Now ain’t this some bs. I was so prepared to link to this track from the Searchers on Spotify. Apparently, Sire really f’ed up the rights for the album this song, Love’s Melody, came from. Anyway, we’re doing it live. Now, talk about a redemption story! 20 or 15 years after releasing their most popular (and to be honest only good songs) “Needles and Pins” and “Love Potion #9”, after thoroughly getting destroyed by the Beatles and nearly everyone else in the pop market…the Searchers come roaring back in late 1978 out of nowhere and release some of the best power pop y’all are ever going to hear in their Sire Sessions Recordings album (a compilation of their The Searchers 79 and Play For Today/Love’s Melodies releases).
God knows how they did this, because for that time (1979-1980) a lot of the tracks they chose to cover were from really unheralded artists like Dave Edmunds, the Records, the Shoes, Big Star, Joe Jackson and many more. These are artists we know now, but back then they were extremely cult artists. Almost all of those tracks they chose were chosen brilliantly, and covered expertly. However, what took it to jaw-dropping territory is that their own compositions that they add here and there are as good, if not better than these power pop gods. I mean, they take their Merseyside jangle and teach their younger followers a thing or two. I’ll link from Youtube to one of my favorite tracks, a Searcher original. Sire will probably never re-release these tracks if they have their druthers, which is a shame because these tracks go directly to the heart.