Happy Anniversary: The Hollies, CONFESSIONS OF THE MIND

46 years ago this month, The Hollies released their first album of the 1970s and, in doing so, returned to the UK charts.

The Hollies released two studios albums in 1969: the first, HOLLIES SING DYLAN, was a smash, climbing all the way to #3 on the UK Albums chart, but the second, HOLLIES SING HOLLIES, failed to chart at all. As such, it surely must’ve inspired at least a small sigh of relief from the band when their first LP of 1970, CONFESSIONS OF THE MIND, found sufficient success to climb into the top 30.

This was a odd time for The Hollies, who – despite successfully rebounding from the departure of Graham Nash to earn a top-5 UK hit and a top-10 US hit with “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” –found listeners becoming rather fickle with their fandom of the band. As a result, the band’s biggest hit singles during the time of CONFESSIONS OF THE MIND weren’t actually found on the album itself but, rather, emerged as single-only releases not long after its release. The good news nowadays is that the band’s top-10 UK single “I Can’t Tell the Bottom from the Top” and top-15 UK single “Gasoline Alley Bred” are both included as part of the track listing of the expanded version of the album. Weirdly, even though Nash had long since left the band, he did have a small place in the history of CONFESSIONS: “Survival of the Fittest,” the song which leads off the album, is the last Graham Nash – Allan Clarke – Tony Hicks composition to ever appear on a Hollies studio album.

Oh, and just for added confusion, CONFESSIONS OF THE MIND was only the title of the album in the UK. When it emerged in the US, it was instead called MOVING FINGER, and don’t ask us to explain why that decision was made, because it’s just not even worth the trouble, believe us. Instead, just give the album a listen and enjoy it.