— David Hepworth
The Beatles were massive. They made their hometown of Liverpool known outside of the UK, starting a trend of British bands being associated with where they come from much more than most American acts. Obviously they influenced music profoundly but so, too, did they affect fashion, hair styles and the use of recreational drugs. With their early success came a bevy of Scouse acts, most of whom were run by their manager Brian Epstein. John Lennon and Paul McCartney gave originals to fellow Liverpool act Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas and they were chums with Gerry & The Pacemakers and Cilla Black. But one Liverpool group that didn't seem to orbit them was The Searchers.
The Searchers are probably the one Merseyside group that could have been big even if The Beatles hadn't existed. They didn't share much in common with other groups and were managed by someone other than Epstein. They didn't benefit from Lennon/McCartney originals to give them a footing in the charts and didn't even have the luxury of recording a Beatles' reject. True, they got booked at a club in Hamburg because the Fab Four had already been there and the Liverpool connection likely went some way towards landing a record contract in 1963. Yet, they still managed to do so without Epstein, without George Martin and without strong songwriters. The group that could easily have remained a local concern made it big on their own steam — at least for a while.
In the post-Lennon/McCartney shake up, it became much more commonplace for members of bands to write their own songs. After being gifted a Top 20 hit with Beatles' cover "I Wanna Be Your Man", Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham famously locked Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in a room, demanding they write a tune of their own. Groups were suddenly self-sufficient and thrived at the chance to earn royalties and it spurned greater creativity as the sixties progressed. Legit groups wrote their own songs, pathetic, boring bands relied on covers and everyone knew it. Yet, The Searchers couldn't or wouldn't follow suit. Their penchant for older American rock 'n' roll standards may have quickly seemed quaint but it helped them string together an impressive run of hits. But like all the other Merseybeat acts that didn't feature John, Paul, George and Ringo, their time would eventually be up.
Their popularity dried up but they never quite broke up and were able to be more than just an oldies act playing the cabaret circuit. If they never exactly changed with the times then at least they were able to survive as themselves. While longtime members Frank Allen, John McNally and Mike Pender finally took up songwriting, their output still depended heavily on the work of others. "Love's Melody" had originally been done by pub rock favourites Ducks Deluxe as a single from their second album Taxi to the Terminal Zone. Their version has some nice subtleties and it sounds like they put a lot of care into the recording and production. It's a strong performance that finds that sweet spot between roughhouse bar band and tender soulfulness. It even makes me want to explore the Ducks, especially after I discovered that keyboardist Andy McMaster also wrote the fantastic "Airport" by The Motors.
The Searchers took "Love's Melody" and went about making it sound as much like The Searchers as possible. All those check marks that favour the Ducks Deluxe original go out the window but there are still elements to admire and enjoy. Most obviously, Pender's vocals are first rate and well above the throaty cries of lead Duck Sean Tyla. Indeed, those warm and welcome Searcher backing vocals are also present and correct. It also chimes like mad. While not the same kind of live powerhouse as the Ducks, The Searchers do a commendable job playing with some drive. The drums boom all over the place and it's clear they've been schooling themselves on new wave and power pop. Yet, it's very much a Searchers record.
There's something charming and refreshingly unpretentious about the way The Searchers made music. They took songs they liked and made them sound their way. The idea of composing their own material mattered less than making the records they did record sound the right way. It didn't matter if they were doing something by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, Jack Nitzsche and Sonny Bono, Tony Hatch, Andy McMaster or Alex Chilton; it only mattered that they were The Searchers. While everyone else was busy trying to sound like The Beatles, they were content to make everyone sound like them.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Cheap Trick: "Everything Works If You Let It"
While I will always retain a certain soft spot for the band that did "Surrender", there's no question that Cheap Trick didn't have an endless supply of top material and were in decline long before they went the dreaded power ballad route with 1988's "The Flame". Proof that turning up the volume to eleven can't hold a boring record back, you'd think that having George Martin helming the production would have held them back a bit but he so-called fifth Beatle had an even patchier post-1970 career than any of his famous charges. It's a decent song though and it makes you wonder what The Searchers might have done with it.
No comments:
Post a Comment