THE SEARCHERS EARLIEST RECORDINGS is the theme for chapter one

 

     John McNally              - aged 16

The Searchers made their first recordings early 1963, demo acetates to receive a record contract. The tracks as far as I heard them:

1. Sweets For My Sweet (leadsinger Tony Jackson)
2. All My Sorrows (Chris Curtis and Mike Pender)
3. Jambalaya (Chris)
4. Rosalie (John McNally)
5. I'll Be Missing You (Chris)
6. Ain't That Just Like Me (Chris with Tony and Mike)
7. Sweet little sixteen (Mike)
It can be clearly seen, that Chris was the mainspring in the group, singing most of the tracks. Another thing of interest: I'll Be Missing You is the same track that was released in 64. Then the composer credit shows the group including Frank Allen. Being the first single after Tony was out of the group they might have wanted to demonstrate how tight they were.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


From left to right: John Sandon, Chris Curtis, Tony Jackson, Mike Pender, John McNally.

To everyone’s surprise April 23rd, 2002 saw the release of the complete tape made almost 40 years ago. Castle Music issued the cd on its Sactuary label, cd number CMBCD 485.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The tracks it didn’t mention above are:

Sure Know A Lot About Love (Tony and Mike)

Maggie Mae (John)

Let’s Stomp (Tony)

Maybelline (Chris)

 

 
                                                   

               

This picture shows Sandon, Pender and Jackson, before he had bought his Hoefner bass guitar.