''Second Take'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band

The Searchers ''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas-Native American wars, and stars John Wa ...

and the first with drummer Billy Adamson. Album consists of re-recordings of their earlier hits as well as their last US hit single "

Desdemona Desdemona () is a character in William Shakespeare's play ''Othello'' (c. 1601–1604). Shakespeare's Desdemona is a Venetian beauty who enrages and disappoints her father, a Venetian senator, when she elopes with Othello, a Moorish Venetian ...

" from the previous year. Guitarist and vocalist

Mike Pender Michael John Prendergast (born 3 March 1941), known professionally as Mike Pender, is an English singer and guitarist. He was an original founding member of Merseybeat group the Searchers. He is best known as the lead vocalist on many hit s ...

takes the lead as singer on all of the tracks. ''Second Take'' is also the band's first self-produced album.

Overview

"Desdemona" brought the Searchers back into the charts in the summer and autumn of 1971. Single entered the US

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

, reached No. 94 and stayed for three weeks. On Cashbox went even higher to No. 79. and the song reached No. 28 on Detroit's radio "Keener 13" hitparade (

WKNR WKNR (850 AM) – branded as ''850 ESPN Cleveland'' – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland. Owned by Good Karma Brands, WKNR is the Cleveland affiliate for ESPN Radio and the AM flagsh ...

). So it had been successful enough for RCA Victor to release new album by the group. Although the band had some strong new material ("Love Is Everywhere", "The World Is Waiting for Tomorrow"), they set about re-recording 10 hits of their

Pye Records Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherhoo ...

-era and featured only two songs that were originally released on RCA singles "Come On Back to Me" (B-side of "Sing Singer Sing") and of course "Desdemona". "We did the remakes because we wanted to clear the path to recording some newer stuff, but I don’t think RCA was ever interested in anything but the old hits,” said guitarist John McNally. "Second Take" was issued in November 1972 on RCA Victor SF 8298. Despite the success of "Desdemona" in the US, the only other countries that released the LP were Germany and South Africa.

International version (Needles & Pins)

Although the album didn't chart, RCA give the second chance to it and released new version on their budget label RCA International on July 6, 1974. This time under the title "Needles & Pins" and with the new cover art. The LP failed to chart again. Moreover, Pye Records (who released compilation LP "The Golden Hour Of The Searchers" in the same year) checking the contracts and realized that the Searchers could not re-record the old hits for another company. RCA eventually settled and paid Pye an override.

Colin Escott Colin Escott (born August 31, 1949) is a British music historian and author specializing in early U.S. rock and roll and country music. His works include a biography of Hank Williams, histories of Sun Records and The Grand Ole Opry, liner notes ...

, ''Second Take, The Complete RCA/UK Recordings'' (CD liner notes), ''Taragon Records , 1999.

Track listing

Personnel

The Searchers *

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

* John McNally –

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

, vocals * Frank Allen – bass, vocals * Billy Adamson –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Additional musicians and production * David Paramor – producer ("Desdemona" only)

References

{{Authority control The Searchers (band) albums 1972 albums