Video Saturday - The Searchers

Video Saturday again, how quick they come around, and this week its the turn of The Searchers.

Why ?

Simply because Smooth Radio (simply the ace-ist station on DAB) had an interview this week with Bill Kenwright, one-time actor, producer and now theatre impressario, and in his opinion The Searchers were exponents of the true "Mersey Sound" of the 1960's, even more so than The Beatles, and Bill Kenwright should know as he went to school in Liverpool with John Lennon.

So, "Needles and Pins" then, from 1963, guitar band, smart suits, songs you can whistle to, hard to imagine that the sight of these pleasant young lads would inspire outrage in the heaving busoms of suburbia back in the early sixties, I mean look at those haircuts, they want to get a bloody haircut most of 1960's middle class British suburbia would cry, National Service wouldn't do them any harm they'd moan, didn't do me any harm they'd whine, yes dear their wives would add, apart from losing your leg in Korea that is, yes dear, apart from losing my leg in Korea they'd admit, apart from that though...

The Searchers had several hits in the 1960's, managed by the rascal record producer Tony Hatch who presented them with several hit songs to record, written by a man called Freddie Nightingale, Hatch creamed his producers share off the top whilst omitting to mention to the band that the writers royalties paid to Freddie Nightingale were actually finding their way to a bank account in the name of Tony Hatch, being that he and Freddie Nightingale were the same person.

Like many popular beat combos of the sixties The Searchers struggled to change with the music, just five years after this song their smart suits and ties were a million miles away from the loon pants, kaftans and Beatles inspired psycodelia and they were consigned to being just another "former popular" band doing the nightclub cabaret-with-chicken-in-a-basket circuit and they still play there today albeit in two configurations, a fate shared by many "former popular" groups of the sixties and seventies - perhaps The Beatles were right to disolve their partnership in 1970, I just can't see "Paul McCartney's Beatles" playing Batley Frontier Club to an audience of twenty fans and 400 bored punters waiting for the bingo to start.