Pop/Pop Psychedelia: The Stone Roses (20th Anniversary Collector's Edition, Silvertone) 3 Disc Box

 

Meshing '60s-styled guitar pop with an understated '80s dance beat, the Stone Roses defined the British guitar pop scene of the late '80s and early '90s. After their eponymous 1989 debut album became an English sensation, countless other groups in the same vein became popular, including the Charlatans UK, Inspiral Carpets, and Happy Mondays. However, the Stone Roses were never able to capitalize on the promise of their first album, waiting five years before they released their second record and slowly disintegrating in the year-and-a-half after its release.

The Stone Roses emerged from the remains of English Rose, a Manchester-based band formed by schoolmates John Squire (guitar) and Ian Brown (vocals). In 1985, the Stone Roses officially formed, as Squire and Brown added drummer Reni (born Alan John Wren), guitarist Andy Couzens, and bassist Pete Garner. The group began playing warehouses around Manchester, cultivating a dedicated following rather quickly. Around this time, the group was a cross between classic British '60s guitar pop and heavy metal, with touches of goth rock.

 Couzens left the group in 1987, followed shortly afterward by Garner, who was replaced by Mani (born Gary Mounfield) and the group recorded its first single, "So Young," which was released to little fanfare by Thin Line Records. At the end of 1987, the Stone Roses released their second single, "Sally Cinnamon," which pointed the way toward the band's hook-laden, ringing guitar pop. By the fall of 1988, the band secured a contract with Silvertone Records and released "Elephant Stone," a single that set the band's catchy neo-psychedelic guitar pop in stone.

Shortly after the release of "Elephant Stone," the Stone Roses' bandwagon took off in earnest. In early 1989, the group was playing sold-out gigs across Manchester and London. In May, band released their eponymous debut album, which demonstrated not only a predilection for '60s guitar hooks, but also a contemporary acid house rhythmic sensibility. 

The Stone Roses received rave reviews and soon a crop of similar-sounding bands appeared in the U.K. By the end of the summer, the Stone Roses were perceived as leading a wave of bands that fused rock & roll and acid house culture. (excerpt from allmusic.com)

Ich denke , für jeden der Pop Musik liebt, und ich meine wirklich liebt, ist das was die Stone Roses Ende der Achtziger Jahre gemacht haben, unentbehrlich. Für mich gibt es keine Band, die eine solche sanfte Pop Psychedelia kreiert haben. Als '89 ihr Album herauskam machten sie den späteren Brit Pop erst möglich. Wobei ich hier betonen möchte, das die Roses nie Brit Pop waren. Nicht im dem Sinne was nach ihnen folgte. Für mich gehören sie zu den unerreichten britischen Bands. Sie waren einzigartig und beeinflussen noch heute eine große Anzahl an Popbands.Sie waren wirklich einzigartig. 

 Zum Album: Disc 1: Das '89er Album remastered 2009, Disc 2: The Extras, Disc 3: The Lost Demos+ 5 Hidden Tracks, Booklet

I think for anyone who loves pop music, and I mean really loves pop music, what the Stone Roses did in the late eighties is indispensable.For me there is no band that created such a soft pop psychedelia. When their album came out in '89 they made the later Brit Pop possible. But I would like to emphasize that the Roses were never Brit Pop. Not in the sense of what followed them. For me they belong to the unrivaled British bands. They were unique and still influence a large number of pop bands today. They were really unique. 

About the album: Disc 1: The '89 album remastered 2009, Disc 2: The Extras, Disc 3: The Lost Demos+ 5 Hidden Tracks, Booklet

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Pop/Pop Rock/Folk Rock by 60's Sunshine Pop Siblings Cowsills: The Cowsills - Global (1998 Robin)

 

The Cowsills were the real world's Partridge Family. The talented Cowsills teens -- Bob, Bill, John, Barry, Paul, and Susan -- all siblings working along with their mother, Barbara, landed a number of hit songs during the '60s. Three decades later the renewed Cowsills, though smaller in number, began performing and recording music again. One of the group's later offerings is Global.

