With 121 tracks over four discs, this is an impressively thorough compilation of material from The Searchers. Their hits have been re-released in various best of and other compilations on a number of occasions, but their more obscure material has generally been overlooked and has been much harder to find. This compilation includes both the hits and the more obscure materian in a comprehensive overview of the bands career.
\nTimed to celebrate the band’s 50th anniversary, this 4 disc box set covers the whole span of their career starting with tracks from the 10\u201d demo LP that they recorded at Liverpool\u2019s Iron Door Club which includes the arrangement of \u201cSweets For My Sweet\u201d which helped win them their Pye recording contract.
\nThe set includes various live material recorded at Hamburg\u2019s celebrated Star Club in the spring of 1963, all the many UK and international hits they recorded during their time with Pye between 1963-67, plus various other EP and LP tracks and a number of collectors\u2019 oddities, including brief clips from a handful of BBC Radio interviews. After leaving Pye, the band recorded for various other labels and this colection includes some of this material including \u201dShoot \u2019Em Up Baby\u201d, versions of Neil Sedaka\u2019s \u201cSolitaire\u201d and The Bee Gees\u2019 \u201cSpicks And Specks\u201d), \u201cHearts In Her Eyes\u201d and \u201cLove\u2019s Melody\u201d, \u201cI Don\u2019t Want To Be The One\u201d and much more.
\nThe collection even includes some modern material – some recent live recordings
\nBringing the story fully up to date, the collection closes with a couple of 21st Century live recordings.<\/p>\n
The set comes with an impressive 64-page booklet featuring a substantial history of the band by rock music writer Bob Stanley, a foreword from Jon Savage, input from all of the surviving Searchers, plus a number of rare photos.<\/p>\n
It’s noticeable listening to these discs that the songs are so short compared to most songs these days – hardly any are over 3 minutes long, with most being slightly over 2 minutes. The advantage is that more songs can be included in the collection, and the songs certainly dont suffer from the short durations and in fact the style of the music does seem to benefit from keeping things short and snappy.<\/p>\n
It’s taken quite a while to listen to the whole of this collection, but it’s been very enjoyable – there really is some great stuff in this collection and listening to the album has been a real pleasure. Typing out the track listing – less so.<\/p>\n
This really is an impressive collection from one of the biggest Merseybeat bands of the 60s. They clocked up including six top ten hits including three number ones, and also had four top ten albums, and as you’d expect these hits are included in this collection. For any Merseybeat fan, and Searchers fans in particular this is a fantastic collection. <\/p>\n
A great release that would make a great addition to the collection of any Searchers or Mersybeat fan.<\/p>\n
Disc 1:<\/p>\n
1. Sweets For My Sweet (Recorded Live at The Iron Door Club, 1963)
\n2. Rosalie
\n3. Sho’ Know A Lot About Love
\n4. Let’s Stomp
\n5. Sweet Nothin’s
\n6. Learning The Game
\n7. Hey Joe
\n8. Sweet Little Sixteen
\n9. Sweets For My Sweet
\n10. It’s All Been A Dream
\n11. Alright
\n12. Love Potion No.9
\n13. Farmer John
\n14. Money (That’s What I Want)
\n15. Ain’t Gonna Kiss Ya
\n16. Since You Broke My Heart
\n17. Tricky Dicky
\n18. Where Have All The Flowers Gone
\n19. Sugar And Spice
\n20. Saints and Searchers
\n21. Don’t Cha Know
\n22. Some Other Guy
\n23. Listen To Me
\n24. Unhappy Girls
\n25. (Ain’t That) Just Like Me
\n26. Cherry Stones
\n27. All My Sorrows
\n28. Hungry For Love
\n29. Once Upon A Time
\n30. Needles & Pins
\n31. Saturday Night Out
\n32. Don’t Throw Your Love Away
\n33. I Pretend I’m With You\t<\/p>\n
Disc 2:<\/p>\n
1. This Empty Place
\n2. Where Have You Been?
\n3. It’s In Her Kiss (The Shoop Shoop Song)
\n4. Sea Of Heartbreak
\n5. I Count The Tears
\n6. Hi-Heel Sneakers
\n7. Can’t Help Forgiving You
\n8. I (Who Have Nothing)
\n9. Someday We’re Gonna Love Again
\n10. No One Else Could Love Me
\n11. Someday We’re Gonna Love Again (Alternative Take)
\n12. Bye Bye Baby
\n13. Watch Your Step
\n14. When You Walk In The Room
\n15. (I’ll Be) Missing You
\n16. What Have They Done To The Rain
\n17. This Feeling Inside
\n18. You Beat Me To The Punch
\n19. The System
\n20. Love Potion No.9
\n21. Fortune Teller
\n22. Chris Curtis Interview (BBC Radio Broadcast (Part 1))
\n23. Goodbye My Love
\n24. Till I Met You
\n25. Everybody Come Clap Your Hands
\n26. If I Could Find Someone
\n27. Magic Potion
\n28. Bumble Bee
\n29. Till You Say You’ll Be Mine
\n30. I Don’t Want To Go On Without You
\n31. I’ll Be Doggone
\n32. Stage Door\t<\/p>\n
Disc 3:<\/p>\n
1. He’s Got No Love
\n2. So Far Away
\n3. Chris Curtis Interview (BBC Radio Broadcast (Part 2))
\n4. When I Get Home
\n5. I’m Never Coming Back
\n6. Take Me For What I’m Worth
\n7. Too Many Miles
\n8. Does She Really Care For Me
\n9. It’s Time
\n10. You Can’t Lie To A Liar
\n11. Don’t You Know Why
\n12. Each Time
\n13. Four Strong Winds
\n14. Mike Pender Interview
\n15. Take It Or Leave It
\n16. Don’t Hide It Away
\n17. Aggravation
\n18. Have I Done Something Wrong?
\n19. Have You Ever Loved Somebody
\n20. It’s Just The Way (Love Will Come And Go)
\n21. Frank Allen Interview
\n22. Popcorn Double Feature
\n23. I’ll Be Loving You
\n24. Western Union
\n25. I’ll Cry Tomorrow
\n26. Second Hand Dealer
\n27. Crazy Dreams
\n28. Umbrella Man
\n29. Over The Weekend
\n30. Pussy Willow Dream
\n31. Shoot ’Em Up Baby
\n32. Suzanna<\/p>\n
Disc 4:<\/p>\n
1. Desdemona
\n2. Love Is Everywhere
\n3. Sing Singer Sing
\n4. Vahevela
\n5. Solitaire
\n6. Spicks And Specks
\n7. Don’t Shut Me Out
\n8. Hearts In Her Eyes
\n9. Switchboard Susan
\n10. It’s Too Late
\n11. Love’s Gonna Be Strong
\n12. Love’s Melody
\n13. Changing
\n14. Silver
\n15. Everything But A Heartbeat
\n16. Radio Romance
\n17. Another Night
\n18. I Don’t Want To Be The One
\n19. In The Heat Of The Night
\n20. Somebody Told Me You Were Crying
\n21. This Boy’s In Love
\n22. Every River
\n23. Seven Nights To Rock\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With 121 tracks over four discs, this is an impressively thorough compilation of material from The Searchers. Their hits have been re-released in various best of and other compilations on a number of occasions, but their more obscure material has generally been overlooked and has been much harder to find. This compilation includes both the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":295,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cd_reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}