This issue is about the Searchers 7th Pye single WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO THE
RAIN (Malvina Reynolds) b/w THIS FEELING INSIDE (John McNally)
Three nice shots from Ready Steady Go - performing What Have They Done…
|
COUNTRY |
LABEL+No. |
REL.DATE |
PIC.COV. |
CHARTS*WEEKS |
|
UK |
Pye 7N 15739 |
11/1964 |
no |
13 * 11 |
|
US |
Kapp 644 |
1/1965 |
no |
29 * 8 |
|
Germany |
Vogue 14277 |
12/1964 |
yes |
24 * 5 |
|
Sweden |
see UK |
1965 |
yes |
7 * 8 |
|
Denmark |
see UK |
1965 |
yes |
unknown |
|
Australia |
Astor AP 1087 |
1964 |
no |
didn't chart |
|
Italy |
Pye 45NP5077 |
1965 |
yes |
unknown |
|
Japan |
Pye LL 799 Y |
1965 |
yes |
unknown |
|
Ireland |
see UK |
1964 |
no |
didn't chart |
|
Netherlands |
see UK |
1964 |
yes |
25 * 9 |
|
South Africa |
Pye 19 |
1964 |
no |
Top Five |
|
Philippines |
Pye ??? |
1964 |
no |
unknown |
| The A-side was mainly sung by
Mike supported by Chris and Frank. Different to the ususal instrumentation
Chris played bongos (which he found a bit funny on TV) and the group used
strings, prior to the Beatles. According to Record Collector "This was
radical departure from the normal beat group sound of the time, and it was a
measure of the bands popularity that it reached as high as no. 13." Once
again the group had been very innovative - a thing ignored by most people. The flip side - sung by Mike - has a catchy melody, nice vocals and good lead guitar throughout the whole song. This is also John McNally's first recorded composition (although credited to the whole group). He really has a feeling for good melodies. |
above: promo UK and US
below: Netherlands (still with Tony!) and Germany
above: Denmark and Italy
below: Philippines and Australia
The single also appeared on three eps: Spain (see below), Sweden, Japan and the
UK (this one will be in the next chapter - as it is combined with the next single)
Japan: What..., Love Potion No. 9, It's In Her Kiss & Bumble Bee, released in June 1965,
no.: LSS-302-Y - this had to be played at 33 rpm.
In Germany What.. was only the b-side. Vogue made one single out of a British and an
American (Love Potion...) success.
What... was the last single of the Searchers' most successful year, 1964. They had 5 hits,
two at no. 1, one top ten hit and two top twenty songs. Four eps and their three lps were
in the charts as well.
And they had managed to survive after the first personnel change in a major group of the
time.