This bubblegum pop album carries 11 tracks, including "What About Love," "You've Got No Time," "Cross That Line," and "Under the Gun." All of the songs were co-written by Bob Cowsill and his wife Mary. Though the major record label the group had worked with before didn't bite on this deal, the Cowsills found a label, Robin Records, and plenty of old and new fans waiting for more pop music harmonies. (Charlotte Dillon, allmusic.com)

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Marvelous Power Pop from Australia: Pyramidiacs - Teenage Complications (1998 Rock Indiana)

 

Ich kann das Album nur wärmstens empfehlen. Die Band spielt kraftvollen, old school geprägten Power Pop mit einem ausgeprägten Gefühl für Harmonien und Melodie in den Songs. Viel Spaß (Frank)

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Pop/Pop Rock/ Folk Rock: Wilco - Summerteeth 1999 (2020 Remaster, Reprise)

 

Wilco evolved at remarkable speed after forming in 1994, almost immediately after the breakup of Uncle Tupelo. Their debut album, 1995's A.M., was an upbeat set of alt-country that bore few, if any surprises, but 1996's Being There was a major creative departure that moved far beyond the boundaries of roots music. 1999's Summerteeth was initially controversial among fans because it marked the spot where Wilco almost entirely abandoned the country influences that had once been the core of Jeff Tweedy's music.

Instead, Tweedy and Jay Bennett, who had gone from being the group's guitarist to manning a massive bank of keyboards and becoming Tweedy's primary collaborator in the studio, concocted a stunning set of off-kilter pop, suggesting a Midwestern fusion of peak-era Brian Wilson and Big Star's 3rd. ("Pieholden Suite" in particular is a lovely homage to the Beach Boys' Smile, then still circulating only in bootleg form.) At the same time, this brilliantly constructed pop music was also pop with a dark and troubling center; the violence at the heart of "She's a Jar" and "Via Chicago" is too blunt to avoid, and even the brightest moments ("Can't Stand It," "A Shot in the Arm," and "When You Wake Up Feeling Old") sound and feel emotionally out of balance, giving this a complicated emotional push-and-pull that reinforces the resonance of the performances.

 (The album's most lovable pop tune, "Candyfloss," significantly comes near the end of the set, bookended after a 20-second burst of silence.) While Wilco was inarguably Jeff Tweedy's band at this point, Summerteeth was the apex of his collaboration with Jay Bennett, even more so than 2002's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and while John Stirratt and Ken Coomer were their strong, reliable selves as a rhythm section, it's Bennett's keyboards and production smarts that give life to a set of great, uncompromising songs. If Being There was the album where Jeff Tweedy embraced all that was possible with Wilco, Summerteeth was where he closed the door on the past and boldly stepped into a very different future. (Mark Deming, allmusic.com)

For me the musically most beautiful, perhaps the best, but for Tweedy and the band certainly the most important. With this they cleared the way for everything to come. 

When the record came out and I heard it for the first time, it completely blew me away. And still today, one of the most important albums for me. Enjoy! (Frank)

Für mich das musikalisch schönste, vielleicht das beste, aber für Tweedy und die Band sicherlich das wichtigste. Damit machten sie den Weg frei für alles zukünftige. Als die Platte erschien und ich sie zum ersten Mal hörte, hat sie mich vollkommen umgehauen. Und auch heute noch eines der wichtigsten Alben für mich. Viel Spaß! (Frank)

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Great 60s inspired Pop Rock, Power Pop, 2 LP's : The Leopards - Kansas City Slickers (1977 Moon, 2011 Sing Sing) & The Leopards - Magic Still Exists (1987 Voxx, LP, Limited Edition, Reissue)

By 1977, the year of Kansas City Slickers? release, most bands had happily ensconced themselves in one niche or another--one was either Punk or Power Pop or New Wave or ---- (fill in the trend of your choice), but The Leopards fell into no such handy category. Kansas City Slickers was unique for its time--certainly no other record of its day sounds remotely like it--and remains so today.

Back then its uniqueness baffled critics who, in the few places where the album was actually reviewed, did little more than point to the album?s Kinks influence. While the influence of The Kinks, The Beach Boys, The Easybeats and other Sixties groups is indeed evident on the album, such a superficial assessment does not begin to do justice to the cornucopia of sound on Kansas City Slickers. 

 Recorded and mixed at Moon Studios - the basement of Dennis Pash's childhood home on Maggie Lane in Kansas City, Kansas - the production and music achieve a level of sophistication not often associated with basement recordings. Still, Kansas City Slickers retains its basement charm, protected from the sophisticated machinations of a professional studio by its lack of technology. (James Marinovich, Sing Sing Records)

On first listen, you’d swear that the 1977 indie album from Kansas City, Kansas is Muswell Hillbillies-era Kinks — and on second and third listen, as well. This talented foursome not only perfectly re-creates the Kinks’ klassic sound (complete with a spot-on Ray Davies vocal impression by main Leopard Dennis Pash), they also turn out originals that subtly rewrite various Kinks tunes without ever resorting to obvious lifts. Genius.

