Chart entered : 13 October 1966
Chart peak : 48
The Liverpudlians were not the first beat group to receive their cards. The Merseybeats, Swinging Blue Jeans, Fourmost, Freddie and the Dreamers and most famously Gerry and the Pacemakers had all come and gone without getting into double figures. The Searchers' departure can be seen as the culmination of a process whereby the lesser lights of the beat boom were swept up leaving only the heavyweights still in the ring. It was no longer enough to have a guitar, bass and drums line-up; pop was moving on.
The band that exited the charts was only half the same one that entered them. Original bass player Tony Jackson quit the band early in 1964 having failed to establish himself as lead singer against the opposition of Chris Curtis. He was replaced by Frank Allen from Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers whom the band knew from their Hamburg days. Then earlier in 1966, drummer Chris Curtis quit after a tour of Australia and the Far East where his substance abuse had caused quite a few problems. His replacement was John Blunt. As far as the charts went they were clearly a declining force with their last three releases peaking at 35, 20 and 31.
"Have You Ever Loved Somebody" was an Allan Clarke song first recorded by The Everly Brothers on their Two Yanks In England LP earlier in the year which was written by The Hollies and they also acted as Phil and Don's backing band. The song later featured on The Hollies' own Evolution album. The Searchers speedily pounced on the song but so did Curtis as producer for Paul and Barry Ryan and they cancelled each other out, the twins peaking one place lower. For a song that was recorded by four different artists in the same year it's unremarkable, Clarke not being a writer of any great imagination. The Searchers take it at a fast pace - Curtis commented sourly that his replacement sounded like a rat running across the drums - and there's some nice fuzztone guitar but the guys' harmony sound is so 1963 that it's not surprising they were struggling.
I will deal with the post-chart fortunes of the band first before the adventures of the individual members. Their next single was "Popcorn Double Feature" at the beginning of 1967. The song was suggested by their producer Tony Hatch . The original was by an American, Tim Wilde ( about whom I know absolutely zilch ) and is quintessential psychedelic pop with a wildly over the top production and a promotional film featuring a tampon being set on fire. Hatch calms it down a bit with tasteful piano and strings replacing the phased brass, harpsichord and sitars. In a BBC radio interview Frank Allen expressed the hope that it would do well in America but it did nothing anywhere.
"Western Union" was a quickfire cover of a US hit ( number 5 ) by The Five Americans. Lyrically it's close to Memphis Tennessee and I think The Searchers' version has the edge particularly as it replaces the rather naff vocal impersonation of a telegraph with something electronic. It's actually pretty good Monkees-style pop but I guess the rot had set in by this point.
In November 1967 they finally put out a single with an original song on the A-side, "Secondhand Dealer", written by McNally and Pender. The song betrays a huge Kinks influence with a tale of an old man who dies after falling over in his shop. I think they were trying for some Eleanor Rigby pathos but it doesn't work. The lyrics are too prosaic, Blunt's drumming too intrusive and it ends up being rather laughable.
At this point their contract with Pye expired and despite ( as we have seen ) the label's normal willingness to sign up lame ducks, The Searchers were let go. They re-surfaced on Liberty the following year, paired up with American songwriter and producer Kenny Young who wrote all three singles they released on the label. It started well enough with "Umbrella Man" a charming song about protectiveness where Blunt's crisp drumming is augmented by handclaps and later, brass and strings compliment the falsetto chorus. It's a little over-busy but a good start. Unfortunately next came "Kinky Kathy Abernathy" which wastes a great bassline from Allen on a terrible attempt to climb on the bubblegum bandwagon. However it's a work of genius compared to their next one "Who Shot The Lollipop Man" which, remarkably, is far worse than the title suggests. This gruesome cod-calypso workout is so bad the band themselves realised it could kill their career stone dead and it was released under the pseudonym Pasha which, appropriately enough was the name of Young's dog. That drew the curtain on their sojourn at Liberty.
At the end of 1969 John Blunt left the band - I don't know the circumstances - and was replaced by Scottish session man Billy Adamson. Their hunt for a new label brought them to RCA in 1971. Their first single was the glam-lite "Desdemona" , written by the songwriting partnership of Harold Spiro and Valerie Avon who had recently been working with The Sweet and it shows. Nevertheless it gave them a very minor hit in America.
