Customer Reviews

Mercy, Mercy, Mercy: A Collection

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is one of the late 60's bands that Columbia Records pushed heavily, along with Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Union Gap, and others. This tight pop-rock band was originally from Chicago, and contains the trademark vocals of Dennis Tufano and the licks guitarist Carl Giammarise. This core still tours today, and have not aged at all. Live they are still excellent.

About that time, Al Kooper and James William Guercio were asked to produce a then known just-got-famous band just "bought over" from USA Records and their first and only number 1 hit "Kind If A Drag" in January 1967. All Kooper started Blood Sweat and Tears in 1967, and Mr. Guercio tackled the Buckinghams and Blood Sweat and Tears before he hit REALLY big with Chicago in 1969.

You can hear the Producers brass influence immediately with their second hit "Don't You Care". It was followed by the crossover hit "Mercy Mercy Mercy" (also successfully done earlier that year by Cannonball Adderly).

That was there last top ten hit. They did hit top 15 twice in succession with the well known "Hey Baby(They're Playing Our Song)" and the much more progressive "Suzanne". "Back In Love Again" and "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" Rounds out the top thirty stay.

Whats amazing is that all there top 15 hits occurred in rapid succession in the January 1967 - December 1967 time frame.

This collection is one of the best out today, with all their hits plus some, many cuts for a CD this cheap, and from a distinctively unique sounding group who were one of my favorites and hopefully yours. In their short time frame, they produced excellent and well crafted Pop, remembered today and instantly identifiable.

This is a great CD at a great price, and a superb addition to any 60's library. Very "MOR" sounding, and worth listening too. Highly recommended. Good Listening!

For one brief moment--1967--the Buckinghams were as popular as any band on the planet. Their first chart success, "Kind of a Drag," spent two weeks at No. 1. It was followed quickly by "Don't You Care," "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," "Hey Baby (They're Playing Our Song)" and "Susan."

Producer James Guercio (who would go on to produce Chicago) gave the band a brass-rock sound and powerful lead vocals by Dennis Tufano defined the group's sound.

In addition to the hits, this collection includes the band's first three USA singles(all of them covers): James Brown's "Ill Go Crazy," the Beatles' "I Call Your Name" and the Hollies' "I've Been Wrong Before." While these songs did well locally in Chicago, it took "Kind of a Drag" to break the group nationally.

After "Susan," their fifth hit, went to No. 11; the follow-up, "Back in Love Again," was a disappointing No. 57. Their next album had an eerily prophetic title: In One Ear and Gone Tomorrow. There would be no more hits.

This album gives you the hits, the misses, key album tracks and one previoulsy unreleased song: the Dennis Tufano original "You." While the band continues on the oldies circuit, this CD stands as a testament of the high-energy rock 'n' roll they unleashed. RECOMMENDED

Mercy, Mercy, Mercy: A Collection is a very strong single CD compilation by The Buckinghams; they were a famous group with a lot of hits in the 1960s. The sound quality is excellent and I love that artwork!

"Kind Of A Drag" is definitely one of the best rock and roll torch songs of the golden era of rock and roll. The Buckinghams harmonize very well and the music that goes with their singing fits in perfectly! "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" is a catchy cover of Lloyd Price's tune that belies the seriousness of the lyrics; you'll be dancing in the aisles over this one! The harmonica works well for this number and the brass is used to great advantage while The Buckinghams again harmonize wonderfully.

"I'll Go Crazy" has complicated tempo changes but the group handles these seemingly effortlessly. Of course, we know it really wasn't all that easy; but The Buckinghams were so talented they made it look as easy as breathing! "Makin' Up And Breakin' Up" gets a snazzy interpretation from The Buckinghams who deliver this way beyond perfection! "Makin' Up And Breakin' Up" is a major highlight of this album. "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," the title track of this album, sounds new and fresh whenever I hear it! I love every minute of it; these guys sure could sing!

"Hey Baby (They're Playing Our Song)" is one of the greatest hits ever for The Buckinghams; the melody is very pretty and the keyboard work enhances the natural beauty of this ballad. This torch song rocks and The Buckinghams bat this one straight out of the ballpark! In addition, there's also "Back In Love Again." "Back In Love Again" is a poignant ballad and they really rock hard on this magnificent tune. I'm very impressed.

"Where Did You Come From" is a beautiful song that tugs at my heartstrings whenever I hear The Buckinghams sing it; the musical arrangement is particularly lush and it all works wonders for this tune. "It's a Beautiful Day (For Lovin')" features The Buckinghams squarely front and center--and that's right where this group belongs! They sing and play "It's A Beautiful day (For Lovin')" so well that I play this a second time on my CD player when I get a chance to hear it.

"I Got A Feelin'" shines like silver and gold when The Buckinghams perform it so well; and the album also ends well with The Buckinghams performing "You." "You" is a strong ballad to end this album and that works great!

The Buckinghams were truly a great group and this CD shows you why! I highly recommend this for fans of rock and roll from the 1960s.

The stereo mixing aside, this is the ideal "Best of" Buckinghams package, featuring an amazing combination of early tracks, the group's biggest Columbia-label hits, and several later contract-running-out singles of considerable merit. These are, in my possibly lone opinion, the best pop records ever made.

Which brings me to my only quibble: Since all of these were originally issued as 45-rpm monaural singles, why in the world were they not reissued in that same sound format? This is a singles collection, and not an album reissue or a collection of album tracks--so what gives? No doubt CD buyers demand stereo mixes wherever possible, but here we lose a lot in the reprocess--the killer singles "Difference of Opinion" and the brilliantly Beatlesque "Where Did You Come From" are reduced to highly pleasant but aurally mushy diversions, for example. Sound engineers exercise an awesome responsibility, and I wish more thought would go into these matters.

