Customer Reviews

The Very Best of The Searchers

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Searchers were part of the 60's British Invasion that included The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Dave Clark Five, The Kinks, The Animals, etc. The Searchers had a number of standout hits which are included on this compilation such as "Love Potion Number Nine", "Sweets For My Sweet","Sugar & Spice", "Needles & Pins" and "Don't Throw Your Love Away". The Searchers had a knack for combining great vocals with extremely catchy melodies. How can one not like, for example "Don't Throw Your Love Away" (one of my favorites) or their rendition of "Love Potion Number Nine"? This cd has been remastered and the sound quality is excellent. The songs, by the way, are all in mono except for one stereo track. The Searchers will go down in rock history as one of the better of the numerous groups from the ever popular 60's British Invasion. Highly Recommended!

It's interesting reading comments about the disappointment in this CD being in Mono; with the exception of one track. I have to thank other reviewers for complaining; otherwise I would never have found this CD.

THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR! When The Searchers were at their peak......my Westinghouse Table radio was in Mono.......my Delco car radio was in mono. That's the way I heard them. I don't want stereo trickery. Vocals out of the right and bed tracks out of the left. That was cute in the early days of Stereo. Not for my memories. I would have given this 5 stars if there were far more tracks.

I love this CD and had a heck of a time finding it. I must admit that when mine arrived the DVD audio title on the the cover was missing. I guess this is not DVD audio. But heck who cares? It's BACK TO MONO BABY!

Unless you like mono, you are much better off with the 2004 "Collection" CD, which has all the Searchers' hits in true stereo (remastered by Steve Hoffman from the original Pye Master tapes - he did all those great DCC gold CDs). All tracks on this "Very Best of" are mono, except for one track (one of the reviewers below, who claims all tracks are in stereo, must be on drugs, or working for this CD label).

I listened to this CD, a dual-sided one (issued, at least in Canada, as Silverline Records 284570-2), twice over, shortly after having purchased it. The Searchers, which started as a skiffle group, were one of the singing quartets that were part of "the British Invasion" ("Merseyside") trend. They recorded more "cover" versions in their output than some of the more influential Merseyside groups, among which the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, and the Hollies were the most long-lastingly important. However, the Searchers` vocal blend is as perfect as any of the others; this was a group of real musical quality. The Searchers just didn`t have quite the edge and individuality (at least in the recording studio) of musical and verbal inflection in handling the tunes and words compared to what the real kingpins of Merseyside did with the songs which they recorded, or even compared to the Monkees` way with a song (referring, of course, to the English group of that name, not to the Toronto studio group of similar appellation but of limited renown and of budget label dimestore-targeted sales).

The visual-music side of this disc has nice still images, but really does not add anything essential to what it has to offer. Get this one if you already have the essential recordings of the Beatles, of the Hollies, and of Gerry and the Pacemakers. You will enjoy it, if you give it a chance.

The stereo mix and mastering of all these tracks are fantastic! This is one of the better remastered CD's out there if you're like me, and suddenly get the urge to own about ten best of packages of artists from the British Invasion. The Searchers didn't have many Top 40 hits in America, but they did have about three very import songs and all three of them are in this collection:

Needles and Pins (#13) 1964
Don't Through Your Love Away (#16) 1964
Love Potion Number Nine (#3) 1965

The rest are not so familiar, but are still great songs if you are one to embrace the British Invasion as I do.

Anyway, if you're like me, you can't just have one CD of an artist from the British Invasion. I just went nuts one day and ordered about 10 or 12 collections from various British Invasion artists, which include:

Gerry and the Pacemakers
Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas
Herman's Hermits
The Animals
Chad and Jeremy
Peter and Gordon
The Hollies
Them (featuring Van Morrison)
The Zombies (a cool 4 disc set)
The Dave Clark Five
The Kinks
The Rolling Stones
Bee Gees
Petula Clark
Dusty Springfield

Of course, I already had all The Beatles that I need, so having that and all these CD's shuffling in my CD Carousel make for hours of British Invasion bliss.

About 20 years ago, Rhino Records had a 9 CD collection of the The British Invasion which included many one-hit-wonders and cool obscurities. If you are one to have that collection, I am certain that you are the envy of many. I was too stupid to realize that I should have kept it.

Great music from the 60's; you can understand the words and at a reasonable volume. I knew most of the songs, but I can see where they might have done as well as the Beatles did.

Update (8/04): the one you need is The Collection (SACD Hybrid).
Having a great British Invasion CD library starting in Europe, I readily became very interested in this offering. I will not spend time talking about the music because enough has been documented: the Searchers were a GOOD band and underrated in their short time in the limelight. I had a German Teldec (Searchers Hits collection) which unfortunately was underpar. I later obtained which in my opinion was the standard, that is The Searchers Greatest Hits (Rhino 1988). All the great singles are here in TRUE stereo from the first generation tapes. This Castle Music CD is dissapointing. Reviewer Barrycrist is incorrect: only one selection is stereo; the rest are MONO.
Summary: pass on this one and go for the Collection.

THIS CD DID NOT STAND OUT TO ME...MINUS THE MORE POPULAR SONGS....BUT IT IS WORTH THE $$ IF YOU ARE A DIE HARD SEARCHERS FAN??
FROM MY SIDE OF THE FENCE:)