Their next single "Love Is Everywhere " was written by Errol Brown and Tony Wilson of Hot Chocolate and that influence is even more obvious. Only Pender's voice distinguishes it from classic HC . That said it's a decent song to give away and you get the feeling that The Searchers' name was now their biggest handicap. Incidentally, one of the producers was a young Phil "The Collector" Swern, now the mastermind behind Radio Two's oldies shows.
Their third attempt on RCA was a Pender-McNally-Allen song "Sing Singer Sing" in June 1972 which they also produced themselves. It's not atrocious in an early seventies Eurovision sort of way ; the melody's quite attractive but the would-be-an- anthem lyrics drag it down.
After these failures the band was in a weak position and succumbed to RCA's pressure to re-record their old hits for the nostalgia market. "Needles And Pins" was the single announcing the "Second Take" album. Not surprisingly Pye were unimpressed and sued although the release of a compilation of the originals was more effective in scuppering the album. After that RCA let them release a couple more singles but did little to promote them. The first was a version of Loggins and Messina's "Vahevala" , a more accomplished attempt at calypso with a great vocal from Pender. The second in 1973 - which I remember so it must have got some airplay - was the first crack at "Solitaire" which is more than decent if a little over-produced.
That was it as far as RCA were concerned and The Searchers were a touring act only for the next few years although the line-up remained intact and they refreshed the set with contemporary songs. Eventually they were rewarded with a new deal from Sire. The first new Searchers single for over six years was "Hearts In Her Eyes" in October 1979 , a cover of a song by US powerpop outfit The Records. The signing makes more sense when you hear it; the powerpop sound did hark back to the harmonies and ringing guitars of the mid-sixties so it's not hard to see why Sire might have thought their time had come round again. It was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales and sounds a lot like Dave Edmunds. pat Moran's rather murky production may have let it down. The appropriately-titled "It's Too Late" followed quickly on and sees them creeping towards an AOR sound with hints of Toto and REO Speedwagon.
On into the eighties they went and "Love's Melody" was a cover of pub rockers Ducks Deluxe's "Love's Melody" . It could easily pass for The Jags or The Lambrettas, the old lads not lacking in energy. In March 1981 they released "Another Night" and my God , post-punk influences are creeping in with a Cure guitar riff and I can hear The Police in there as well. It's not a great song to be honest but a good one to drop in if you're plotting a pop quiz. That was enough for Sire who let them go rather than finance another album.
By this time however the group had come to an understanding with Pye's successor company PRT to sell their compilation LPs at their concerts. PRT re-signed them but only committed themselves to release one single, "I Don't Want To Be The One" in November 1982. Again Pender sounds a dead ringer for REO Speedwagon's Kevin Cronin on the sort of synth-heavy soft rock Cliff Richard was doing at the time. It's competent but unmemorable. It got them an appearance on The Leo Sayer Show and as far as new material is concerned that was the end of their recording career.
The band continued to tour but by the end of 1985 Pender wanted to go solo and left after a farewell concert in London in December. His replacement was Spencer James from one hit wonders First Class. In 1988 they re-recorded some of their old hits for an album called "Hungry Hearts" on the little known Coconut label. The following year they had an unwelcome surprise when Mike Pender went out on tour with a band calling themselves Mike Pender's Searchers.
That more or less brings the story up to date although they've changed drummers twice with Adamson retiring in 1998 to be replaced by Eddie Rothe from a post-fame line-up of Mud and then Rothe quitting in 2010. Scott Ottaway a stripling of 38 years old replaced him.
So what did the departees get up to ?
Tony Jackson got a new deal with Pye and put a new band together, the Vibrations ( Ian Buisel- guitar, Martin Raymond-organ, Paul Francis-drums ), although his name was always out front. He got off to a decent start when their first single "Bye Bye Baby" a Mary Wells cover, charted reaching number 38 in October 1964 while his old bandmates were at number three with "When You Walk Into The Room". It's a reasonable record with some nice organ prompting but the melody's very similar to Shout and Tony seems to be doing his best to sound like John Lennon.
The follow-up was another Mary Wells number "You Beat Me To The Punch" although it was written by Smokey Robinson and Ronnie White. Tony arranges the verses to sound as much like "Needles And Pins " as possible and then seems to get lost when the rest of the song won't fit. It didn't chart. Before the next single he had a £200 nose job.
