Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have had the very good fortune of recently listing to Spender James' CD - Breathe In Breathe Out. This CD is a breath of fresh air. The vocal performances are sterling and the mixing is the best I have heard to date from Spencer.

He takes the listener from a smiles to tears in this great collection of numbers including: Praying for Daylight; Dream Your Way To Me; Breathe In Breathe Out; I'm Not Supposed To Love You Anymore; Alright Already; The First Cut Is The Deepest; Grace of God; When She Cries; Missing You; A Cheating Heart; and Straight From The Heart. What I would have done to have been present during these recordings. Not only is the lead vocal brilliant but the background harmonies are silky smooth with a creative flair that will sweep you away on your first listening.

His version of When She Cries, sent shivers up my spine and is my favourite. Breathe In and Breathe out is a close second with most interesting guitar effects and a captivating modulation really makes the listener sit up and take notice. While country is not the genre of my first choice he has certainly made a believer out of me. I can hardly wait for his next release. Thanks for this great work Spencer.

With this talent to produce and perform I consider that he should drag the other Searchers kicking and screaming into the studio ... tomorrow morning. QED

Yes it is a good album Peter. I've been regularly playing tracks from it on the My Generation Radio Show. My personal favourite is Dream Your Way To Me. I must ask Spencer whether the instrument playing that little catchy riff is an acoustic or a mandolin

What I find with Spencer's albums though are that after listening to 2/3 tracks they all begin to sound the same, only an opinion of course and many would disagree. He does have a knack of finding good songs, though despite what some think including Frank Allen, he did not find the new numbers that have been introduced into the act over the years In Ths Life, Every River and others. arrangement wise songs on his CD's don't suit The Searchers sound. What is interesting and I don't know if anyone on the list has heard these but it is interesting to hear the recordings of Young Girl and The Rose that SJ made before he joinded the band and compare to the arrangement they do as The Searchers.

One song that Spencer and I did think would be great for the band some years back and in my view would go down a storm, especially given todays events, is a Gary Puckett number called Home, only weak part is one rubbish line but they could re-write that and fit something else in there. Surprised Spencer has not done it because he is a big fan of the song or was. To get new numbers into the act though you basically have to win John over.

Gary: "Dream Your Way To Me" is another great song. I am going with a mandolin. I have heard 12 stings with the capo well up the neck getting close to this sound, however, I am betting this is indeed a mandolin. Spencer is very close to the top of his vocal register during parts of this song.

Roy: You will get no strong argument from me that Spencer's vocals on BIBO deviate from the typical song recorded by The Searchers. My point is that he has the energy, stamina and technical talent to put together a great CD for The Searchers. It is a pity that they are so close to him and have not been able to tap into his skills for their own recordings.

I realize that he must want to do "his own thing" but some of his ballads with The Searchers singing as well would be first rate.

Perhaps some 12 string songs would capture the ear, imagination and heart of John McNally. Time for us to put our thinking caps on I guess, not that you haven't already done this of course.

a) Peter, could you kindly tell me where can i find this item on sale on the web?
b) Spencer IS cute! Not a single doubt about it... well, imho...

Thanks a lot, Gary. I'll try it as soon as possible.