Very Best of [Extra tracks]

Newbeats | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 23, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks
• Label: Varese Fontana
• ASIN: B0000C7PUM
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #202,793 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Bread and Butter

2. Everything's Alright

3. Pink Dally Rue

4. A Patent on Love

5. Thou Shalt Not Steal

6. Break Away (From That Boy)

7. Hey-O Daddy-O

8. (The Bees Are for the Birds) The Birds Are for the Bees

9. Human Kindness

10. I Can't Hear You No More

11. Little Child

12. Run, Baby, Run (Back into My Arms)

13. Shake Hands (And Come Out Crying)

14. Crying My Heart Out

15. You and Me and Happiness

16. Groovin' (Out on Life)

17. With Tears in My Eyes [*]

18. His Girl [*]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The hits and then some..., December 30, 2003

By 

Zub "Zubenelgenubi" (Forks Twp., PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Very Best of (Audio CD)

The Newbeats started out strongly with their just-missing-the-top "Bread And Butter" ditty in 1964. After a respectable follow-up, the John D. Loudermilk-penned "It's Alright", they gradually slipped from the charts until a year later when they rebounded with the Motownesque "Run Baby Run", a tune which made a run for, but just missed, the top ten. There was little follow-up success however and after two more minor-charting singles, they disappeared from the pop charts by the end of the decade.

Hardly one-hit wonders though, and this collection from Varese Vintage brings together for the first time all their top-100 singles, an accomplishment not achieved by previous domestic or foreign Newbeats collections. Beyond the hits, rounding out the 18 tracks here are failed singles, album cuts and a few recordings by the group's members done outside their collaboration as the Newbeats.

Another improvement on previous collections comes in the form of better sound quality and the appearance of stereo versions where only mono was presented before. All tracks except 13-16 and 18 are presented in stereo. Completing the package is an eight-page liner notes booklet with a few pics, illustrations and backround notes on the group and its members' musical histories.

While containing fewer total tracks than the Sequel piece of some years ago, this new effort by Varese does the job best overall and is preferable to the domestic Collectables version as well.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars +1/2 -- Beyond the one-hit wonder: a real surprise, November 17, 2003

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Very Best of (Audio CD)

If one were to be pedantic, you'd have to admit that the Newbeats actually had a handful of charting singles, rather than just one; but only an ardent pop fan could name any of their hits after "Bread and Butter." Larry Henley's distinctive falsetto was set apart from the likes of The Beach Boys, Four Seasons or Lou Christie by the slight twang of the group's Nashville origins, and as artists signed to Wesley Rose's Hickory label, the Newbeats had access to some of Nashville's best songwriters. They cracked the top-40 with songs from John D. Loudermilk ("Everything's Alright") and Joe Melson & Don Gant ("Run, Baby Run (Back into My Arms)," and scraped the lower rungs with songs that included Doug Kershaw's Searchers-styled "Shake Hands (And Come Out Crying)," and a stellar pre-Dick & Deedee take of Loudermilk's "Thou Shalt Not Steal."

Varese's eighteen track collection is the sort of treasure trove that pop fans dream of, essaying a seeming one-hit wonder that actually has a catalog of non-hit and album tracks backing up the radio glory. Many of the band's productions predict the sunshine pop that would become popular in the UK in the late'60s and early-70s, drawing on sounds from The Everly Brothers, The Tokens, and Gary Lewis & The Playboys, and inspiring acts like The Tremeloes.

Though Henley's falsetto is the band's most distinctive element, the balance between pop and soul is what really sustains the their catalog. The blue-eyed soul of "Pink Dally Rue" and the Bo Diddley inspired "Hey-O Daddy-O" fit perfectly with the Motown-styled "Run, Baby Run (Back Into My Arms)," the Goffin & King hand-clapper "I Can't Hear You No More," and the discotheque twist "Little Child." The collection's last two tracks pull together the Mathis Brothers' Everlyesque pre-Newbeats single "With Tears in My Eyes," and Larry Henley's solo "His Girl."

What's particularly gratifying about these selections is that almost all of them were written expressly for the band, and surprisingly few have been covered (or at least covered in well-known fashion), creating new ground for pop fans. The only nit-pick with this collection is the absence of a few tracks mentioned in the liners, including the original A-side of "Bread and Butter," the Corvair-themed "Tough Little Buggy," and the group's last single for Hickory, "Love Gets Sweeter." Completists will also have to look elsewhere for the group's two post-Hickory singles on Buddah and Playboy.

Tech note: All tracks true stereo except for 13-16 and 18, which are mono.

4-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Big Beat Sounds, September 24, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Very Best of (Audio CD)

In 1964, the Newbeats were catapulted to worldwide fame by a scrumptious rocker titled "Bread And Butter." The million-selling single was packed with just the right crunch, tons of great taste and a wholesome mix of musical satisfaction.

The Newbeats (falsetto singer Larry Henley, harmony vocalists / brothers Dean and Marc Mathis) placed nine other singles and two albums on Billboard's Pop charts through 1970.

Working with Nashville's best songwriters and studio musicians, the Newbeats blended dramatic vocal interplay with rich emotional content. They toured with major artists like the Rolling Stones and were even scheduled to perform for President Nixon at the Watergate Hotel. As the depth and variety of this collection proves, the Newbeats made a solid and lasting contribution to modern popular music.