Search - The Hollies, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Spencer Davis Group :: Best of British Rock 1

Great collection of British Invasion tracks

PaulB | Saskatoon, SK Canada | 08/06/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Actually this CD version is a scaled down version of the
8 Track version which was purchased years earlier by
someone in my family. For those of you who are interested,
here's the track listing on the 8 Track version of this
album, and to see how the CD version differs:
Program 1 *How Can You Mend A Broken Heart - The Bee Gees
Ferry Cross The Mersey - Gerry And The Pacemakers
Bus Stop - The Hollies Georgy Girl - The Seekers
It's All In The Game - Cliff Richard
Program 2 **A Summer Song - Chad And Jeremy Glad All Over -
Dave Clark Five I'm Telling You Now - Freddie And The
Dreamers Do Wah Diddy Diddy - Manfred Mann I Go To Pieces -
Peter And Gordon Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying - Gerry
And The Pacemakers
Program 3 Trains and Boats and Planes - Billy J. Kramer
A World Without Love - Peter And Gordon *I Started A Joke -
The Bee Gees Hippy Hippy Shake - Swinging Blue Jeans **
Willow Weep For Me - Chad And Jeremy Bits and Pieces -
Dave Clark Five
Program 4 I'll Never Find Another You - The Seekers
*Sunshine Of Your Love - Cream Stop Stop Stop - The Hollies
Do You Want To Know A Secret - Billy J. Kramer *The Sun
Ain't Gonna Shine - The Walker Brothers
*By Special Arrangement With Polydor Ltd.
**These Tracks Licensed From Ember Records, LondonAll in all a nice collection of tracks from the
British Invasion era, but it's kind of skimpy
when compared to the 8-track version of the same
album. Perhaps Capitol Records can renew their
agreements with Polydor and Ember Records, or
the parent companies if they are subsidiaries,
so we can get the 8-track version of this album
on CD. Anyways, Bus Stop is a well-known Hollies
tune that was penned by Graham Gouldman, who also
was responsible for a few tracks by The Yardbirds
that are fairly well known (For Your Love and
Heart Full of Soul). Ferry Cross The Mersey was
a pretty big hit for Gerry And The Pacemakers, and
is another pop tune. Gimme Some Lovin has been
used a lot on TV, movies and commercials. This
is one of Steve Winwood's groups in the 1960s.
Traffic and Blind Faith are two others, and it's
basically a good soulful tune that can be sung
too. I'm Telling You Now by Freddie & The Dreamers
is another pop hit that might seem familiar to
some people. Do Wah Diddy Diddy, Hippy Hippy
Shake, He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother and
Georgy Girl are familiar pop tunes that have
been used for commercial uses over the year,
so many should be familiar with these hits.
The other four tracks I'm not very familiar
with, but this album runs a little over 30
minutes altogether, and I would recommend
purchasing it if you love music from the
original British Invasion era of rock music.
This contains a lot of pop music on this
album, however, unlike the manufactured
pop music of some of today's artists, this
pop music is quality pop music, not artificial
synthesizer manufactured crass commercialized
junk that seems to infest the airwaves these
days. In those days, pop music was actually
worthy of listening to. The lyrics are
thoughtful and the melodies are enticing
enough to buy it."