Well, it's been a very hectic time indeed for The Searchers since they returned from the USA just a week ago. Despite this, Frank has found time to complete his report on the North American tour which is very interesting as always and also includes some great photos.

Firstly, there's exciting news about the “Very Best of The Searchers” compilation CD which was issued on by Universal on 12 May – it went straight into various retailers' Top Tens on the day of issue. However we will have to wait until the weekend to see if it's got into the “real” charts. There are of course many compilations already out there, but this one, being on a major label, has been advertised and promoted on national TV and radio, including two live appearances by the Searchers. Even if you already have the songs in one form or another, do think about buying this special new release as it would be really great for the Searchers to back into the album charts again.

I hope you had read the details in my two previous newsletters, and therefore were able to listen to the boys on the Johnnie Walker show on BBC Radio 2 last Sunday afternoon, the day before the release – here's a photo of them taken by Johnnie himself in the studio. It was a long and very good-humoured interview, and rather special to hear them do two live songs on the show - Love Potion Number 9 and When You Walk in the Room - both done with acoustic guitars which is something we never normally get to hear. Then, two days later, they appeared on ITV's “This Morning” show, where they were interviewed and also did a live medley of their hits.

On the CD front, an American label called Wounded Bird has just released two of the 1979/80 American versions of the “Sire” albums on CD – “Loves Melodies” and “The Searchers”. This is the first time these albums have been released individually on CD, although of course the Australian company Raven did release most of the tracks from them on one CD back in 1999. I don't think they're available in the shops here in the UK, but they are available from Amazon or HMV's website. However, if you're only able to buy one CD at the moment, do get the “Best Of” one, to try to get the boys back in the charts! The Sire ones will be still be available after your next pay packet!

As you'll see from the dates page, there's a summer of shows round the country coming up - a great relief for us UK fans to be able to see them again after all the foreign trips they've done so far this year. In particular it's good to see three big outdoor shows in the diary - the first one on 28 June near Dunmow, another on 2 August at the lovely National Trust property Cliveden, near Maidenhead (where a lot of the 60s Profumo scandal “action” took place!), and a huge multi-act show near Cannock on 10 August. The dates page currently goes up to the end of September, but the October to December will be on line at the beginning of June, if not before.

Finally, as most of you know, a Searchers Live DVD is now available - not only an actual show but also short interviews with the individual band members and a picture gallery. However it is only sold at the shows in the UK, I'm afraid. It's not available in the shops or from internet music retailers, so all the more reason to get to a show soon! As a taster, we've put the “finale medley” from the DVD on YouTube, and if you go to the main Searchers home page www.the-searchers.co.uk there's a direct link there to play it. I thought I'd mention this because I expect many of you go direct to the dates page, or the newsletters, without going via the home page, and so you may not have seen this clip.

Wendy Burton Website Editor/Co-ordinator 17th May 2008 e-mail: wendy.burton@the-searchers.co.uk