GERRY AND THE PACEMAKERS: I Like It (Strawberry)

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All music anoraks worth their collective salt will tell you that Liverpool’s GERRY AND THE PACEMAKERS were the first artists to have three consecutive UK number one hits with their first three singles. The year, of course, was 1963 and the 45s  were ‘How Do You Do It’ (a songs earlier rejected by the Beatles), ‘I Like It’ and the now obligatory football anthem ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.  That achievement meant that for a short time the band, Gerry Marsden, his brother Freddy on drums, bassist Les Chadwick and piano man Les McGuire, were second in the beat group pecking order to the Fabs and their label, Columbia, kept the releases coming thick and fast – singles, EPs and albums.  Cherry Red imprint, Strawberry, have collected all that Columbia material together and issued it under the ‘I Like It, Anthology, 1963 – 1966’ title.

The mini box delivers 98 tracks across 3 CDs  and, of course, it includes  those three historic hits alongside all of cheery Gerry’s other chart riders like ‘I’m The One’, It’s Gonna Be All Right’, ‘Ferry Cross The Mersey’ (the title track from the band’s movie!) and  the quite lovely ‘Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying’ which many serious UK musicologists consider to be the perfect 60s pop ballad. Little wonder it’s been covered plenty of times – most recently by Chris Bangs’ Nova Vida collective.

From our point of view, this  collection offers countless cover versions of rock and roll classics and embryonic soul songs. Like every other Merseybeat band, the Pacemakers’ repertoire was stuffed with their spirted takes on things like ‘Dizzy Miss Lizzy’, ‘Slow Down’, ‘A Shot Of Rhythm and Blues’ , ‘Chills, and ‘My Babe’; those and a lot more are included here (several are live recordings).  Maybe more esoteric is a cover of the Drifters ‘I Count The Tears’ and, poignantly there are various takes on Bobby Darin’s ‘I’ll Be There’ – the original was always the last record played at the Cavern’s famed all night sessions!

As with all 60s musical retrospectives, you can hear a clear evolution in the Pacemakers’ sound. Whereas the Beatles moved onto experimentation, psychedelia and intrigue, Gerry and the boys moved right into the middle of the road recording versions of things like ‘Strangers in the Night’. Indeed after the band imploded, Gerry carved himself a niche as “an all-round entertainer” in the Tommy Steel mode, For a while, though, with the Pacemakers, he was “top of the toppermost”. Enjoy that splendid time with this splendid box!

(BB) 4/5

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