The Swedish Recordings: 1964 Versus 1967

[admin]

I have had the opportunity to listen to The Searchers' Swedish recordings recently and found the differences in the style between 1964 and 1967 to be quite striking. Listening to these two British Invasion "time capsules" reveals, at least in part, some of the reasons why the group lost its sparkle over these three years.

The 1964 recordings have a rough edge to them with the intense vocals of Tony Jackson being a standout. The Searchers, duing this time period, were a much bolder and in your face group of performers and to be fair were riding the crest of the Liverpool wave. Pender spent more time on lead guitar and McNally's rapid rhythm guitar was electrifying. It was also unusual to have a drummer as the frontman and Chris Curtis performed this role very well. The performance overall, at least from the audio perspective, was more dynamic and spontaneous.

The 1967 recordings have less intensity and to me lack the spontaneity of the 1964 period with a softer and gentler tonality that is less captivating and energetic than their earlier Swedish effort. The songs are more skillfully crafted with regard to the vocal harmonies and the radio station even adds reverb to assist in the "Western Union" cover. The drumming style is at times more of a standout, however, does lack a number of the qualitative signature rhythms that Curtis stamped out in the 1964 recordings.

A fascinating study in the development of the Searchers' sound, the Swedish recordings are an interesting part of the group's history. I prefer the earlier musical path that I consider was more more scintilating and refreshing and captured the allegiance of the audience in a heartbeat. The 1964 trip came at a time in the journey when four lads left on the high tide of the British Invasion for any and all ports. The return in 1967, while stylish, more sophisticated and ably fronted by the affable and charming Frank Allen, became more subdued as if the sun was setting on their musical horizon. I am wondering how others see these recordings.

[david]

I see not much comment has been generated on this fine CD since your posting February 18th 2002.I would like to ask how it fared in sales in England.Did it make the top 100?
The Swedish radio sessions style of event seems to have been inspired by the BBC radio sessions of the 1960's of which I have fond memories not only listening on the radio but occasionally being fortunate to snag the tickets that the BEEB offered on a first come first served basis.The quality of artist appearing was usually first rate and the radio studio setting had a nice intimate and interactive feel.The BBC sound engineers always did a wizard job with the concert productions as you might expect.

[admin]

David: I appreciate your comments. The Live Radio sessions are most interesting and provide rich historical information regarding the musicians' style and the enthusiasm shown by fans of the day. Did you take any photos back then or would you be able to write a short piece describing your experience?

[royclough]

David.

The CD never made THAT MANY RECORD SHOPS(DO WE STILL CALL THEM RECORD SHOPS OR ARE WE JUST GETTING OLD?)I do not have info on the charts these days , lost interest about 1970, but I doubt very much that it made the top 100.

What does encourage me or to some degree confuse me, is that some music exec's of large companies clearly feel there are valid commercial reasons and a market for these releases.

Frankly the releases would only be of interest to Avids

[david]

Sorry no photos available and my memory is hazy on this however Roy does raise an interesting question as to why or how the music execs based on sound commercial reasons are able to expand and update an artist's catalogue with releases that conceivably might have only limited appeal to a certain group of fans.Can anyone with knowledge of the record industry comment?

[dbailey62]

I can only assume that they didn't have to pay much for the tapes, certainly much less than what it would cost for new material.

If they can get the graphics done in-house, they can really keep the costs down.

I'm betting that they'll be happy to sell a few thousand copies around the world. I wonder if they have to pay royalties. I'm guessing not.

[tim]

They have to pay artistes royalties and composer royalties plus, I believe, there was a licensing fee to the radio station.