Biography
The Hollies are an English pop/rock group, best known for their pioneering and distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. The Hollies became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s (231 weeks on the UK singles charts during the 1960s; the 9th highest of any artist of the decade) and into the mid 1970s. It was formed by Allan Clarke and Graham Nash in 1962 as a Merseybeat type music group in Manchester, although some of the band members came from towns north of there. Graham Nash left the group in 1968 to form the supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hollies
Album & Cover
Distant Light is the last UK album by the band to feature lead vocalist and founding member Allan Clarke, until their 1974 self-titled album, reputably to be the first album to come out of A.I.R. studios. The album spawned two hit singles, the Allan Clarke penned “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress,” which peaked at U.S. #2 and UK #32, and the Tony Hicks penned “Long Dark Road” US #26. The US released version of the album peaked at US #21. The summer scene that is shown on the cover is duplicated exactly on the next Hollies album Romany, as a winter scene. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distant_Light_(The_Hollies_album)
The band had requested a cover of a fantasy fairy-tale in the style of 19th Century children’s books and this was the outcome. Aubrey Powell and Storm Thorgerson both said that it let both Hipgnosis and the Hollies down and were not very good ideas, even though Colin Elgie did a great job of the illustration. Unfortunately they did again for the Hollies next album a year later, Romany.
Cover Location: Hipgnosis Studio, London, UK
Who Did What: Cover Design – Hipgnosis/The Hollies. Illustration – C. Elgie
Label: Epic KE30958(US), Parlaphone PAS 10005(UK)
Source: Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art, The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue: Aubrey Powell
Tracklist
| Side One What A Life I’ve Led Look What We’ve Got Hold On Pull Down The Blind To Do With Love Promised Land |
Side Two Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress You Know The Score Cable Car A Little Thing Like Love Long Dark Road |
Credits
Engineer [Assistant Engineers] – Alan Harris, Alex Harding , Simaen Skofield
Engineer [Recording Engineer] – John Punter
Illustration [Outer Illustration] – Elgie
Producer – Ron Richards, The Hollies
