Customer Reviews

Very Best of

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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.

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.

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.

In my review of The Newbeats compilation put out by Collectables I note the absence of one of the seven songs they put into the Billboard Hot 100 between 1964 and 1969, Groovin' Out (On Life) which was their final hit, going to # 82 in late 1969/early 1970.

That, however, is in this Varese-Sarabande volume, along with the other six hits they had for Hickory Records. On the other hand, whereas Collectables does give us most of the flipsides to those hits, this one offers just two, Pink Dally Rue which backed Everything's Alright [# 16 in late 1964], and Hey-O Daddy-O which was the B-side to Break Away (From That Boy) - # 40 in February 1965.

Their big hit, of course, was their first, Bread And Butter [# 2 in September 1964], but they also put Run Baby Run (Back Into My Arms) into the Top 20 [# 12 in November 1965], and had lesser hits with (The Bees Are For The Birds) The Birds Are For The Bees [# 50 in May 1965], and Shake Hands (And Come Out Crying) which reached # 92 in March 1966.

Varese-Sarabande also provides four pages of detailed liner notes by Harry Young, along with poster reproductions and several photos of the Mathis brothers, Dean and Marc [who, in 1959. had a # 42 hit with Tell Him No for the Bullseye label], and lead Larry Henley [whose falsetto vocals parroted those of Frankie Valli of The Four Seasons].

Henly also co-wrote Wind Beneath My Wings which became a # 10 Adult Contemporary/# 60 R&B/# 65 Hot 100 hit for Lou Rawls in 1983, a # 23 Adult Contemporary/# 64 R&B for Gladys Knight & The Pips early in 1964 under the title Hero, a monster # 1 Hot 100 for Bette Midler in 1989 following its use in the film Beaches, and a # 30 R&B/# 71 Hot 100 for Gerald Levert in 1996. So, it's safe to say, these guys knew their way around a hit record.

If you have to make a choice between this volume and the one from Collectables, I recommend this effort from Varese-Sarabande simply because ALL the hits are here.

This is a wonderful addition to my collection and the audio quality is excellent.

I've loved "Bread and Butter" since it was first released, but until I got this CD I didn't realize just how great these guys were. Most of the songs I'd never heard before, but all of them are great. You have two brothers who were every bit as good as the Everley Bros. or the Righteous Bros., then add Larry Henley's falsetto. If they had the right promotion, from their record company, they could have been superstars.

Newbeats were mostly Larry Hendley's falsetto and the other guys. They were considered Four Seasons without the great gift of the hit making machine of Bob Guadio. Newbeats had hits, "Bread and Butter", a novelty song maybe sure but kids sang it all through the summer of '64. ( listen you can sing it yourself I Like Bread and Butter she likes toast and jam ...oh wait how pure '60's sexual innuendo is THAT!)
Newbeats had floating bottom Top 100 hits when the Four Seasons took a 3 month break from their 45 releases. "Run Baby Run" was a regional top 10 in many places in '65 and still brings smiles to those in the know.

This CD has fine stereo mixes and great pleasures for those who appreciate the finer yelps in life.