first was still in the charts, possibly diluting sales. Further Pye albums It's the Searchers (1964), Sounds Like Searchers and finally Take Me for What I'm Worth (both 1965) were better spaced, but a budget "Golden Guinea" reissue of the second album, plus a compilation Smash Hits and Smash Hits Vol 2, on Pye's budget "Marble Arch" label were issued during 1966 and 1967 in place of any later "new" album. As late as 1970, Marble Arch issued an edited version of It's the Searchers, the group's third album, originally released in 1964. Chris Curtis, who had songwriting ambitions, left the band in April 1966 and was replaced by the Keith Moon-influenced John Blunt (born John David Blunt, 20 March 1947 in Croydon, London). In January 1970 he was replaced by Billy Adamson (born William Adamson on 27 May 1944 in Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland; died on 11 November 2013 in France). In 1967, Curtis formed a new band called Roundabout with keyboard player Jon Lord and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. Curtis's involvement in the project was short-lived; Roundabout evolved into Deep Purple the following year. Chris Curtis's choice of Bobby Darin's "When I Get Home", despite a strong band performance, was a relative chart failure by their standards. This to an extent undermined Curtis's position as song selector for the band, and some internal disagreements resurfaced over musical policy and direction that had been evident earlier when Tony Jackson had left, and likely played a part in Curtis leaving as well after the 1966 Australian tour. This departure was a major blow, as Curtis had been chief songwriter, song selector, and key high harmony voice, as well as a figurehead member and the main PR man. As musical styles evolved, The Searchers did attempt to move with the times, recording covers of songs by The Rolling Stones ("Take It Or Leave it") and The Hollies "Have You Ever Loved Somebody", which was a minor UK chart hit though a rival cover by Paul & Barry Ryan probably robbed both parties of a bigger hit). They began to write their singles' A-sides, first with the Curtis-Pender track "He's Got No Love", which had a Stones-style guitar hook, and later a Pender-Allen song, "Secondhand Dealer", the final Pye single, which was a Ray Davies-style "observational" song. However, Pye records dropped the group in 1967 when their original contract expired. Without any follow-up to