leslie, B. Day) #"Delaware Taggett and the Outlaw Boys" (Colin Jennings) #"Jesus Was a Cross Maker" (

) #"Romany" (Colin Jennings) #"Blue in the Morning" (

) #"Courage of Your Convictions" (Alan Rush, Randy 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: #"The Baby" - 2003 Digital Remaster (Chip Taylor) #"Magic Woman Touch" - Acoustic Version 2007 Digital Remaster (Colin Jennings, Watt-Roy) #"Indian Girl" - 2007 Digital Remaster (Terry Sylvester) #"If It Wasn't For The Reason That I Love You" (Cooke, Greenaway) #"Papa Rain" (Colin Jennings) #"

Witchy Woman "Witchy Woman" is a song written by Don Henley and Bernie Leadon, and recorded by the American rock band Eagles. Released as the second single from the band's debut album ''Eagles'', it reached No. 9 on the ''Billboard'' pop singles chart. Backg ...

” (Don Henley, Bernie Leadon) #"Oh Granny" - Terry Sylvester Version 2007 Digital Remaster (Terry Sylvester) #"I Had A Dream" (Terry Sylvester)

Personnel

;Technical *

Alan Parsons Alan Parsons (born 20 December 1948) is an English audio engineer, songwriter, musician and record producer. Parsons was involved with the production of several notable albums, including the Beatles' ''Abbey Road'' (1969) and ''Let It Be'' ( ...

, Peter Bown - recording engineer *Colin Elgie,

Hipgnosis Hipgnosis were an English art design group based in London, that specialised in creating album cover artwork for rock musicians and bands. Their commissions included work for Pink Floyd, T. Rex, the Pretty Things, Black Sabbath, UFO, 10cc, Ba ...

- cover art

References

{{Authority control The Hollies albums 1972 albums Polydor Records albums Epic Records albums Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis