The Searchers

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Bill Price, and in this episode of Rock and Roll Flashback, I will review the career of The Searchers, one of the bands that emerged from Liverpool, England in the early 1960's.

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Transcript

In this episode of Rock and Roll Flashback, I will review the career of The Searchers, one of the bands that emerged from Liverpool, England in the early 1960's.

The Searchers were an English group that was one of the bands, which helped launch the British Invasion. They were also one of the Merseybeat bands that hailed from Liverpool. The band was initially formed as a skiffle group in 1959 by John McNally and Mike Pender. The group’s name was taken from the 1956 film titled “The Searchers”. However like many other bands, they under went several personnel changes before settling on the lineup of John McNally, Mike Pender, Chris Curtis and Frank Allen. 

In the early 60's the quartet performed in Liverpool clubs, which included the Iron Door, the Cavern and other local venues. Like several other Liverpool bands, which included The Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, The Searchers also performed in Hamburg Germany. In July of 1962, a contract was negotiated with the Star Club in Hamburg, for the band to perform for 128 days, playing three one hour shows a night. After returning to Liverpool, they appeared regularly at the Door Club and recordings of the performances led to a recoding contract with Pye Records with producer Tony Hatch. The first composition was a song titled “Sweets for My Sweet”. Upon its release, it reached number one in the UK in 1963. With the single’s success, this established the band as a major part of the Merseybeat, just behind fellow Liverpool band, The Beatles and along side Gerry and the Pacemakers.

Their first album released in August 1963, was titled “ Meet The Searchers” and reached number two on the UK albums chart in September. In the US album version, there were some changes in the tracks, which included the song titled “ Needles and Pins”. In June 1964, the album reached number twenty two on the US album charts.  

Here is The Searchers first release from 1963  “Sweets for My Sweet”.

The next single written by Tony Hatch was titled “Sugar and Spice”, which reached number two in the UK and forty four in the US.

Here is The Searcher’s second release,  “Sugar and Spice”.

In 1964 two singles were released. The first one was a cover of Jackie DeShannon’s 1963 recording

of  “Needles and Pins”, which was co written by Jack Nietzsche and Sonny Bono of Sony and Cher.

During their time in Hamburg, The Searchers heard fellow the British band called Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers perform “ Needles and Pins”. Interestingly The Searchers quickly recorded the song before Bennett could release his version. The single reached number one in the UK and number thirteen in the US. “ Needles and Pins” was later also covered by several artists, which included Cher, The Ramones, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Here are The Searchers and their cover version of “Needles and Pins”.

In 1964 “Don’t Throw Your Love Away” was released, which reached number one in the UK and number sixteen in the US.  

Here is an excerpt of  “Don’t Throw Your Love Away”.

After the “Needles and Pins” single was released, bass player Tony Jackson left the band and was replaced with Frank Allen.  The first single to be released with Allen was a cover of Jackie DeShannon’s recording of  “When You Walk in the Room”. The single peaked at number three in the UK, thirty five in the US and number two in Australia.

Here is The Searcher’s cover version of  “When You Walk in the Room”.

Also in 1964, The Searchers cover version of The Clovers’  “Love Potion No 9” became a US hit, reaching the number three position.  Interestingly, it was not released as a single in the UK. By the end of 1964, the band recorded and released the single titled “What Have they Done to the Rain” which became a number thirteen hit in the UK, twenty nine in the US and twenty seven in Australia.

Here is an excerpt of  “What Have they Done to the Rain”.

In 1965 the band had a number four hit in the UK with “Goodbye My Love. However in the US, it only reached number fifty two. Unfortunately as the year progressed, their popularity began to see a decline. The next two singles that were released only became minor hits. In early 1966 Chris Curtis left the band. His departure was significant since he was the primary song writer. John Blunt was then brought in as Curtis’ replacement. In 1966 music styles began to change and The Searchers attempted to keep up with the changes. At the end of 1967 their record contract with the Pye label was scheduled to expire. And since the band released three unsuccessful singles, Pye decided to drop the band.

The Searchers then continued, recording for Liberty Records and RCA Records. In 1971, they had a minor hit in the US with a single titled “Desdemona”, which only reached the number 94 position,

They continued to perform during the 1970s, playing their old hits and contemporary songs.

In 1979, Sire Records signed the band to a multi record deal, which produced two albums, However in spite of receiving critical acclaim, the albums hardly received any radio airplay and failed to enter the charts. Interestingly the albums did mange to revive the band’s career. However, when the band was ready to record a third album, the record label went through reorganization, and their contract was subsequently dropped. 

In 1981, they signed with PRT Records and began work on an album, which produced a single titled “I Don’t Want To Be The One”. But just like the singles released under Sire Records, it received very little radio airplay, plus it was not even stocked by most record shops. In December 1985, Mike Pender left the band after a farewell performance, to form a new band. The Searchers continued to perform on tour well into the 2000s. Original bassist Tony West passed away on November 11th, 2010 at the age of seventy two. John McNally suffered a stroke in 2018 and took time off in order to recover.

In 2018 the band announced that it would be retiring and ended their farewell tour on March thirty first, 2019. However there would be s few more farewell tours between 2021 and 2024.

The Searchers discography encompasses eight studio albums, nine extended plays, three live albums, and forty two singles.  

I’ll conclude this podcast with The Searcher’s cover version of  “ Love Potion No 9”.

This has been a look back at The Searchers, one of the bands that emerged from the British Invasion. And until next time, I’m your host Bill Price.