16 Brian Poole & The Tremeloes Twist And Shout

It's difficult for anyone who has heard them not to like – or even love – the Tremeloes. They were one of the more prodigiously talented British pop/rock bands of the 1960s, and they threw that talent into the making of amazingly catchy and well-crafted singles that lit up the charts and radio on both sides of the Atlantic for four years running, from 1966 through 1970. Yet, the Tremeloes are also one of the least-known and least-respected of 1960s English bands. The precise reason for the lack of respect is difficult to pin down, except perhaps that their timing was out, as far as making the most of their success. They generally didn't write their own material, and they cut their best singles long after the British Invasion (and the mystique surrounding the bands that were part of it) had ended. And, yet, ironically, the Tremeloes are also one of the longest surviving English rock & roll bands, playing regularly more than 40 years after the group's founding…

BGO's 2013 compilation Live at the BBC 1964-67 is quite generous, running 37 tracks that spill over two CDs. Some of these tracks are interview clips, some begin with a BBC introduction, but that's the appeal of the set: it's a time capsule of the peak of the Swinging London scene. Brian Poole & the Tremeloes naturally play several of their hits – "Twist & Shout," "The Three Bells" – but also cover "Walk Right In," "She Said Yeah," and "Like a Rolling Stone," touching upon folk-rock and R&B that didn't always show up on their records.

Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat (after bands from Liverpool and nearby areas beside the River Mersey) is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll (mainly Chuck Berry guitar style and the midtempo beat of artists like Buddy Holly), doo-wop, skiffle and R&B. The genre provided many of the bands responsible for the British Invasion of the American pop charts starting in 1964, and provided the model for many important developments in pop and rock music, including the format of the rock group around lead, rhythm and bass guitars with drums. The Beat Of The Pops - excellent selection of beat tracks.