Sugar and spice and all things nice - kisses sweeter than wine

Continuing my trip back through the 1963 album charts.

01/12/63 : Sugar And Spice - The Searchers


Oh look, another album from this lot, making it 4 out of 5 for the year for Liverpool-based bands (compared with only one album which featured any women). I've very much expecting this to be similar to their last album - and to suffer somewhat by being visited so soon afterwards.

Yeah, it's pretty much more of the same, although the tracks are a lot less recognisable - the title track and "Saints And Searchers" (which you'd know as "When The Saints Go Marching In") were the only ones I recognised, with the rest of the album just drifting past me. So yes, it's definitely a case of diminishing returns - but it was unlucky I met it the day after their previous album.

We're at #5 in the charts this week on their fourth week of a thirteen week run, with this being as high as it got. The rest of the top five were The Beatles (starting a TWENTY ONE week run at the top), The Beatles, The Searchers and Gerry & The Pacemakers - yup, it was a clean sweep for that Merseybeat sound. We did at least manage a new entry this week, with Chuck Berry storming in at #19.

Wikipedia tells us it's their second album and was pretty much rushed out because their debut did so well. Like their debut, it was produced by Tony Hatch, who also wrote the title track (wow - an original track!). He wrote it under a pseudonym because he thought they'd be more likely to take it - they still didn't like it, but he pretty much told them to record it anyway. I also learned that "Some Other Guy" is another track recorded by both The Searchers and The Beatles - there was a lot of sharing going on in those days. Critically, we only have a five star review from Record Mirror and there's no word on commercial performance, but we learned last time that half of these tracks made it on to their debut US release that got to #22. 

discogs.com tells us you can pick up an original copy of the album for £2.50 but if you want a mint copy then it's £60 - it seems mad that mint copies of anything exist from 63 years ago. I'm sure it brings back fond memories for some, but I certainly don't feel the need for this - it's by some distance the least essential of the albums we've met so far this year.

08/12/63 - Yet another Liverpool-based band

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