Search - Gerry & Pacemakers :: Definitive Collection: Best of

I Like It! I Like It!

Steve Vrana | Aurora, NE | 02/04/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As part of the first wave of British Invasion bands, Gerry & the Pacemakers had a brief but brilliant career. Except for their final chart single in 1966 all of their hits came in a brief 10-month period.The group, led by singer-guitarist Gerry Marsden, became the second band signed by Beatles' manager Brian Epstein. Like the Beatles, they also used George Martin in the studio, they played the Cavern and the Hamburg club scene (often sharing the same bill), and were the second Liverpool band to play the Ed Sullivan Show--three months after the Beatles. Their first UK hit was "How Do You Do It," a song the Beatles rejected in favor of the Lennon-McCartney "Please Please Me." They would follow that up with another Mitch Murray tune "I Like It" and then the Rodgers and Hammerstein show tune ""You'll Never Walk Alone." All three songs went No. 1 in the UK. [The only group (other than Frankie Goes To Hollywood 21 years later) to have their first three singles go to No. 1 in England--not even the Beatles did this! "You'll Never Walk Alone" is finally released in the US almost two years later, but by then the band's popularity is waning and it fizzles at No. 48.]While George Martin convinced Gerry & the Pacemakers to record someone's else's song for their first hits, Marsden (like Lennon and McCartney) would compose most of the rest of their hits, including the gorgeous ballads "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying" and "Ferry Cross the Mersey." In January of 1965 the film Ferry Cross the Mersey is released. Another Marsden original "It's Gonna Be All Right" is taken from the film. Unlike their previous ballad-style numbers, this is a faster tempo song but reaches only U.S. No. 23. It marked the beginning of the end. It would be another year before Gerry & the Pacemakers would release their final chart single "Girl on a Swing." It would do no better than No. 28 in the U.S. and it failed to chart in the UK.Here's where the Beatles and the Pacemakers parted ways. The Beatles took their eary Merseybeat sound and evolved musically. The Pacemakers did not. By the time "Girl on a Swing" was on the U.S. charts, the band had split up. What they left behind is a collection of wonderful songs to remind us of everything that was vibrant and exciting about the early sixties British pop scene. RECOMMENDED"

More MOR than most Brit Invaders - but still excellent

Phil Rogers | Ann Arbor, Michigan | 06/18/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Gerry Marsden had the perfect reedy voice to front this vintage British Invasion group. It was what really propelled them since their sound didn't include the close harmonies and/or twanging guitars of the Searchers and some of the other early British bands. Their sound was often pretty middle-of-the-road compared with everyone else in the early stable. Their initial propellant was the absolutely gorgeously written-and-performed "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying", which is high up on the list of greatest ballads of the last 50 years. It fit in well with the slew of mid-tempo tunes by the likes of the Searchers ("Don't Throw Your Love Away"), Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas ("Bad to Me" and "Little Children"), Peter and Gordon ("A World Without Love"), and Chad and Jeremy ("Yesterday's Gone") from mid-spring of '64. These songs really defined the second wave of the 'Invasion'. It was an expressly magical moment for our young mid-sixties' generation.When Gerry and the P's got bouncy, they ended up with mixed results. "How Do You Do It" was mediocre at best, though it charted relatively high. "I Like It" followed almost immediately in the U. S. and though pretty much a knockoff, nevertheless surpassed its model by a good margin. And "La La La" never received the airplay it deserved - I think I only caught it once - it was possibly 4 out of 5 stars. I'm pretty sure "I'm the One" charted, but I don't think I ever heard it played."Ferry 'Cross the Mersey" was the only other of their ballads that fit into the neat compartment of the 'young sound' - in fact it became kind of an anthem, for obvious reasons. Some of the other ballads ("You'll Never Walk Alone", "Give Me All Your Love") seemed more like adult music (even the Beatles did this kind of stuff, but never released any as singles). They didn't sit that well with the teenage audiences who were buying most of the records, though "I'll Be There" was particularly gorgeous. I myself was always on the lookout for their next great record, which finally came along in the shape of their only genuine rocker "It's Gonna Be Alright", definitely one of the very best songs the year it came out. Their last main chart success was the very groovy "Girl On a Swing", which fit in with the feel of some of the better late Herman's Hermits tunes from around the same time ("Listen People" and "There's a Kind of Hush"). It's definitely on the early edge of music from the 'Love Generation'."

Hits and More!

Peter Durward Harris | 06/03/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD contains not only Gerry & The Pacemaker's hits, but also some of their less common work, which is just as fantastic. The osund quality on this CD is also amazing! Very clean and sharp to listen too. This CD won't disapoint."