The Searchers - Sweets, Spice, Sugar, Pins & Needles

A compendium of harmony’n’jangle

Of all the Merseybeat chancers who found fame in the wake of The Beatles’ success, The Searchers were perhaps best equipped for longevity. When the public tired of opportunistic moptop mimicry, this was the band who looked beyond the Fabs’ coat-tails, capable of moving with the times and embracing new styles.

Even before they signed to Pye in early 1963, the band had tried on shirts of varying stripe, beginning as a skiffle group in the late 50s before proving themselves adept at R&B, country, rockabilly and soul, and finding steady work on the club circuit. Like most of the Liverpool acts of the time they lacked a strong songwriter, but made up for any perceived shortcomings with inspired arrangements of smart cover choices.

Sweets For My Sweet, their first hit single, completely overhauled The Drifters’ original with folk-influenced harmonies that owed more to The Everly Brothers or The Kingston Trio than street-corner doo wop, and added a deft guitar line that rang out across medium wave radio. Producer Tony Hatch exploited the confectionary theme when writing their next biggie, Sugar & Spice but, for the most part, the reinterpreting of American hits kept them ticking over, notably the back catalogue of Jackie DeShannon (Needles & Pins, When You Walk In The Room).

The jangle of Needles & Pins arguably paved the way for The Byrds in the US and, like Roger McGuinn’s men, The Searchers weren’t afraid to venture down more folky roads, their version of Malvina Reynolds’ gentle protest What Have They Done To The Rain? a case in point. And , though the hits eventually dried up, mainstays John McNally and Mike Pender kept the band going, enduring a few lean years on the cabaret circuit. A minor US success with Desdemona in 1971 gave them hope beyond the nostalgia treadmill, while the arrival of power-pop later in the decade returned them to a hipper spotlight.

Sire, the cooler-than-thou home of The Ramones and The Flamin’ Groovies, took a punt on the band, believing there was a market for one of the originators of the hook-fuelled radiofriendly sound getting so much attention in the music press. This great collection allows plenty of space for those late 70s rebirths, led by the sparkling Hearts In Her Eyes, written by Will Birch and John Wicks, and also committed to disc by their own band. The Records.

It may have been a short-lived revival, but it reminded punters that The Searchers were always a much stronger proposition than the 10-a-penny beat bands retreading former glories in chicken-in-a-basket clubs. Like their Manchester rivals The Hollies, the enduring appeal of The Searchers always shines through, this box set the natural progression from the single-disc greatest hits collection that found them back in the Top 10 last year. Only a fool would suggest there’s solid gold in every one of these 120 tracks, but the scrappy demos, the wilderness years misfires and the cruelly overlooked obscurities all play a part in telling the story of one of just a handful of bands that can rightly claim to be national treasures.

4 stars 4 stars 4 stars 4 stars

Sanctuary/Universal | tbc

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
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