No offence, Tim, as I know you participated in compiling the tracks (fine job you all did as well), & the idea was to represent all facets of their oeuvre. As the old saying goes, "opinions are like arses: everybody's got one!"
I just have a natural aversion to synth-pop; if I may mention another saying from here in the
States - offered in good humor, & with apologies to our British cousins - "giving synthesizers to the English was like giving whiskey to the Indians." <g>
bw
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BUDDY WOODWARD & THE NITRO EXPRESS
"Honkytonk, Bluegrass, Roots-Rock & a Damn Fine Potato Salad"
[email protected] - www.buddywoodward.net
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The Searchers' 40th Anniversary CD
First and foremost it was good to have a new release even if only die hard fans would have bought it. As Buddy so eloquently put it "opinions are like.....". My two pennyworth as we say over here, is that an opportunity was missed to include two tracks from the Sire period that were never put on the Sire Sessions CD, even though it stated all Sire recordings, perhaps and I accept may have been a licensing issue,the "in This Life" cut on the Concert For Colin CD, which is a good "live" recording could have been included to represent The Searchers as they are today, hard to believe the Coconut recordings are now 14 years old.
TODAY'S THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF YOUR LIFE
If RAVEN could have found those unreleased SIRE tracks I'm sure they would have put it on their CD. I doubt that licencing would have been a problem (I suspect that using "In This Life" from the 'Live' CD may have given them more trouble in this respect.)
The synth work on the COCONUT tracks was of course done by our German friends. I too would have preferred it if this album was cut using 'traditional' musical instruments, but it just wasn't to be.
The synth work on the COCONUT tracks was of course done by our German friends. I too would have preferred it if this album was cut using 'traditional' musical instruments, but it just wasn't to be.
The Searchers are the best!
Tim
Your comment surprises me, the tracks were NOT unreleased, the tracks I refer to were "A Little Bit Of Heaven" and "Sick & Tired" neither appeared on Raven release. I believe two tracks had to be sacrificied so to speak to keep within the constraints of a single CD, what I did take issue with, being purely pedantic , was the "blurb" "Every track they recorded at Sire". Even John McNally was dismayed to some degree that the former song was dropped, probably because he wrote it. The licencing I refer to, but probably did not put succintly enough, did refer to "In This Life".
The Coconut album was clearly a total departure from the sound we avids knew but then again it was vocally to be honest, with departure of Mike Pender. They were right to try it though with the hope that it could give them a new lease of life, albeit only in Europe, due to it's limited availablity here in UK and it was never released in the states, although you may be able to correct me on that point as I am not 100% certain.
Your comment surprises me, the tracks were NOT unreleased, the tracks I refer to were "A Little Bit Of Heaven" and "Sick & Tired" neither appeared on Raven release. I believe two tracks had to be sacrificied so to speak to keep within the constraints of a single CD, what I did take issue with, being purely pedantic , was the "blurb" "Every track they recorded at Sire". Even John McNally was dismayed to some degree that the former song was dropped, probably because he wrote it. The licencing I refer to, but probably did not put succintly enough, did refer to "In This Life".
The Coconut album was clearly a total departure from the sound we avids knew but then again it was vocally to be honest, with departure of Mike Pender. They were right to try it though with the hope that it could give them a new lease of life, albeit only in Europe, due to it's limited availablity here in UK and it was never released in the states, although you may be able to correct me on that point as I am not 100% certain.
TODAY'S THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF YOUR LIFE
Sorry Roy, my mistake. I thought you were referring to "Ambulance Chaser" which (apparently) was left in the vaults.
As far as I know "Hungry Hearts" was only released in Europe. The copies on sale in the U.K. were imported from Germany (which is probably a bit pedantic of me).
What we could do with is an independent compiler tieing together all the loose ends and getting us all the LIBERTY tracks remastered on CD plus the aforementioned "Ambulance Chaser" AND "In The Heat Of The Night" from the PRT days.
As far as I know "Hungry Hearts" was only released in Europe. The copies on sale in the U.K. were imported from Germany (which is probably a bit pedantic of me).
What we could do with is an independent compiler tieing together all the loose ends and getting us all the LIBERTY tracks remastered on CD plus the aforementioned "Ambulance Chaser" AND "In The Heat Of The Night" from the PRT days.
The Searchers are the best!