Pressing: UK
Year: 1968-1971
Genre: folk psych prog
Packaging: box

Recorded at the height of the late 60s/early 70s singer/songwriter boom, Tim Hollier's three albums – ‘Message To A Harlequin’, ‘Tim Hollier’ and ‘Skysail’ – went largely under the radar at the time but are now extremely collectable.

Guest on the opening night of a Beckenham folk club run by his friend David Bowie, Hollier recorded his first and third albums with the assistance of Donovan arranger John Cameron, while his self-titled second set – considered by many pundits to be his strongest – featured backing from a small, sympathetic rock group.

Hollier was a regular on London's folk club circuit for several years alongside the likes of Paul Simon, Al Stewart and Nick Drake, but retired from live work after a disastrous, drug- impeded performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in January 1972.

He continued to record sporadically throughout the remainder of the decade before moving (with great success) into the world of music publishing – by which point his trio of late Sixties/early Seventies albums had attracted belated acclaim on the collector network.

A 3CD set, ‘Time Has A Way Of Losing You: The Tim Hollier Anthology’ naturally includes all three of those albums in full and adds a non-album single, a handful of BBC radio performances and five previously unissued tracks, taped at a March 1969 Wigmore Hall show that was cut to an Apple label acetate.

With some fabulous period-piece photos (including shots of Bowie performing mime at Wigmore Hall as Hollier played), ‘Time Has A Way Of Losing You’ is an essential purchase for aficionados of vintage singer/songwriter fare.

TRACK LISTING

DISC ONE

1  MESSAGE TO A HARLEQUIN

2  BIRD OF PARADISE

3  HANNE

4  JIMMY

5  DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN

6  STREETS OF GOLD

7  AND WHERE WERE YOU THAT MORNING MR CARROLL

8  FULL FATHOMS FIVE

9  AND I

10  IN THE LIGHT OF SADNESS

11  IN SILENCE

Bonus tracks

12  BIRD OF PARADISE

13  SONG TO A ROOM (aka IN THIS ROOM)

14  AND I (aka NIGEL AND I)

15  I SEARCH FOR SMALL DISTRACTIONS (aka IN THE LIGHT OF SADNESS)

1-11 The album Message To A Harlequin, United Artist Records SULP 1211, released October 1968

12-15 BBC radio session for John Peel's Night Ride, transmitted November 1968

DISC TWO

1  SEAGULL'S SONG

2  LLANSTEPHAN HILL

3  AND IT'S HAPPENING TO HER

4  MAN OF GENTLE SUNLIGHT

5  EVOLUTION

6  MAYBE YOU WILL STAY

7  WOULD I SING

8  LOVE SONG

9  IT'S RAINING AND IT'S COLD

10  IN THIS ROOM

11  EVENING SONG

Bonus tracks

12  SEAGULL'S SONG

13  IN THIS ROOM

14  HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN

15  LOVE SONG

16  EVOLUTION

17  AND IT'S HAPPENING TO HER

1-11 The album Tim Hollier, Fontana 6309 003, released July 1970

12-16 Previously unreleased tracks from Wigmore Hall, 22nd March 1969, cut to Apple acetate.

17 BBC radio session for Country Meets Folk, transmitted August 1970

DISC THREE

1  SKYSAIL

2  BEAUTY OF THE GARDENS

3  TIME HAS A WAY OF LOSING YOU

4  AND I WAIT FOR THAT

5  YOUR QUIET LIFE

6  TENDERLY STOOPING LOW

7  FLOWERS IN THE MORNING

8  SUNSHINE MOONSHINE

9  YESTERDAY'S DREAMS

10  TOMORROW IS THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF YOUR LIFE

11  THROUGH THE DARKNESS

12  WHILE LONDON'S DAYS INCREASE

Bonus tracks

13  THE CIRCLE IS SMALL

14  IN A CORNER OF MY LIFE/ TIME STOOD STILL

1-12 The album Skysail, Philips 6308 044, released February 1971

13-14 Single, Philips 6006 130, released July 1971