THE
SEARCHERS EARLIEST RECORDINGS is the theme for chapter one
John McNally - aged 16
The Searchers made their first recordings early 1963, demo acetates
to receive a record contract. The tracks as far as I heard them:
1. Sweets For My Sweet (leadsinger Tony Jackson)
2. All My Sorrows (Chris Curtis and Mike Pender)
3. Jambalaya (Chris)
4. Rosalie (John McNally)
5. I'll Be Missing You (Chris)
6. Ain't That Just Like Me (Chris with Tony and Mike)
7. Sweet little sixteen (Mike)
It can be clearly seen, that Chris was the mainspring in the group, singing
most of the tracks. Another thing of interest: I'll Be Missing You is the
same track that was released in 64. Then the composer credit shows the
group including Frank Allen. Being the first single after Tony was out
of the group they might have wanted to demonstrate how tight they were.
From
left to right: John Sandon, Chris Curtis, Tony Jackson, Mike Pender, John
McNally. To everyone’s surprise April 23rd,
2002 saw the release of the complete tape made almost 40 years ago. Castle
Music issued the cd on its Sactuary label, cd number CMBCD 485.
This picture shows Sandon, Pender and
Jackson, before he had bought his Hoefner bass guitar. The tracks it didn’t mention above are: Sure Know A Lot About Love (Tony and Mike) Maggie Mae (John) Let’s Stomp (Tony) Maybelline (Chris)