The Searchers: Another Night: The Sire Recordings 1979-1981

Many of us remember the Searchers from 60’s hits such as “Needles & Pins”, “Love Potion #9“ and “When You Walk In The Room”. Eventually, their brand of pop fell out of favor. But, in the late 70’s and early 80’s, it was okay to make melodic songs with harmonies again.

So, Seymour Stein of Sire Records (the guy who signed The Ramones and Talking Heads) helped launch a comeback for one of power pop’s earliest practitioners. The Searchers released 2 albums for Sire, performing songs from some of the best songwriters of that time. Both discs have been released here along with a few alternate mixes and b sides. For those of us who cut our teeth on music from this period, this is a fantastic collection. While you’ll be captivated by great harmonies, the big takeaway here is how truly great popular music was at that time.

John Wicks and Will Birch’s (The Records) “Hearts in Her Eyes” is an immediate standout here. Other gems include John Hiatt’s “Ambulance Chaser” and “Back to the War”, Kursaal Flyers’ “Everything but a Heartbeat”, Mickey Jupp’s “Switchboard Susan” (made popular by Nick Lowe), John Fogerty’s “Almost Saturday Night” and Big Star’s “September Gurls”. All chiming guitars and harmonies, this disc is a pleasure to listen to and brings back some great memories.

Get it at Omnivore Recordings or Kool Kat Musik.