The Long Road Home 1963-2003 (2003)

Is this elephantine (six discs, 135 tracks) boxed set necessary? Well, consider this: Unlike virtually every other British Invader, the Hollies (which early on featured future hippie icon Graham Nash) kept churning out hits long after the 1960s faded -- and long after the Beatles, even. All of those schoolboy screamers are here (''Bus Stop,'' ''Dear Elois,'' ''King Midas in Reverse''), as well as the late, great hits -- ''The Air That I Breathe,'' ''He Ain't Heavy (He's My Brother)'' -- and some obscure covers (for example, Judee Sill's ''Jesus Was a Crossmaker'') that demonstrate how this band's musical catholicity helped sustain it for so long.