Customer Reviews

At Abbey Road 1963-1966

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There's more to the various Gerry & the Pacemakers `Best of' compilations than a mere variation in track count and/or choice.
The disc `The Best of Gerry & the Pacemakers: The Definitive Collection', released in 1991, offers most of its 25 tracks in stereo. The remastering (and in some cases remixing) has been very carefully done at Abbey Road Studios, where most of the tracks were recorded. The sound is very good, although some may argue it is not the original sound of the hits, as all singles were originally only issued in mono. Some stereo versions are quite primitive, as the tracks were recorded on 2-track: one for the backing track, one for vocals, just like the earliest Beatles recordings, but the people at Abbey Road managed to 'open' the sound. This CD also offers `Hello Little Girl', never before released - probably because The Fourmost had their recording released first (which was a minor hit).
Another good compilation is `Gerry & the Pacemakers at Abbey Road: 1963-1966': this offers 28 tracks (comprising the 25 of the aforementioned CD), but they are all in mono. This CD has been denoised, which, if properly done, will not degenerate the sound, but may affect the way you experience it. I found the sound to be a bit sharper, but not annoying. The booklet is very well done, detailing the band's history, and a bit of the history of Abbey Road studio's. This disc has been re-issued as `Essential', but alas without the informative booklet.
Recently the budget 2CD `The Best Of G&TP' has been released, offering 40 tracks, which is excellent value for money, but it leaves out some of the tracks which are on the other CD's, offering more album tracks like rock'n'roll and oldies covers.
All in all, I think that the choice is yours. If you come across a cheap compilation CD, other than the ones mentioned here, I recommend you listen to them first for sound quality - try before you buy!

Gerry Marsden is certainly one of the big names in the development of ROCK [=new, progressive Rock and Roll?]. His remarkable voice is heard on timeless recordings like "Ferry Cross The Mersey", "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying", and the two songs for which I bought this collection: "I'll Be There" and "You'll Never Walk Alone". It's been said that Elvis Presley could have been influenced by Gerry's "..Alone" cut to cut his own in '67, and it just occurs to me that Big El also did the Darin tune a bit later - yes, it's possible that Presley was influenced by Marsden. And listen to Gerry and group workout on "Whole Lotta Shakin'..." - it's possible that Elvis used this cut as a reference disc. "How Do You Do It" ofcourse was done first by the Beatles, who reportedly did an intentionally tentative version so an original could be released instead. At any rate, G & P's version is stronger. "I Like It" is a similiar catch-phrase offering, another Golden Oldie. "I'm The One" is definitely a U.K.-only Golden Oldie. The music is good on all these Abbey Road tracks, although the half-dozen classics mentioned above greatly overshadow the remainder.

I picked this up years ago in L.A. and I love it. A few songs have some outtakes, and I only wish that there were more outtakes. We've been "Beatled" to death with everything they ever uttered in a studio, but other Brit Invasion bands don't get the same treatment. CD spans the early pop sound of the band to later, mid-60s music. If you're familiar with Gerry and the Pacemakers, but have not heard Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine, you're sure to wonder, as I did, whose idea was it to record this?!

*the only problem I have is the track before, "I Like It" continues into, "I Like It" and it creates an audible pause in the opening chords.

Gerry Marsden had the perfect reedy voice to front this vintage British Invasion group. It was what really propelled them since their sound didn't include the close harmonies and/or twanging guitars of the Searchers and some of the other early British bands. Their sound was often pretty middle-of-the-road compared with everyone else in the early stable.

Their initial propellant was the absolutely gorgeously written-and-performed "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying", which is high up on the list of greatest ballads of the last 50 years. It fit in well with the slew of mid-tempo tunes by the likes of the Searchers ("Don't Throw Your Love Away"), Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas ("Bad to Me" and "Little Children"), Peter and Gordon ("A World Without Love"), and Chad and Jeremy ("Yesterday's Gone") from mid-spring of '64. These songs really defined the second wave of the 'Invasion'. It was an expressly magical moment for our young mid-sixties' generation.

When Gerry and the P's got bouncy, they ended up with mixed results. "How Do You Do It" was mediocre at best, though it charted relatively high. "I Like It" followed almost immediately in the U. S. and though pretty much a knockoff, nevertheless surpassed its model by a good margin. And "La La La" never received the airplay it deserved - I think I only caught it once - it was possibly 4 out of 5 stars. I'm pretty sure "I'm the One" charted, but I don't think I ever heard it played.

"Ferry 'Cross the Mersey" was the only other of their ballads that fit into the neat compartment of the 'young sound' - in fact it became kind of an anthem, for obvious reasons. Some of the other ballads ("You'll Never Walk Alone", "Give Me All Your Love") seemed more like adult music (even the Beatles did this kind of stuff, but never released any as singles). They didn't sit that well with the teenage audiences who were buying most of the records, though "I'll Be There" was particularly gorgeous.

I myself was always on the lookout for their next great record, which finally came along in the shape of their only genuine rocker "It's Gonna Be Alright", definitely one of the very best songs the year it came out. Their last main chart success was the very groovy "Girl On a Swing", which fit in with the feel of some of the better late Herman's Hermits tunes from around the same time ("Listen People" and "There's a Kind of Hush"). It's definitely on the early edge of music from the 'Love Generation'.