By the time the Leopards got around to releasing another album more than a decade later, the Kinks had a lower profile than ever, which makes Magic Still Exists a most welcome arrival. On its opening track, the hyper “Block Party,” the band threatens to stake out a style of its own; after that, Pash and friends get back to business, sounding as wonderfully Kinky as ever. Here’s hoping they do it again in 1999.(Ira Robbins / Scott Schinder)

Of course you can hear the influence of the Kinks, but the band manages to skillfully combine this with their own sound. The result is two albums that stand on their own and are simply great fun. Enjoy. (Frank)

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McCartneyesque Pop (and it's not a 'Rutles' joke) : Famous Groupies - Rehearsing The Multiverse (2019 Orange Records, 2020 ATOZ)

 

In the spring of 1970 — 50 years ago! — Paul McCartney retreated to his home near the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland, shortly after announcing that he was leaving the Beatles. He released his first solo album, McCartney, at the same time. The album was a mixed bag. Although he was lauded for such songs as “Maybe I’m Amazed,” so too was he wrongly bashed for penning what John Lennon called his “granny songs” — little ditties that just poured out him, half-finished, but charming in their own way. Songs such as “That Would Be Something,” “Junk” and “Teddy Boy” come to mind. McCartney ignored the press and kept on with his wife, the Lovely Linda (the title of another half-finished ditty), penning an album with her before some of the other Beatles could get out of the starting gate.

Fast forward to the present. Scotsman Kirkcaldy McKenzie is going through some old things of his grandfather, Patrick McKenzie, who was a session player in Scotland during the 60s and 70s. He discovers some half-written songs from the 70s — some were just ideas he had jotted down, and some were demos recorded on an old tape recorder. The younger McKenzie starts working on them, piecing them into coherent works and adding lyrics and music where they needed it, always keeping the era and his grandfather’s love of music foremost in his head.

The result is an album entitled Rehearsing the Multiverse, and the band is Famous Groupies, named after one of McCartney’s more eccentric songs. But there’s nothing eccentric about Rehearsing the Multiverse. It’s so reminiscent of that stress-free, life-on-the-farm McCartney era that you feel as if you’re listening to one of the former Beatle’s lost albums. Kirkcaldy McKenzie’s voice sounds eerily like Paul’s and is full of ebullience and innocence, like a young Emmitt Rhodes.

The songs themselves roll along like the Scottish hills, speeding along and slowing down at a pace that never seems too fast or too slow. The opener, “Don’t Bury Me” is an easygoing rock number reminiscent of “Eat at Home” from Ram, McCartney’s second solo album. “Wouldn’t that Be Lovely?” is a charming remake of “That Would Be Something,” even mentioning the simple life that McCartney longed for in that era in such songs as “Heart of the Country.” We All Fall Down” is another rocker that transforms itself into “Tonight,” a beautiful slow coda a la “The Back Seat of My Car,” before segueing into the highlight of the album, the rollicking ditty “Be There My Love.” Sounding like a better version of “Another Day,” the song gets into your head and won’t. Come. Out. It’s the worst earworm I’ve had in years, and the madness is thoroughly enjoyable. It’s clear that Kirkcaldy McKenzie is a McCartney fan — from the song “Wings” and the recreation of Wings’ Red Rose Speedway album cover (except McKenzie has an apple — an Apple! — covering his mouth instead of a rose) to his mention of Rita, the streetwalker that McCartney allegedly picked up before the most famous car accident that never happened – the one that marked the “Paul is Dead” phenomenon. “Coney Island Lily” is a mix of “Honey Pie” and some of Freddie Mercury’s Tin Pan Alley numbers from A Night at the Opera, and “What a Day” takes its introduction straight from “Blackbird.”

But to dismiss this as another Rutles album, a sheer imitation or parody of Paul McCartney, would be wrong. These are all originals culled from someone who was actually with Paul McCartney during the 1970s.

You see, there’s more to this story. Some of the old photos of Patrick McKenzie that Kirkcaldy found along with the unfinished songs were taken with Wings, with Linda McCartney as the photographer. This was someone who was clearly influenced by Paul, and his songs were an extension of that influence. It leads you to wonder: Did Paul help him with any of these songs? Or even more intriguing, did Patrick help Paul?

