Anyone who regularly tuned in to Top Of The Pops between 1963- 67 will probably remember The Seekers: four wholesome Australian folkies who might even have incurred abuse for knocking The Kinks or Beatles off the top spot with jaunty, acoustic pop outings such as I’ll Never Find Another You. The four-piece, fronted by Judith Durham’s crystal vocals, were massively popular with the Val Doonican crowd but not without their own mountain stream charm, coming into their own on ballads the likes of Mornington Ride and The Carnival Is Over, whose doleful coda was given a whole darker dimension when covered by fellow Aussie Nick Cave on 1986’s Kicking Against The Pricks.
Someone at EMI seems obsessed with testing the endurance of 60s pop devotees, as there have recently been similar multiple-disc sets focusing on Billy J Kramer and The Swinging Blue Jeans: all exceeding 120 tracks, leaving no B-side, album track or stereo mix left untapped. The singles still sparkle amid a welter of hoary chestnuts such as Danny Boy and Kumbaya. Dated maybe, but this album’s first appearance on CD will be of great nostalgic delight to those who kept their greatest hits album on the charts for three years after they split in 1968.
