Search - Gerry & Pacemakers, Freddie & Dreamers :: Back to Back Hits

Good Introduction to two British Invasion favorites

Robert Huggins | Suburban Philadelphia, PA United States | 01/14/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Although this CD doesn't go very deep into the catalogs of either of these two British Invasion favorites, it is a nice starting point, particularly if you are not familiar with either of these bands, or if you are rediscovering the great music of the British Invasion and don't want to shell out a lot of money. What you get is five of the better known hits from each band.Gerry & the Pacemakers had an early musical history not unlike the Beatles and were managed and produced by the same two men that worked with the Beatles, Brian Epstein and George Martin, respectively. The Pacemakers, like the Beatles, were from Liverpool and played in Hamburg, Germany in their early years, sometimes working with the Beatles. It should come as no surprise then, that the Pacemakers material is stronger than that of Freddie & the Dreamers who were considered to be a semi-musical/semi-comedy act (one listen to "Do the Freddie" and it will be easy to visualize the zaniness of this group).It is interesting to note that both groups recorded songs written by Mitch Murray, an underrated pop songwriter who wrote a number of tunes recorded by several British Invasion bands during the mid-1960s. In this compilation, you can hear his "How Do You Do It?" and "I Like It" recorded by Gerry & the Pacemakers and "You Were Made For Me" and "I'm Telling You Now" (co-written with Freddie Garrity) by Freddie & the Dreamers.This compilation gets just 4 stars rather than 5 because there's less than 25 minutes worth of music on the CD. Still, the CD sounds great and it's a nice introduction to these two bands. Recommended!"