Junk Box Jury

Taken from the LP ‘The Four & Only Seekers’ | (Music For Pleasure MFP 1301) 1969

When the Seekers announced that they were going to break up the group, the reaction from their thousands of fans could only be one of complete astonishment—how could four singers at the peak of their careers, with a cluster of number one hits to their names, turn their backs on one of the greatest pop success stories of recent years?

For the Seekers themselves, the reasons were obvious: they had long ago decided that as soon as the demands of the pop business began to play a greater part in their lives than the music itself, they would disband the group.

This stage had inevitably been reached; their last appearances as a group were at London’s ‘Talk of the Town’ restaurant, with a final, fantastic farewell concert on BBC Television.

The Seekers started as a semi-professional group, singing folk-songs at dances and in coffee-lounges; they were engaged at hotels and night-clubs in Melbourne and Brisbane, and soon made their first appearances on television.

When one of the original (all-male) Seekers left the group, they had little difficulty in deciding who to choose as the new singer—Judith Durham had been singing for a year with a traditional jazz band and had established herself as Australia’s leading jazz/blues singer.

The Seekers | “The Water Is Wide” | Music For Pleasure

Soon the group were living up to their name (which was taken from an Australian pioneer sect)—they took a job with an Australian Cruise Line, and eventually they sang their passage to the United Kingdom.

Most people would have laughed then at the suggestion that an unknown folk-group from Australia could have conquered the British charts, but the Seekers brought with them an unbeatable combination of talent and repertoire and a professionalism which most beat-groups could never come near to.

They were soon singing on British television, and in a matter of weeks they made their first million-selling hit with ‘I’ll Never Find Another You’.

Now, after a string of hits, the individual Seekers are going their separate ways. Judith Durham has gone home to Australia to think out her future career—but with a voice like hers it can’t be long before we hear from her again.

Athol Guy, the tall, bespectacled double-bass player, has also returned to Australia to work in television; Bruce Woodley will continue to write songs and hopes eventually to combine this with record production in the United States; Keith Potger is remaining in Britain and plans to form a company to produce TV advertising jingles.

The Seekers | “The Water Is Wide” | Music For Pleasure

This LP was made very shortly after the Seekers had arrived in Britain, just before they made their mark on the hit parade for the first time, but in it you will hear all the qualities which took them to the top.

The songs they sing are true Seekers material—old and new songs in the folk idiom. ‘This Little Light of Mine’ is a joyful gospel song with new words by Pete Seeger; ‘Morning Town Ride’, a modern lullaby from America, later became one of their greatest hits.

‘The Water Is Wide’ is a Scottish song, and one of the most beautiful the Seekers ever recorded; two songs from America are ‘Well Well Well’, a white man’s spiritual, and ‘Lady Mary’, an old English song which was sung by the first settlers.

The Seekers | “The Water Is Wide” | Music For Pleasure

‘We’re Moving On’ is another cheerful gospel song, but ‘The Ox Driving Song’ is the song of a tired farmer longing to get back home to his family. ‘Kumbaya’, a Negro gospel song, is one that we now particularly associate with the Seekers; while ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ is deservedly the most popular of all Bob Dylan‘s compositions.

`The Eriskay Love Lilt’ is a beautiful love song from the Hebrides, and ‘Chilly Winds’ is a blues which has been taken out of its twelve-bar framework by Keith Potger.

Finally, the Seekers sing Malvina Reynolds‘ famous protest song ‘What Have They Done to the Rain’. These songs, the orchestral support of Bobby Richards, and the individual talents of each of the four and only Seekers all add up to one of the greatest albums they ever made—which means one of the best LPs ever. (Blase Machin)

(1964 recordings)

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cost of record: £2
from: charity shop