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http://home.rhein-zeitung.de/~mdenger/
Michael
Second Take LP
hum,
interesting record, anyway (it was the first i've found here so my attitude to it may be a bit biased). The guys has changed both the sound and the image and while i'm not sure about the former the latter was surely for better. Okay, to be true, the only real highlight of the album itself is 'Desdemona' (really cute), but the bonus tracks are a lot more interesting. 'Spicks and specks', 'I really don't have the time', 'The world is...', 'Madman', 'Indigo spring' - make your bet. To me, the most interesting, however, are the songs by 'unknown author' (my CD stops after 'Indigo spring', there are three others as far as i know). The major drawback of the record, however, is that the sound is a bit too 'sleek', and a kind of desperate feeling which surrounds the performances. I'm not really happy with the vocals as well, to my ear Mike Pender sounds a bit too arrogant.
And yes, it seems like it's not the Searchers you all knew back in 60s, it's just like some other band pretending to be the Searchers. Why do they go under the same moniker escapes me somehow. But the record isn't that bad, anyway.
interesting record, anyway (it was the first i've found here so my attitude to it may be a bit biased). The guys has changed both the sound and the image and while i'm not sure about the former the latter was surely for better. Okay, to be true, the only real highlight of the album itself is 'Desdemona' (really cute), but the bonus tracks are a lot more interesting. 'Spicks and specks', 'I really don't have the time', 'The world is...', 'Madman', 'Indigo spring' - make your bet. To me, the most interesting, however, are the songs by 'unknown author' (my CD stops after 'Indigo spring', there are three others as far as i know). The major drawback of the record, however, is that the sound is a bit too 'sleek', and a kind of desperate feeling which surrounds the performances. I'm not really happy with the vocals as well, to my ear Mike Pender sounds a bit too arrogant.
And yes, it seems like it's not the Searchers you all knew back in 60s, it's just like some other band pretending to be the Searchers. Why do they go under the same moniker escapes me somehow. But the record isn't that bad, anyway.
Nothing will get you dead quicker than being deadly serious about yourself.
Sheena
You must have version released on BGO version on Taragon does have 3 more tracks, Bite It Deep, Think Of My Life and Don't Shut Me Out only the latter here is any good. Funnily enough at a show back in 69 they introduced this song as their new single which would have been the Liberty period so I was surprised it turned up on the RCA stuff. Once asked John about tracks like bite it deep and think of my life he could hardly recall doing them or perhaps didn't want to discuss them, he actually does not have all tracks they recorded.
You must have version released on BGO version on Taragon does have 3 more tracks, Bite It Deep, Think Of My Life and Don't Shut Me Out only the latter here is any good. Funnily enough at a show back in 69 they introduced this song as their new single which would have been the Liberty period so I was surprised it turned up on the RCA stuff. Once asked John about tracks like bite it deep and think of my life he could hardly recall doing them or perhaps didn't want to discuss them, he actually does not have all tracks they recorded.
TODAY'S THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF YOUR LIFE
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jeff_zang
From what I've read about this album, it was pretty much forced on the Searchers at the time. In the liner notes John says that RCA was mainly interested in their old hits and didn't push the band at all. This is a crime when one hears "Desedmona", a track that shows the Searchers were quite capable of sounding comtemporary with the music of the early '70s. Considering it did make the Hot 100, it could have been much bigger if RCA had put any promotion behind it at all.
Of the other tracks, I do like "Don't Shut Me Out" which shows that the Searchers could rock a bit when necessary. "Spicks And Specks" is a shade over produced but again it's much heavier than one would normally expect the band to be and it's nice to hear a different side now and again. I'm not crazy about the re-recorded older hits as the band dosen't sound very happy redoing them, but I understand the circumstances and RCA really left them no choice about doing this.
Jeff Zang
Jeff Zang
Of the other tracks, I do like "Don't Shut Me Out" which shows that the Searchers could rock a bit when necessary. "Spicks And Specks" is a shade over produced but again it's much heavier than one would normally expect the band to be and it's nice to hear a different side now and again. I'm not crazy about the re-recorded older hits as the band dosen't sound very happy redoing them, but I understand the circumstances and RCA really left them no choice about doing this.
Jeff Zang
Jeff Zang
Welcom Jeff and a valid point although the RCA period was somewhat of a confusing one. The singles they released on RCA were good and as you say with promotion could have got them back in the charts, but as I wrote in one of the articles on "Clough Links" quite why the album Second take was ever done was beyond me, there were already a number of albums on the market from PYE with all the original hits and more, this album IMO was never going to sell annd seemed a uncommercial proposition.
The one thing you could say about it was that it was representative of the sound the band had in the seventies when playing the hits live
The one thing you could say about it was that it was representative of the sound the band had in the seventies when playing the hits live
TODAY'S THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF YOUR LIFE
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jeff_zang
Thanks Ray for the welcome. I didn't get to see them live until 1984. At that time they were doing a lot of the Sire material, their hits of course plus the odd tune for those of us whom are die hard fans. I remember them playing "Each Time" and also "Sick and Tired", and "Take It Or Leave It" which was especially good.
I like the picture sleeve for the Desdemona 45 and again I think it could have done a lot more. Frank was nice enough to answer my question on the website about the song. Evidently they did know it made the lower regions of the charts but they were unable to get a Stateside tour at the time which is a shame but so it goes.
Jeff
I like the picture sleeve for the Desdemona 45 and again I think it could have done a lot more. Frank was nice enough to answer my question on the website about the song. Evidently they did know it made the lower regions of the charts but they were unable to get a Stateside tour at the time which is a shame but so it goes.
Jeff