These two albums (The Searchers and Love's Melodies) represent
the Searchers at their peak as a recording outfit, having maintained their original mid-'60s emphasis on excellent harmonies and crisply played guitars but also having absorbed lessons from such '70s pub-rockers as
Brinsley Schwarz and roots-rock expert
Dave Edmunds. The material is some of the most beautiful recorded anywhere in this era, and anyone lucky enough to spot a copy of either of these records -- neither of which has yet shown up on compact disc -- should grab them. ~ Bruce Eder