Jim Post was a member of Canadian folk group the Rum Runners when he met Cathy Conn; they soon married and formed the duo Friend & Lover. Their debut single, "A Town Called Love"/"If Tomorrow," failed to chart, but they were well-liked enough to rate support-act status with the Buckinghams and even Cream. The duo had a change of fortune with 1967's "Reach Out of the Darkness," an upbeat, ebullient song that reached the U.S. and Canadian Top Ten in the summer of 1968 and became the title track for their only album, which was released later that year.