I used to have a theory that the Hollies have been punished by history – sentenced to obscurity – for having made a hit in 1969 of the unbearable "He Ain't Heavy ... He's My Brother." But after listening to their greatest hits, I've come to believe that their footnote status was probably well deserved.

The band was formed in Manchester in 1963 by Allan Clarke and Graham Nash, who left the group in 1968 to move to California and help form Crosby, Stills, and Nash. The Hollies had a string of hits in the mid '60s, including "Bus Stop," "Carrie Ann," "Look Through Any Window," and "Carousel," that featured three-part harmonies (driven by Nash's soaring tenor) and small bits of jangly guitar that might have been timidly borrowed from the Byrds. In retrospect, the band's work seems unbearably conservative – they specialized in recording pop tunes designed to entertain blue-collar audiences without upsetting anyone in the process. The songwriting was good, but calculated in a way that would allow a Hollies fan to remain free of associations with fans following Brit groups like the Beatles and the Stones into psychedelia and disrepute.