Romany -Expanded Edition

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This EMI expanded CD edition of the Hollies' Romany album appeared some seven years after the Magic Records expanded edition, and the two do not overlap entirely. The difference is in the bonus tracks -- gone are Tony Hicks' A Better Place (which was released on the 1973 album Out on the Road) and Mikael Rickfors' The Last Word and Don't Leave the Child Alone, but in their place are an alternate acoustic take of Magic Woman Touch, the lost single Papa Rain, and the group's rendition of the Eagles' Witchy Woman. Both CDs total 20 songs, but this one is a little over three minutes longer in overall running time, and those outtakes are well worth owning, even if it means keeping two versions of the expanded edition around -- the harmony singing and the timbre of the acoustic version of Magic Woman Touch make it one of the prettiest recordings ever to emanate from this group's orbit, and that is saying something given the Hollies' track record; Papa Rain would have made a somewhat brooding, moody single, a bit reminiscent in tone of the darker side of Crosby, Stills & Nash; and Witchy Woman (which was then a new song) gets a punchy, enthusiastic performance that pushes the harmonies hard and also allows Tony Hicks, Bernie Calvert, and Bobby Elliott to show off some of their more intense playing. And the version of Oh Granny featured here is the rarely heard remix, with Terry Sylvester's vocals replacing Allan Clarke's. The sound throughout this edition, incidentally, is considerably improved over the Magic Records edition, with boosted volume and a lot more detail revealed in the playing and singing -- though the Magic edition offers a heavier bass, which some people prefer. The earlier CD is perfectly acceptable, however, and either can safely be said to be superior to anything that Sony Music might ever have issued on the basic album in America (which they never got around to issuing on CD, anyway). ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide