Searchers - Take It Or Leave It (1966, DES Stereo Remix, 2024)

It was Mick Jagger and Keef Richards who wrote "Take It Or Leave It" in 1966. John Lennon and Paul McCartney visited an early Rolling Stones' recording session and the two bands became friends, despite pop papers stirring up a non-existent rivalry that at least guaranteed healthy publicity for all concerned. Though the fledgling Dartford band noted how the Beatles chief songwriters pushed their compositions like hustlers, there were few complaints when the Stones' basic but exciting take of "I Wanna Be Your Man" achieved their first Top Twenty placing. So - if those popular scousers could do it, so could they. Write songs that is.
First attempts were less confident, Mick and Keef adopting nom-de-plumes of "Nanker" and "Phelge" to disguise who wrote some of their early efforts. Don't be hard on yourselves boys - everyone's got to start somewhere. As things improved they wrote songs for others under their real names, with jackpots coming with Gene Pitney's "That Girl Belongs To Yesterday" and the number 1 "As Tears Go By", recorded by Jagger's then-girlfriend, the slightly angelic and later slightly naughty Marianne Faithfull. All this while enjoying skyrocketing success with their opwn smash hits and number 1's like "Satisfaction", "Get Off Of My Cloud", Paint It Black" and more. Even Cliff Richard and the Shadows' had a punt, tackling their interesting "Blue Turns To Grey", though attaining a mere number 15 meant it would be the last association for a while.
Come 1966, the initial V8 thrust of Merseybeat had blown itself out into a 2-stroker chugging uphill. Newer R'n'B and early psychedelia bands and concepts squeezed the reliable Merseyside-driven Beat Boomers away from the charts. One of the Beatles' more popular 'rivals' were the Searchers who, despite never really getting their own songwriting onto many A-sides (the superb "He's Got No Love" aside), had remained extremely popular on most fronts - despite being the first band to have a split credited to 'musical differences' when Tony Jackson departed in 1964. Jackson was popular and this minor blip saw the group dip out of not only the Top 2, but als out of the Top 10 for the first time.
Two years on and things had definitely changed. No longer Top Twenty regulars, the Searchers released the rather defiant-sounding "Take It Or Leave It". It was a marked departure from their more regular love songs yet against the expectations of some this daring choice did give them their final Top Thirty UK hit. It might not be one of Jagger and Richards better moments, though the choruses with those trademark Searchers harmonies do make this worth a listen. Splitting the mono mix bunched the original drums on the rhythm track with the snare drum overdub into one, which makes them both feel rather more cohesive by being in one place in the stereo field overall. Fiddling with the settings allowed bringing the drums and bass up overall, whereas the original stereo mix back in the day sounded very disparate and weakened.
Users of the 45Cat website tend to rate the flipside written by Frank McNally, Mike Pender and Frank Allan, "Don't Hide It Away", higher than the A-side, depite it's top 30 status. The Hollies supplied The Searchers next record, with new drummer Johnny Blunt crashing away on the brilliant and more exciting "Have You Ever Loved Somebody". Life isn't fair - how that only just dented the Top 50 to give them their final Top 50 entry, I'll never know. Never trust those darned pop pickers.

[@johnrobertson8263]

Choon

[@bryanpalmer9660]

Good song,nice work on the mix,but I much prefer "Have you ever loved somebody" and "Western Union",two songs which should have much better than they did(Western Union was a sizable hit on our charts here but largely a miss other countries) and remember them both thanks for the work Auckland New Zealand 2024

[@adiebarrett]

Thanks for that! Their "Have You Ever Loved Somebody" is an awesome slice of pop. It's on my list but will have to keep that one in reserve for now because I've mislaid my CD for the moment...

[@robertlangley1664]

Don’t remember this record,not one of my favourite songs