John Williams Remembers

admin · Post by **admin** » Sat Mar 02, 2002 5:40 am

John Williams of "Liverpool Tales from the Mersey Mouth" has recently written about the good old days in Liverpool and thoughts about being a famous musician. In the course of his tale he mentions Tony Jackson which will be of interest to Searchers' fans. You may read his article here.

admin · Post by **admin** » Sat Mar 02, 2002 10:02 am

I have given John Williams' article some thought and here are my comments.

John William's article, "Stuck in the middle with you..." takes Baby Boomers back to the early 1960s as he revisits the ruminations of many adolescents that rock stardom was to be their destiny. William's mother, hoping that he would not get caught up in the search for rock and roll fame, comments somewhat anxiously, "You won't try to be famous will you John." Shades of Aunt Mimi? While John confesses not to have had such a dream, on the other side of the Atlantic, thousands of miles away, I must confess I did.

Williams has a wonderful sense of humor as is evident in his descriptions of his self-proclaimed monotonic singing talent. Nonetheless, his brave attempts to sing "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" are most commendable and this is another experience that I have in common with him over the years. To be honest, I also played the guitar with my version. Loud and repeated playings of songs by artists such as Tom Jones also strikes a chord, although my microphone, unlike William's fine Dansette/Karakoe setup was imaginary. Unlike myself he does not mention watching his performance in the mirror, however, the public passing by did not hesitate to critique both of us. While William's did not procure a Fender, I did.

While there are many similarities in the way in which The Beatles' success affected both our lives, Williams had an adolescent encounter of the finest kind that escaped the 16 year old from the east coast of Canada. His mother spoke with The Searcher's Tony Jackson who lived just nearby in Liverpool. Imagine, whilst my mother was complaining of the racket, John Williams' mom was speaking to Tony Jackson, Liverpools' "Black Jake", and the lead singer that rocketed The Searchers to fame. Such an experience would have been enough for me to add at least another half dozen Searchers' tunes to my repetoire. John's mother had the sense that Tony Jackson abandoned the band. This is now duely entered in my temporal lobes for further consideration. Perhaps it may one day sway my current view that the band abandoned him.

Williams speaks of staying in the mainstream, being average and conforming as an almost universal standard of conformity that protects us from taking roads that lead to difficult or unfortunate times. For this we can thank "Mom". In a somewhat different vein I suppose myself and other other budding musicians in my neighbourhood in the 1960s learned something similar from both parents. "Have fun playing and singing like the Beatles but stay in school and keep your day job."

Many thanks to John Williams for taking me back to adolescence one more time. I am amazed how similar our developmental pathways were in the 1960s. I guess I have passed on the same philosophy to my children and wonder if John did the same. I disagree with Phillip Larkin, most parents do the best they can with the resources they have at the time. Of one thing I am reasonably sure that Williams and I agree, "those were the days my friend..."

carr · Post by **carr** » Sat Mar 02, 2002 2:29 pm

" John's mother had the sense that Tony Jackson abandoned the band. This is now duely entered in my temporal lobes for further consideration. Perhaps it may one day sway my current view that the band abandoned him. "

That was the story reported in the press at the time that Tony Jackson had left the band reportedy because he was no longer , or wouldn't continue to be the Lead vocalist"..........

I never saw them live in those days so cant comment on what was his contribution to lead vocals other than the first couple of hits

admin · Post by **admin** » Sun Mar 03, 2002 1:41 am

John: While the press did report as you have suggested, discussions with those who are closer to Tony would indicate that his departure was not entirely of his own doing.

carr · Post by **carr** » Sun Mar 03, 2002 9:13 am

It is my opinion that , had Tony continued as lead vocal, the life of the Searchers would have been limited. IMO his style and range was limited ( based on the little I heard ) The Pender/Searcher sound was much more commercial

admin · Post by **admin** » Sun Mar 03, 2002 10:46 am

Duly noted John. Your view is certainly backed up by the lack of chart success that Tony Jackson had at the time. I do think, however, that The Searchers would have had a number of successful hits with Tony and "When You Walk In The Room" is likely to have been a hit with Tony at the mike. Tony's Bye Bye Baby is an example of something that might have been a greater success had he remained with the Searchers. Tony had a raw voice and booming bass and coupled with his popularity he is likely to have had a few hits left in him. I think that his limited time with the Searchers must be considered a success. It must be said, however, that this viewpoint is probably moot in that personaliity issues are likely to have played the greatest role in his departure.

royclough · Post by **royclough** » Sun Mar 03, 2002 1:17 pm

It is all about opinions, but I believe The Searchers actually missed the vocals of Jackson, once the initial sucess of Needles and Don't throw your love away had began to falter withSomeday etc the next release. He could have given them a rougher edge to the sound whem the hits began to dry up, which, let's be honest, was only 6/9 months after he left.

Had You Beat Me To The Punch. Jackson's second single, had The Searchers name on it. I am convinced it would have been a big hit.

The Searchers never stamped their individual personalties on the publc like a lot of other gropus did. The name overall was the inpotant factor, as was to be realised in 1985.

jjr · Post by **jjr** » Mon Mar 04, 2002 12:50 pm

As I've said here before, losing Tony Jackson narrowed the options of what the Searchers could do musically. They became a mid-tempo harmony band (and a very fine one). Nothing wrong with that. But they never really "rocked", with the exception of a few album cuts (and "Hearts in Her Eyes") after he left. And they lost that rough edge you heard on "Shakin' All Over", etc. In the long run, I think it hurt them.

mygeneration · Post by **mygeneration** » Mon Mar 11, 2002 9:27 am

I think TJ made some excellent records after he left The Searchers, including the later ones for CBS. I just wish some label would reissue the TJ Best Of CD, or whatever it was called!

tim · Post by **tim** » Mon Mar 11, 2002 11:19 am

The STRANGE THINGS label issued an album in CD and vinyl formats at the begiining of the 90s. It included the 8 PYE tracks, the 8 CBS tracks and the 4 Portugese EP tracks. The liner notes were excellent. It was a great package. One minor drawback was that the CBS and Portugese tracks had to mastered from vinyl as the original tapes seem to have been 'lost' over the years. To get it re-released any record company would need to be convinced that there would be enough new sales to justify the effort and costs involved.

royclough · Post by **royclough** » Mon Mar 11, 2002 12:20 pm

How about a poll of the top Three TJ solo recordings. Five points for a number one , three for number two and one for number three.

I'll start us off. Peter if he thinks this is a worthwhile theme, will have to be schoolmaster

1 You're My Number One
2 You Beat Me To The Punch
3 Stage Door

admin · Post by **admin** » Tue Mar 12, 2002 5:49 am

Roy: These are my favourites from Tony's compliation CD.

1. Stage Door
2. You Beat Me To The Punch
3. Love Potion #9

royclough · Post by **royclough** » Tue Mar 12, 2002 8:09 am

Stage Door and You beat me to the Punch are in joint first place then, with 6 points each.

Can we have the points from the German Jury (Won't mean a thing to you guys across the water, but will to us Europeans).