All Kirkcaldy has done, as Paul did with John Lennon’s “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love,” is to finish what his grandfather had started. And it’s a lovely romp through the 1970s. It’s hard to figure out who the real geniuses are here — Patrick McKenzie, Kirkcaldy McKenzie or Famous Groupies, who recreate the sounds of the early 1970s in a way that is both reminiscent and welcoming. Because you just don’t hear music this fresh and melodic today.

In the liner notes, McKenzie invites us to put on our headphones, close our eyes “and time travel back to the golden age of music when almost everything you heard on the radio was ridiculously melodic and crafted with care.” Apparently, Rehearsing the Multiverse is just a taste of what Kirkcaldy has with his treasure trove of his grandfather’s collection while he was with Wings. Let’s hope he mixes another batch of songs together soon and gives us another peek at this wonderful era. (https://hooksandharmony.com)

''This album is dedicated to my Grandfather. Seanair Patrick "Paisley" McKenzie.

For without him none of these songs would have ever been heard.'' Kirkcaldy McKenzie

Is this Macca, is it Patrick, is it Kirkcaldy? 😃 Enjoy. (Frank)

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Power Pop/Mod Pop : The Jetz - Cracked Up (2015 Queen Mum Records)

 

Featuring the first all-new recordings from the band since their recent reformation, this is an album that sounds remarkably vital, living-up to the reputation of their legendary 1977 single ‘Catch Me’ and almost bursting at the seams with great pop-tunes. With all five original members still onboard, their mix of Glam, powerpop and spikey energy is still intact, along with catchy lyrics that relate various tales of everyday life with great singalong choruses.

The 70s

The whole album has a real vibrancy and sounds as if they were thoroughly  enjoying themselves as they made it. The best comparison I can make is with the early Carpettes records, although there are plenty of other references you could make… (early) Beatles, Eddie & The Hot Rods, ‘Shake Some Action’… If only there was a radio station that would broadcast music like this to a wide audience, I’m sure that a lot of people would love it. But lacking that kind of ideal situation, just take note and make sure you hear this album. Play it loud and get into it… There’s nothing about it you won’t enjoy ! (fearandloathingfanzine.com)

A great power pop, mod pop album. There is nothing more to add. Recommendable. Enjoy. (Frank)

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Psychedelic/Garage/Pop Rock : Fever Tree - San Francisco Girls 1968-70 (2003 Gear Fab)

This CD not only contains Fever Tree's 1968 self-titled debut long-player, but also an additional seven previously unreleased sides, including a live version of the group's sole charting effort (it reached number 94), "San Francisco Girls (Return of the Native)." The initial incarnation featured Rob Landes (keyboards/woodwind), Dennis Keller (vocals), John Tuttle (percussion), E.E. Wolfe (bass), and Michael Knust (guitar), as well as their patrons Scott Holtzman -- who was one of Houston's top pop DJs -- and his wife Vivian Holtzman.

The pair were no strangers to music publishing, either, having worked with the likes of Tex Ritter and even Walt Disney during the 1930s and '40s. Not only did they provide promotional and presumably financial assistance, they also wrote several of the band's best tunes, including the aforementioned "hit" "San Francisco Girls (Return of the Native)." In addition to strong originals, Fever Tree also chose exemplary covers. Among them are Buffalo Springfield's "Nowadays, Clancy Can't Even Sing," Wilson Pickett's "Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)'," and an intriguing medley of the Beatles' "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out." This particular coupling is worth mentioning as the songs in question were the respective "A" and "B" sides of the same 45 rpm single. 

Contrasting the psychedelic pop leanings are the introspective "The Sun Also Rises," as well as the brilliantly noir and surreptitious "Unlock My Door." Internal conflict began a history of perpetual personnel alterations for Fever Tree, with both Landes and Tuttle leaving prior to the second outing, Another Time, Another Place (1969). No specifics on the bonus material are given; however, the inclusion of Al Jarreau's "You Don't See Me" -- which wasn't issued by the jazz vocalist until the late '70s -- leads to the conclusion that the supplementary sides are from subsequent incarnations. Although the liner info could be considered skimpy at best, the sound quality is thoroughly excellent. Since the band's first two LPs are available on the two-fer title Fever Tree/Another Time Another Place (1997), San Francisco Girls (2003) is more for the hardcore collector and enthusiast rather than the casual listener. (Lindsay Planer, allmusic.com)

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60s inspired Power Pop/Jangle Pop/Pop Rock : The Sneetches - Obscureyears (1994 Rev-Ola)

 

The Sneetches were one of the handful of bands in the U.S. playing classic British Invasion-inspired, mid-'60s West Coast-sounding guitar pop in the late '80s. Their short run of albums and singles never had a large audience, and they never found the major-label success they desired, but the band remains a hidden pleasure for fans of witty, melodically rich pop music.

