<P> Like Graham Nash before him, frontman Allan Clarke by 1971 was growing frustrated, and he too began clashing with producer Ron Richards over material; after seeing Nash's success since departing, he was eager to leave the group and cut a solo album . After the 1971 album Distant Light, which concluded the band's EMI / Parlophone contract in the UK (and reached No. 21 on the American Billboard chart), Clarke departed from the Hollies in December, a move which surprised both the band's fans and the public in general . </P> <P> The Hollies signed with Polydor for the UK / Europe in 1972, although their US contract with Epic still had three more albums to run . Swedish singer Mikael Rickfors, formerly of the group Bamboo (who had supported the Hollies in Sweden in 1967), was quickly recruited by the rest of the band and sang lead on the group's first Polydor single "The Baby" (UK No. 26, March 1972). When Mikael first auditioned for them, he tried to sing in Allan Clarke's range and the results were terrible . The rest of the group decided it might be better to record songs with him starting from scratch . Terry Sylvester and Tony Hicks blended with Mikael's baritone voice instead of him trying to imitate Allan's tenor voice . There were rumours Mikael couldn't speak a word of English and had to learn the words of "The Baby" phonetically . The rumour about him not knowing English was false, though he did struggle to understand English words that he had not put together . </P> <P> Meanwhile, in a counter-programming move, Parlophone lifted a Clarke - composed track from the previously - unsuccessful album Distant Light that also featured Clarke on lead vocals and lead guitar, the Creedence Clearwater Revival - inspired "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress". Parlophone released this as a rival single to "The Baby" in February 1972, although it was only moderately successful in the UK (No. 32). In the US, Epic, which owned the rights to Distant Light but had not released it, finally released the album in April 1972 and the single in May 1972 . Surprisingly, the song became a smash hit outside of Europe, peaking at No. 2 in the US (the Hollies' highest - charting single in the US) and Australia . </P> <P> "Long Dark Road", another track from Distant Light with lead vocals by Clarke, distinctive three - part harmonies, and a harmonica throughout, was then also released as a US single, reaching No. 26 . As a result, Epic pressured Clarke and the Hollies to reform, despite the fact that they had split over a year previously, placing Rickfors in an awkward position . </P>

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