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
Producer	The Hollies
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 tenor lead singer Allan Clarke, who had left to try a solo career and was replaced by baritone Swedish singer 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]

Track listing

UK Version Side 1

1. "Won't We Feel Good" (Cy Crane, Herbert Weiner, John Gluck, Jr.)
2. "Touch" (Mikael Rickfors)
3. "Words Don't Come Easy" (Colin Jennings)
4. "Magic Woman Touch" (Colin Jennings, Garth Watt-Roy)
5. "Lizzy and the Rainman" (Larry Henley, Kenny O'Dell)
6. "Down River" (David Ackles)

Side 2

1. "Slow Down" (Cy Crane, Herbert Weiner, John Gluck, Jr.)
2. "Delaware Taggett and the Outlaw Boys" (Colin Jennings)
3. "Jesus Was a Crossmaker" (Judee Sill)
4. "Romany" (Colin Jennings)
5. "Blue in the Morning" (Kenny Lynch, Tony Hicks)
6. "Courage of Your Convictions" (Alan Rush, Randy Cullers)

US Version Side 1

1. "Magic Woman Touch" (Colin Jennings, Garth Watt-Roy)
2. "Touch" (Mikael Rickfors)
3. "Words Don't Come Easy" (Colin Jennings)
4. "Won't We Feel Good" (M. Leslie, B. Day) possibly a misprint - everywhere else this is listed under Cy Crane, Herbert Weiner, John Gluck, Jr.
5. "Down River" (David Ackles)

Side 2

1. "Slow Down" (M. Leslie, B. Day) possibly a misprint - everywhere else this is listed under Cy Crane, Herbert Weiner, John Gluck, Jr.
2. "Delaware Taggett and the Outlaw Boys" (Colin Jennings)
3. "Jesus Was a Crossmaker" (Judee Sill)
4. "Romany" (Colin Jennings)
5. "Blue in the Morning" (Kenny Lynch, Tony Hicks)
6. "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:^[3]

1. "The Baby" (2003 Digital Remaster)(Chip Taylor)
2. "Magic Woman Touch" (Acoustic Version) (2007 Digital Remaster)(Colin Jennings and Watt-Roy)
3. "Indian Girl" (2007 Digital Remaster)(Terry Sylvester)
4. "If It Wasn't For The Reason That I Love You" (Cooke and Greenaway)
5. "Papa Rain" (Colin Jennings)
6. "Witchy Woman" (Don Henley and Bernie Leadon)
7. "Oh Granny" (Terry Sylvester Version) (2007 Digital Remaster) (Terry Sylvester)
8. "I Had A Dream" (Terry Sylvester)

References