Customer Reviews

The Best of the Tremeloes

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Leave it to the folks at Rhino to give the First Class treatment to one of the Sixties second-tier groups. If you believe the story told in the liner notes, there were two struggling bands who auditioned at Decca on New Year's Day in 1962 and the budget allowed for only one band to be signed. Brian Poole & The Tremeloes got the contract and over the next few years had a couple Top Ten UK hits--including a No. 1 with a remake of the Contour's "Do You Love Me." [Oh, by the way, the band they beat out? The Beatles, but I understand they eventually got signed by EMI and had a few hits of their own.]

This CD begins after Brian Poole and original bassist Alan Howard quit the group in 1966 and was replaced by Chip Hawkes (bass, vocals). During a brief five-month period in 1967, this new version of the Tremeloes would have their only three Top 40 US hits on which their stateside reputation is largely based.

The first was the upbeat "Here Comes My Baby" (written by Cat Stevens). Next came the lovely "Silence Is Golden." And if the song sounds like it owes a lot to the Four Seasons, it should. This is a note-for-note copy of the Four Seasons' arrangement that was on the b-side of "Rag Doll" back in 1964 and written by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe. To the Tremeloes' credit, they do a drop-dead-perfect impersonation of the Four Seasons on their version. [They tried the falsetto vocal again on "Run Baby Run" with no chart success.] Finally there was "Even the Bad Times Are Good" which sputtered up to No. 36. Their last US chart entry was "Suddenly You Love Me" (#44) in the summer of 1968.

The Tremeloes, however, would go on to have several more hits in their native England, including "By the Way" which has the group sounding like early Bee Gees, the bublegum pop of "My Little Lady," the slightly psychedelic-sounding "(Call Me) Number One" and their final UK hit from 1970 "Me And My Life."

You get a healthy sampling of album cuts thrown in to round out this 20-track collection, including a rousing version of "Too Many Fish in the Sea" with its fuzz tone guitar, a competent rave-up in "Ain't Nothin' But a House Party" and a goofy remake of "Alley Oop."

Certainly not essential nor as influential as contemporaries as the Who, Kinks, Beatles or Stones, but a joyful reminder of the heady days of late-Sixties British pop music. RECOMMENDED

Once again, Rhino does an all-too-obvious job of picking tracks for a "Best of" collection. The Tremeloes had 4 US hits, and about 3 times that many in the UK, but the A-sides of their singles only told part of the story. Many of their B-sides were more adventurous, in particular the US B-side to their last charting single ("Suddenly You Love Me"). "Suddenly Winter", a swirling, psychedelic masterpiece at 2:22, is the BEST track The Trems ever made. Backwards guitar, oddball lyrics, beautiful harmonies. Pick up one of the Import CDs by The Tremeloes that has this track on it. It is worth every penny.

Let me warn you about the Tremeloes' songs. I've purchased 5 different compact discs that contain 1 or more of their hits and this Rhino CD is the first of those to have the actual recordings of the songs we heard on the radio in the 60's.

The Tremeloes members have been prolific at re-recording their hit songs since at least the mid-80's, and the CDs with these remakes are ubiquitous. Beware of their songs on the Madacy, K-Tel, and St. Clair labels.

The Trems were better than most artists at duplicating their original hit songs (most artists' re-makes are very poor in quality of musicianship and singing, and the remake labels usually have very poor equipment). However, I can tell the original Silence Is Golden from all the re-makes I've heard (pay attention to the background harmony).

I've never known Rhino to use re-recorded songs and this CD is no exception. The Trems' original hit recordings, mostly from 1967, are on this CD.

It's not available new anymore so you have to buy it used.

I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because the music on the CD distorts at a moderate volume. Most likely because the master tapes were not in the best of condition.

I was only familiar with the Tremeloes during their Brian Poole days, but picked this up to familiarize myself with the post-Poole tunes. Very catchy, their songs stay in your mind. Hwever I prefer "Good Times The Ultimate Collection" which came out in 2002 on Sanctuary Records in the UK. It has two CDs with B-sides, off the wall songs (and even they're great), and a cool foldout insert. Long live the Trems!

Again, like with so many other groups, the only really, really good tracks are those that became hits in the first place. But, the Tremeloes do have a few others on this CD that are quite good.

After more listening, I gotta say that I made a mistake. It's really much better than I thought at first. Matter of fact, I'm liking it more and more each time I hear it.