The band was formed in San Francisco by the duo of vocalist/bassist Mike Levy and guitarist Matt Carges, both of whom had previously spent time playing in punk bands and wanted to move in a softer direction. Beginning in 1985, the duo set about recording a demo tape that sounded like a lo-fi take on Herman's Hermits' tuneful nature mixed with the burnished soul of the Beau Brummels. The songs made their way to the U.K., where the Kaleidoscope Sounds label released an eight-song EP titled Lights Out with the Sneetches. By this time drummer Daniel Swan, formerly of the British punk band the Cortinas, had joined the lineup and the band began playing local clubs. They signed to new local label Alias and hit the recording studio. The resulting album, Sometimes That's All We Have, was released in 1989. After initially playing bass on-stage, Levy switched to guitar, which meant they often played live with no bassist. To fill the gap, another British expat, Alec Palao, joined up. (It was Palao who had gotten Kaleidoscope Sounds' boss Joe Foster interested in releasing the band's demos, and had also been instrumental in convincing Creation Records to release Sometimes That's All We Have in the U.K.)

Alejandro (Alex) Palao

The quartet's next trip to the studio resulted in 1989's Please Don't Break My Heart single, which contained a peppy take on the Monochrome Set's classic "He's Frank." That same year, the Sneetches launched a cross-country tour of the U.S. and hit the studio to record their second album, Slow, a more experimental and arranged record. It was released by Alias in 1990. That same year, they toured the U.S. again, collaborated with power pop heroes Shoes at their Illinois studio, and visited the U.K., where they played with John Cale and the Monochrome Set. Over the next couple years, they had the honor of backing ex-Flamin Groovies guitarist Cyril Jordan on a run of concerts, while also recording sporadically. The results of the sessions were released as singles on Bus Stop (1992's "And I'm Thinking," 1993's "A Good Thing"), Elefant (1993's "Sunnyside Down"), and Jellybean Sounds! (1993's "She May Call You Up Tonight") ...(excerpt from the Sneetches Bio by Tim Sendra, allmusic.com.

I found the album, a collection of singles by the band, on the web a few years ago (thanks to the original uploader). I had never heard of the band before, but was thrilled by their sound. And I was surprised that it was the band of Alex Palao (writer, musician, historian, archivist and music consultant), who of course was known to me as a collector of sixties music.

But long story short: I like the album very much and can only recommend it. I wish you as much fun with the music as I have. (Frank)

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Beat, Pop, Pop Rock, Power Pop, Folk Rock: The Searchers - Hearts In Their Eyes - Celebrating 50 Years Of Harmony & Jangle (2012 Universal UMC) 4 Disc

Hailing from Liverpool, the Searchers were one of the many bands on the Merseybeat scene that enjoyed international fame in the wake of the Beatles' breakthrough. The group's trademark sound was bright, tuneful pop with ringing 12-string guitars and strong harmony vocals which gave even their covers of American R&B hits a touch of sweetness that made them hard to resist.

 The Searchers were also one of the most enduring Merseybeat acts, forming in the late '50s and continuing on into the 2010s, with guitarist John McNally a constant presence throughout their history, and bassist Frank Allen by his side from 1964 onward. Early hits such as "Sugar and Spice," "Needles and Pins," "Love Potion Number Nine," "When You Walk in the Room," and "What Have They Done to the Rain" defined the group's approach, and they rarely strayed from it, still sounding fresh on 1972's Second Take and falling in with the power pop bands they influenced on 1979's The Searchers and 1981's Love's Melodies. And while the group's bread and butter from the late '60s onward was live work, the band's professionalism and commitment to their music helped them remain a viable attraction decades after their first success on the sales charts.

Founded in 1957 by John McNally (guitar/vocals), the Searchers were originally one of thousands of skiffle groups formed in the wake of Lonnie Donegan's success with "Rock Island Line." The Searchers' immediate competitors included bands such as the Wreckers and the Confederates, both led by Michael Pender (guitar, vocals), and the Martinis, led by Tony Jackson (guitar/vocals). By 1959, McNally and Pender were working together as a duet; later in the year, Jackson joined as the lead vocalist. After drummer Norman McGarry left the Searchers he was replaced by Chris Crummy, who quickly renamed himself Chris Curtis.