Inspiration running dry he recorded another version of The Coasters' "Love Potion Number 9 " as The Searchers' version hadn't been a single in the UK. It substitutes organ for some of the guitar work but otherwise is pretty similar; after all it's him singing on both. His fourth single in July 1965 was a Goffin / King song "Stage Door" and it's a big step up, a slow-building Gene Pitney-eque number about being in the shadow of a star with great piano work ( I don't know who by ) and a confident vocal. Unfortunately it got lost somewhere and Pye pulled the plug on him.
Tony took himself off to CBS and his next release in February 1966 came out under the name The Tony Jackson Group ( the Vibrations with Dennis Thompson, another guitarist, replacing Raymond ). "You're My Number One" , written by Mancunian songwriter Peter Cowap, sounds like John Lennon singing with The Byrds. That means sparkling guitar work but the song itself is a bit weak. On the next single the A-side, "Never Leave Your Baby's Side" is credited just to Tony, and isn't much cop, deploying over-loud blustering brass to try and disguise its lack of tune. "Follow Me " , written by American producer Bones Howe, is energetic psychedelic pop with someone singing counter-lines with Tony. Again it's the right sound but the song lacks melodic hooks. In November 1966 his last single was "Anything Else You Want" which is big and brassy but forgettable. His inability to find the right song had cost him dear.
After touring southern Europe for a while the band broke up and Tony worked variously as an entertainments manager, furniture salesman and golf club manager. He made a brief attempt at a Searchers revival group in the eighties but soon gave up. In 1991 he briefly reformed the Vibrations and oversaw a CD issue of their material. After that he made very occasional appearances with Mike Pender's Searchers until he was jailed in 1996 for threatening a woman with an air pistol. Once released, the arthritis in his hands got so bad that he couldn't play. Then his heavy drinking caught up with him and he was suffering from diabetes and cirrhosis of the liver when he died in Nottingham aged 65 in 2003.
While the band largely shrugged off Jackson leaving, Chris Curtis's departure was a major blow to their fortunes. Although the recent failures had weakened his position as the one who selected the songs , he was the only member with a public profile, the other three being anonymous men in suits who looked increasingly out of their time. Mod was retreating before the psychedelic tide, not to raise its head again until Quadrophenia.
After quitting the band Chris went to Sweden for a short while staying with Klaus Voorman then returned to London to record his only single, "Aggravation", a Joe South cover. Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones are also on the single, an uptempo pop number similar to Tom Jones with prominent female backing vocals bolstering Chris's nasal drawl. It's not bad but don't believe his wikipedia entry which currently says it was a number 19 hit. It didn't chart.
Chris's attentions were soon diverted by offers of work as a producer. He got involved with the Ryans through their stepfather Harold Davidson and wrote a B-side for them in tandem with Eddie Cochran's former girlfriend Sharon Sheeley.
In 1968 he met organist Jon Lord at a party and sold him on the idea of a new power trio, Roundabout. His choice of guitarist was Ritchie Blackmore and he arranged for him to fly over from Germany. When Blackmore arrived, he , Lord and Chris's manager Tony Edwards , decided to abandon the Roundabout idea - and Chris with it - and start Deep Purple instead. Of whom more later...
In 1969 Chris went to work for the Inland Revenue and stayed there until 1988 when he retired early on health grounds. In the mid-70s he and a colleague made some demos as Western Union but they never saw the light of day. He returned to Liverpool and sang and played at his church and on the local pub circuit but never traded on The Searchers' name or joined up with either faction. He died aged 63 in 2005.
Mike Pender's supposed solo career never got off the ground. His only recording since leaving the band has been a good-natured collaboration with fellow sixties flotsam, Reg Presley, Brian Poole, Clem Curtis (Foundations ) and Tony Crane ( Merseybeats ) as The Corporation on a version of The Showstoppers' "Ain't Nothing But A House Party" in 1989 . It got some TV exposure but nobody actually bought it.
Back in the nineties, a guy I walked with told me that Mike Pender's Searchers had been the guest band at some wedding or function he'd been to on the previous night. He wasn't the sort of guy who routinely dished out compliments but he said they'd been brilliant. He also said they'd played their new single but I can't find any evidence for them ever having a record deal. Either he got the wrong end of the stick or Mr Pender was being a bit premature in his announcements.
John Blunt hasn't left much of a trail but here's some snippets. He has a son called James who isn't the singing soldier but is a drummer. He toured Uganda and Turkey with the Ray Neale Band in the early seventies. He joined John and Frank on stage at a Convention in 2012.
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