Deltachord

The Searchers had a hit in 1963 Sweet For My Sweet, which leaped to the top of the UK charts. The Drifters originally recorded it and Mort Shuman wrote it.

They targeted a hit in 1964 with Needles and Pins, US. Chart #13 and British chart #1, co-written by Jack Nitzsche and Sonny Bono. It is my favorite Searchers song, competing with Love Potion Number 9, which hit the Top Ten in the U.S. The Beatles were the first group from Liverpool to score a hit and The Searchers were second.

Two six-string guitars are playing in the intro (Needles and Pins), which sounds like a 12-string, as the echo switch is still on because the engineer luckily forgot to turn it off and decided it sounded great, so it is said. They definitely had a unique guitar sound in 1963.

The were originally a skiffle group founded in 1957 by John McNally and Mike Pender. Apparently, they were John Wayne fans, as they got their name from his 1956 Western called The Searchers.

The group changed members many times, but the main members are John McNally, Frank Allen, Billy Adamson, and Mike Pender

As the members changed, the name sometimes changed too. The other names are Tony and The Searchers and Johnny Sardon and The Searchers.

The band had a residency at the Iron Door Club and sessions were taped, so that a contract came about with Pye Records. They also got a deal with Kapp records in the U.S.

In 1965 the fascination with The Merseybeat sound dwindled and only bigger groups like The Beatles (a Merseybeat group that developed other sounds) and other British Invasion groups like The Rolling Stones (with their blues based sound) survived as very popular bands.

The Searchers had good fortune in the late 70’s and Sire Records cut a deal for two albums: The Searchers and Love’s Melodies. Bruce Eder, All Music Guide says,”Those records, The Searchers and Love’s Melodies, were the best work the group ever did, highlighted by achingly beautiful yet vibrant and forceful playing and singing, and an unerring array of memorable hooks and melodies.”

The group had a sizeable audience well into the eighties. In 1985 Rhino released the Searchers the Greatest Hits.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Searchers_%28band%29
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2285
http://www.answers.com/topic/the-searchers-band
Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
http://www.tsimon.com/searcher.htm

See The Searchers Official site:

http://www.the-searchers.co.uk/

Hear The Searchers at:
http://www.rhapsody.com/thesearchers

Five for Fighting: 100 Years Performed by Five for Fighting. Single for voice, piano and guitar chords. G Major. 11 pages. Published by Hal Leonard. (HL.352716) See more info…

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 16th, 2007 at 2:39 pm and is filed under Merseybeat/Then/Now. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.