Other changes were in the works as Jackson built and learned to play a customized bass guitar. Learning his new job on the four-stringed instrument proved too difficult to permit him to continue singing lead, and McNally and Pender brought in a fifth member, Johnny Sandon (born Billy Beck). Johnny Sandon & the Searchers lasted from 1960 through February of 1962, and were extremely popular on the dance hall and club circuit in Liverpool. Sandon cut out for a career on his own, with another band called the Remo Four in early 1962.

Meanwhile, the Searchers, now a quartet with Jackson once again lead singer, became one of the top acts on the Liverpool band scene, playing textured renditions of American R&B, rock & roll, country, soul, and rockabilly. The group was signed to Pye Records in mid-1963 and their first single, a cover of the Drifters' "Sweets for My Sweet," was released in August of 1963, hitting number one on the British charts. While the Beatles quickly outdistanced all comers, the Searchers did, indeed, go to the top of the charts with two of their next three singles, "Needles and Pins" and "Don't Throw Your Love Away."

Another record, "Sugar and Spice," written by their producer Tony Hatch under the pseudonym Fred Nightingale, stalled at the number two spot. Over the next nine months, the band staked out a sound that was one of the most distinctive in a rock scene crawling with hundreds of bands. Their music was built around the sound of a crisply played 12-string guitar, coupled with strong lead vocals and carefully, sometimes exquisitely arranged harmonies, so that they could credibly cover American R&B standards like "Love Potion No. 9" or Phil Spector-based girl group pop like "Be My Baby." 

Their 1964 singles included a venture into folk-rock before the genre had been "invented" in the press, in the form of a cover of Malvina Reynolds' "What Have They Done to the Rain." Interestingly, their 12-string guitar sound would become a key ingredient in the success of the Byrds, who even took the riff from "Needles and Pins" and transformed it into the main riff of "Feel a Whole Lot Better."

In July of 1964, with the group riding the upper reaches of the British charts, and with their third album in nine months in release, it was announced that Tony Jackson was leaving the Searchers to form his own band, and would be replaced by Frank Allen, who had been playing bass with Cliff Bennett & the Rebel Rousers. The turning point for the band came in 1965, as the British and international fascination with the Liverpool sound faded away. The Searchers began casting their net wider for material to cover, in addition to coming up with one original hit, the Curtis/Pender-authored "He's Got No Love." By the beginning of 1966, the group's string of chart hits seemed to have run out, and Chris Curtis exited in early 1966, claiming to have become exhausted from the group's constant touring. 

The Searchers, with Johnny Blunt on drums, continued working and had their last hit, "Have You Ever Loved Somebody," which barely cracked the Top 50 in October of 1966. The group continued working, however, playing clubs and cabarets in England and Europe. Blunt exited at the end of the '60s, but was replaced by Billy Adamson, and this lineup of the Searchers continued intact until the mid-'80s, working for 35 weeks a year throughout Europe with an occasional U.S. visit. Although they played as part of Richard Nader's "Rock 'n Roll Revival" shows, they never became an "oldies" act, always adding new material, including originals and covers of work by songwriters such as Neil Young to their sets, and in 1972, the band cut an album for British RCA.

At the end of the '70s, their recording fortunes were revived once again as Seymour Stein, the head of Sire Records, signed the Searchers for two albums. 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. Those two albums were followed by a series of tracks recorded for their original label, Pye Records, in the early '80s.

The group held their audience well into the '80s, playing before crowds as large as 15,000 along one U.S. tour. In 1985, after playing together for 26 years, Pender and McNally split up, with McNally continuing to lead the Searchers (with Adamson and Allen, and with Spencer James added on second guitar and vocals), while Pender formed Mike Pender's Searchers, consisting of Chris Black (guitar, vocals), Barry Cowell (bass, vocals), and Steve Carlyle (drums, vocals). The Searchers under McNally recorded on occasion, releasing their last album, Hungry Hearts, in 1989. The two versions of the Searchers toured extensively into the 2010s, both featuring shifting lineups.

Fast sechzig Jahre im Musikbusiness, mit allen Höhen und sehr vielen Tiefen. Diese Band hat jeden Dollar, jedes Pfund, jede D-Mark, jeden Euro oder was auch immer, mehr als verdient. Ich ziehe meinen Hut, verbeuge mich und sage von ganzem Herzen Danke an diese grandiose Band.

Viel Spaß. Enjoy! (Frank)

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