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| The Searchers third Pye Lp is the theme for this chapter. |
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Trying to make as much money out of the group as posssible they had to record a third lp. It was intended to call it IT'S FAB! IT'S GEAR! IT'S THE SEARCHERS, but ended up as
IT'S THE SEARCHERS. The release date in the UK was April 1964. It entered the lp charts on May 30th went to no. 4 and stayed for 17 weeks. This was better than SUGAR & SPICE lp had done.
Only in Germany the album was released with the same tracks, but
simply called THE SEARCHERS. Here it was on the VOGUE label, catalogue no. was LDV 17008. |
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Although the back cover tells us WHO SINGS WHAT there have to be done some corrections: Mike sings lead on IT'S IN HER KISS; SEA OF HEARTBREAK; SHIMMY SHIMMY, NEEDLES AND
PINS, CAN'T HELP FORGIVING YOU and DON'T THROW YOUR LOVE AWAY (often supported by Chris). The rest of WHO SINGS WHAT (I hope you can read it) is correct.
SURE KNOW A LOT ABOUT LOVE (a remake of their Star Club recording) is the last Tony Jackson
vocal for the group). HI HEEL SNEAKERS is John's first Pye solo. |
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Far left: German label, side one.
Left: Canadian cover of IT'S THE SEARCHERS, listing the tracks of MEET THE SEARCHERS.
Down: Back cover of that Canadian LP, listing
the right tracks but the WHO SINGS WHAT part tells about NEEDLES & DON'T THROW which are both not on the lp.
This shows how much Pye Canada cared!!! |
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Other releases:
US had THIS IS US as a regular LP (KAPP 1409 mono and 3409 stereo) and as a mini LP* (Kapp KBS 985, stereo). Tracks from PYE LP: WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, THIS
EMPTY PLACE(*), HI HEEL SNEAKERS, IT'S IN HER KISS(*), I COUNT THE TEARS, CAN'T HELP FORGIVING YOU, SEA OF HEARTBREAK(*). The other tracks came from singles or other lps. (The covers could have been seen in an earlier issue of my page.)
GREECE brought
out SOUNDS LIKE SEARCHERS (no.: NPL 15001, cover like the UK one) in 1965 with tracks from IT'S THE S..: HI HEEL SNEAKERS, GONNA SEND YOU BACK TO GEORGIA.
JAPAN released the album LOVE POTION NO. 9 in May 1965 (no.: PS 1188 Y) cover same as IT'S ...
Used tracks: HI HEEL SNEAKERS, IT' IN HER KISS, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, SEA OF HEARTBREAK, THIS EMPTY PLACE, CAN'T HELP FORGIVING YOU. |
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The album has been rereleased many times as lp and cd. The only one I show you here is the first one from 1968. In this form it came out in the UK in stereo and mono and in
Canada in stereo.
Two remarks: four tracks are left out, always the first two tracks from each lp - side. The reasons are simple, first it came out on the low budget label MARBLE ARCH which means less tracks for less money. Second those four tracks
only exist in mono.
The cover shows something else of interest:
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Frank Allen who wasn't a Searcher by the time of recording and Chris Curtis who wasn't a Searcher anymore by the time of release. Would have been more honest to show the group
who recorded the lp or at least the current group with John Blunt.
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| THE EXTENDED PLAYS (EPs) |
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This ep came out in June 1964 and included three songs from IT'S THE ... plus a new song the group recorded as the title track for the British film "The System". The
Searchers themselves were only to be heard over the credits but not to be seen. The title track was sung by Mike with strong back-up vocals by Chris and John. The ep entered the ep chart December 10th, 1964, went to no. 4 and stayed 18
weeks.
Australia had the same ep on ASTOR NEP 24201, also released in 64. The front cover was taken from the lp, the back cover was same as the English ep.
Spain released two songs from IT'S THE ... on the ep "WHAT HAVE THEY DONE..." on Pye
PYEP 2067 in 1964. They also used the lp cover for the ep. Parts of the back cover can be seen below. |
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In Japan the group had only one ep, released in June 1965 on Pye LSS-302-Y and used IT'S IN HER KISS (to be played with 33 rpm). |
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| The Single(s) |
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Although NEEDLES & PINS and DON'T THROW YOUR LOVE AWAY were successful singles, they were not taken from the lp (like today). They were hits before and then included. Maybe
to raise sale figures but I think the main reason was that the lp would have been much too short with the12 new tracks. And it looks good to advertise 14 tracks on the cover, you get much for your money, even if you buy some songs twice.
Only the
Netherlands took one song from that lp and released it in 1965. The b side was the successful LOVE PTION No. 9 but in Holland the single got nowhere. |
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