Gerry, The Pacemakers

There are already so many "best-of" collections of Gerry & the Pacemakers – including previous releases from EMI, Capitol, and Collectables – that this double-CD set from EMI's U.K. division probably won't seem very impressive or important. Actually, very little of the band's history is left out, at least in terms of the various facets of their music – the hits are all present, along with a brace of engaging B-sides and LP and EP tracks that greatly broaden the range of music at hand. The quartet's best-known songs are well-crafted pop/rock in a Merseybeat mode, but they had a harder side as well, and even traded in some R&B and country sounds, and those aspects are represented here in between the hits. Some listeners who like their more rocking sides, such as "Jambalaya," "Maybellene" or "Pretend," may not appreciate the presence of such string-laden pop as "Walk Hand in Hand" or "Girl on a Swing," but this is a valid representation of their sound. And the sound is optimal, to put it mildly, with lots of presence on all of the instruments.

Gerry & the Pacemakers are fated to eternal comparisons to the Beatles, their onetime Merseybeat rivals who rapidly eclipsed the quartet in popularity and accomplishment, leaving them as something of a pop culture punchline. In the wake of the Beatles, it was hard to look back at Gerry Marsden and his irrepressibly cheerful music and think it was in the same league as the Fab Four, or any of the British Invasion groups that followed. That may be true, but Gerry & the Pacemakers shouldn't be judged against such R&B-schooled rockers as the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and the Kinks but rather against the stiff, starched rock & roll of pre-Beatles Britain. Compared to this prim, proper pop, the skiffle beats and bouncy melodies of Gerry & the Pacemakers seem fresh, almost serving as a bridge between formative English rock and the bright blast of the Beatles…

Gerry & the Pacemakers are fated to eternal comparisons to the Beatles, their onetime Merseybeat rivals who rapidly eclipsed the quartet in popularity and accomplishment, leaving them as something of a pop culture punchline. In the wake of the Beatles, it was hard to look back at Gerry Marsden and his irrepressibly cheerful music and think it was in the same league as the Fab Four, or any of the British Invasion groups that followed. That may be true, but Gerry & the Pacemakers shouldn't be judged against such R&B-schooled rockers as the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and the Kinks but rather against the stiff, starched rock & roll of pre-Beatles Britain. Compared to this prim, proper pop, the skiffle beats and bouncy melodies of Gerry & the Pacemakers seem fresh, almost serving as a bridge between formative English rock and the bright blast of the Beatles…

Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying (1964). The career of Gerry and the Pacemakers paralleled that of the Beatles up to a certain point. Like the Beatles, they came from Liverpool, England, and were signed to a subsidiary of EMI Records, in their case Columbia (no relation to American Columbia), their recordings overseen by George Martin. As with the Beatles, in the U.S., their records were licensed to a small independent label (Laurie, while the Beatles were on Vee-Jay), and, despite their British success, it was not until their fifth single that they achieved a stateside breakthrough. For the Beatles, that fifth single was "I Want to Hold Your Hand"; for Gerry and the Pacemakers, four months later in May 1964, it was the ballad "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying." Laurie quickly assembled a corresponding LP out of existing recordings…

Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying (1964). The career of Gerry and the Pacemakers paralleled that of the Beatles up to a certain point. Like the Beatles, they came from Liverpool, England, and were signed to a subsidiary of EMI Records, in their case Columbia (no relation to American Columbia), their recordings overseen by George Martin. As with the Beatles, in the U.S., their records were licensed to a small independent label (Laurie, while the Beatles were on Vee-Jay), and, despite their British success, it was not until their fifth single that they achieved a stateside breakthrough. For the Beatles, that fifth single was "I Want to Hold Your Hand"; for Gerry and the Pacemakers, four months later in May 1964, it was the ballad "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying." Laurie quickly assembled a corresponding LP out of existing recordings…