‘Riding the Carousel’ recommends Hollies frontman’s ‘Resurgence’

Founding Hollie Allan Clarke gratefully clutches his “Peggy Sue Got Married” guitar gifted by the Buddy Holly Educational Foundation. Included in the booklet for the 10-song “Resurgence,” the Gibson J-45 acoustic guitar with a hand-tooled leather cover was designed by luthier Mick Johnson and became Clarke’s primary compositional tool. There are various replicas of Holly’s Gibson which have been authorized by the foundation started by widow María Elena. Named after Holly’s greatest hits, they are bequeathed to artists who significantly contributed to the “Rave On” rocker’s legacy. In 1980 the harmony-laden British quintet actually issued a 16-track LP tribute to Holly. Unfortunately, it was an unmitigated commercial disaster laden with synthesizers that placed a nail in the coffin regarding the future tenure of bassist Bernie Calvert and rhythm acoustic guitarist-songwriter Terry Sylvester. Image Credit: Allan Clarke’s official Facebook

In the sixties the Hollies were second to the Beatles as far as the most Top 20 pop hits accumulated by a group in the UK. Twenty-one chart sensations to be precise, more than the Rolling Stones and twice as many as the Who. Casual listeners may consider the Hollies an inconsequential springboard for Graham Nash’s subsequent arena-packing tenure in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Despite that misconceived notion, swamp rocker “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress” alone guarantees the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alums a perpetual slot on jukebox playlists.

The lead vocalist and co-writer of “Long Cool Woman” is Allan Clarke, whose fittingly titled Resurgence stands as his first solo album since Reasons to Believe briefly circulated 29 years earlier. Clarke retired from the Hollies in 1999 over difficulty singing high notes [e.g. “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” and “The Air That I Breathe”], complicated by the diagnosis of an aggressive cancer afflicting his wife Jeni. She is now in remission and sculpted her husband’s facial profile adorning the cover of Resurgence. Clarke faced his own brush with mortality — a victory over prostate cancer. Toby Clarke convinced his father to take poetry written in the aftermath of his health scare and build songs employing GarageBand, a virtual recording studio designed by Apple.