But my five stars are for the music and the performances. Elaborately produced as they may have been, these guys were musicians of talent and taste. Buy this one!

The Buckinghams was a great band from the sixties. This CD has all the best songs too. Unfortunatly, half those great songs are not the originals. Luckily the best two (Mercy, Mercy, Mercy & Don't You Care) are the original versions. The other three great songs from the Buckinghams (Hey Baby, Kind Of A Drag & Susan) are re-recordings. Eventhough they did a pretty good job, I would of liked the original arrangement much better. It is upsetting to buy a cd thinking you are getting the original versions of the songs, then find out differently when it comes.

My first Review I typed was on this Band and this CD right here but I deleted it....Why?.....Because it was to brief and this review is about the songs I remember and cherish the most by The Buckinghams and they are all here for your listening pleasure. The band had an attractive string of hits during a short time span in the latter 60s with, Hey Baby (They're Playing Our Song), and the Top 5, Mercy Mercy Mercy. They also had, Susan, that went to # 11, Don't You Care, that was a Top 10 Hit and, Kind Of A Drag, went all the way to # 1. I had all of these songs on LP back then; but my Favorite Buckingham tune was not even on that Album. As a matter of fact; it didn't hit the airwaves until later in the decade. I remember purchasing it on a 45 when the song was new and sadly; it didn't even much more than break the Top 100; being the extremely underrated and charming, Where Did You Come From. Two minutes and thirty four seconds of pure genious! It is the last charting single that I remember from this great band and I think it was The Buckinghams at their 60s best. I was always a Top 40 follower back then and that song should have been there.
Final Note: There is filler on this Disc; however the tunes I have listed above do bring back everlasting memories and you might just find a few more favorites for yourself.....This is a great CD!

I recently attended a concert in Savannah, Georgia, where I got to listen to The Buckinghams sing all their greatest hits. They were absolutely great! And, man, did the memories of yester-year come rushing back! This prompted me to try to find a "greatest hits" cd. This is it. The ultimate collection of The Buckingham's original recordings. They sound as great today as they ever did in the 60's. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy is an absolute "must" for any Buckingham's fan.

This is the essential Buckinghams' album to own as it contains all of their biggest hits. This Chicago quintent hit its peak in 1967 with the number one hit "Kind of a Drag" which still sounds great today. The album is arranged roughly in historic release order. The tunes "Don't You Care", "Mercy,Mercy, Mercy", "Hey Baby", and "Susan" along with "Kind of a Drag" alone are worth the price of this disc. The other 13 songs are just a bonus. Dennis Tufano's vocals, the group's great harmonies, the use of brass on a number of songs, and the hit tunes, most penned by Jim Holvay, make this a solid choice. Also included are great liner notes about the group, past and present. While this group wasn't one of the giants of the late 1960's pop era, this disc is recommended to all Buckingham fans and to anyone who digs good music from this era.

This is a much better package than the 1969 "Buckinghams Greatest Hits" Columbia put out with the atomic bomb blast in the background. Almost everything is here except "Foreign Policy"-which some people poo poo but was actually a great sound piece. The liner notes and pix are done very well-and kudos for so many tracks from their first USA album. It's in stereo because these are album tracks. For an earlier reviewer, there is a collection of Buck's singles in mono on cd.

For me, the best thing about this package are the unreleased cuts from their last
days in the studio. I had a vinyl copy of "In One Ear and Gone Tomorrow" which contained the last hit "Back In Love Again". I wasn't too impressed with the album as a whole as it appears James William Guerico had a better vision for the band's sound including the horns than the producer assigned for their last recording. Marty Grebb replaced Holvay as group composer and "You Misunderstand Me" is a great song-which could have been a hit if it were handled right. It appears that Columbia was looking for more progressive groups at the time-i.e. B,S & T and Chicago -as the pop scene was changing to the rock scene. The Bucks were not a festival band and fell into hard times. Columbia should be ashamed of themselves for abandoning this great and talented group, esp. since it helped them sell so much vinyl in '67-'68.

This is a great package. However, for the completists out there-you need to find a copy of Sundazed's "In One Ear and Gone Tomorrow" album as it contains 2 previously unreleased tracks that are not on MMM. Sundazed has included some great liner notes and pix-and the final chapter in detail of the group. The sound is great-and in the twilight of the 60's Buck's,you hear a half dozen cuts that indicate a group recovering and adapting it's sound to the winds blowing in the rock community at the end of the 60's. Columbia wrote these boys off way too soon.

If you don't own a Buck's collection, start here. If you like what you hear, get the Sundazed double CD "Time and Charges/Portrait". If you like that, get "In One Ear..." The Sundazed version of the latter has 2 unissued tracks not found on "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy".

BTW-I understand Carl Giamerese is working on a book to tell the Buck's Story. I hope it comes soon!! And to set the story straight-Guerico did not start the horn thing-that began in Chicago with USA Records, Dan Belloc,producer, and the Buckinghams!! Read the liner notes in the Sundazed version of "Kind of a Drag". Neither Al Kooper or James Guerico started it-and the Bucks may have predated The Electric Flag.
Also, get the new recording by the new Bucks-it is called "Reaching Back" and
has a sound similar to their classic albums "Time and Charges/Portraits" and new recorded version of the big hits. You won't be disappointed.

I was too young to hear these guys when they were hot, but I like to listen to oldies music from time to time and I've always really liked their stuff. This CD contains all the great songs we hear on oldies radio, the best of which are Don't You Care, Kind of a Drag, Hey Baby and Susan, but also some gems that we don't usually hear on the readio today. I actually went to one of their concerts this year and, with the exception that Karl isn't quite the lead vocalist Dennis apparently was, the group still sounds great, and they picked up some good new members. This is a must for all oldies fans.