Of all the British Invasion bands, Liverpool's Searchers came closest to mining the same roots and territory as the Beatles. Working out of the same mix of early rock & roll and classic R&B, with a touch of British vaudeville and the Everly Brothers, the Searchers featured the jangling guitars and tight harmonies that were also Beatle trademarks. This disc captures the Searchers' early live sound on a recording made at the Iron Door club in early 1963. A tape of this 11-song set was transferred to acetate and used as a demo, which secured the Searchers a spot with Pye Records. Their first single for Pye, a cover of the Doc Pomus song "Sweets for My Sweet," originally recorded by the Drifters, is the lead track here, and the live club arrangement is essentially the same as the version that made the single a hit later in the year. The group covers two Chuck Berry standards, "Maybellene" and "Sweet Little Sixteen," with snappy energy, although their run-through of Hank Williams' "Jambalaya" is less successful. A version of Glenn Yarborough's "All My Sorrows" shows that the group already had an understanding of what would come to be known as folk-rock two years later. Interestingly, the Searchers tackle the British traditional pub song "Maggie Mae" here, a snippet of which the Beatles themselves covered six years later on the Let It Be album. Mastered from the original acetate demo, this release has a thin, compressed live sound similar to the bootleg releases of the Beatles' legendary Cavern Club dates. Die-hard fans of the Searchers will treasure this live set, but casual listeners would fare better with one of the greatest-hits collections.
For a rough demo recording done at a club after hours in 1963, the balance and fidelity is great. I love the echo that was added to the tape (probably by using a second tape recorder looped in) - it makes it sound all the more raw and athmospheric. Overall, the Searchers sound very much like they did on their first Pye album, but more relaxed and stompin'. I think this is my fave Searchers disc. There are precious few recordings that capture what the true sound of Merseybeat was like in the cellar clubs of Liverpool (the producers in London tended to water down the sound for mass consumption), so this is an invaluable document of the sound of Liverpool at its peak in early '63.
1. Sweets For My Sweet
2. All My Sorrows
3. Jambalaya
4. Rosalie
5. Darling Do You Miss Me
6. Maybelline
7. Sh' Know Enough About Love
8. Maggie Mae
9. Let's Stomp
10.Ain't That Just Like Me
11.Sweet Little Sixteen
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