A listing of all the major Gerry and the Pacemaker CDs, with
the track listings and country of release when known. I've fallen a bit behind on keeping up with all of the minor re-issue "Best of..." collections that EMI so cynically releases anew almost every alternate year.
Do note that an increasing number of Pacemaker CDs are from tapes made in
the 1980s which seem to have fallen out of the band's control. I have largely given up trying to list these CDs as there are too many to worry about.
One series consists of a dozen or so live songs from about 1981,
the other about 24 studio reunion songs made about the same
time. The presence of some or all of the songs Imagine, It's
Still Rock 'N' Roll To Me, Unchained Melody and Just The Way You
Are is an almost certain indicator that these are the 1981 live
tapes. Similarly, House of the Rising Sun, Magic Moments, She,
Whiter Shade of Pale and others are sure indicators of the
studio reunion tapes. The live songs are quite enjoyable, while
one's opinion of the studio tracks will likely depend on how
much or little one detests early-80s pop music production
values. Judge your purchases accordingly. Or, to be blunt, stick to releases on an EMI label if you want to be sure you're getting the 1960s recordings.
Contributors:
Amy Michaels, Jean-Louis Beaudoin,
Shinji Tanno
Box Sets
Reissues of British LPs, EPs and 45s
Reissues of American LPs
Greatest Hits Compilations
Tribute Albums
Disc one
Disc two
Disc three
Disc four
At long last, after 21 yers of piecemeal CD repackagings from EMI (starting with The Singles Plus and running through a few dozen Greatest Hits, Super Hits, Deluxe Editions, Extraordinary Special Collections and the like), EMI finally released a definitive Gerry and the Pacemakers CD set. You'll Never Walk Alone (The EMI Years 1963-1966) seems to have just about everything from their EMI period, and EMI evidently scoured the archives for unreleased material, including (in stereo, no less!) the complete October 24, 1964 concert from the Oakland Auditorium (from which the four-track "In California" EP tracks derived).
The results are impressive, including superb sound quality and a detailed booklet including a band history and detailed sessionography. All of the Pacemakers material is here in mono, and some of the more interesting/rare stereo mixes are included. The complete stereo mixes are *not* included, as nothing from How Do You Like It and not all of Ferry Cross The Mersey appears here in stereo, to say nothing of the band's early singles which have seen occasional CD release in stereo (primarily on The Very Best of Gerry and the Pacemakers and The Definitive Collection). I personally don't care for early-to-mid 60s pop stereo mixes, as their release tended to have more to do with being a marketing gimick than any profound artistic statements. But some purists will doubtless object.
Overall, a superb release. My original announcement of this release's appearance is linked here.
This CD collects in chronological order the eleven UK
singles (A- followed by B-side) put out by G&P. This CD is an
expanded version of The Hit Singles Album, issued in 1986
and consisting of the first eight UK singles (thus 16 songs).
To the best of my knowledge, this was the first CD reissue of
any of the Pacemakers' song catalogue, issued almost
simultaneous to the EMI reissue of the Beatles' catalogue. (The
Beatles CDs, which were issued beginning in February of 1987
have the primary catalogue numbers 46435 to 46447; this one is
46602.)
Sound quality is typical of mid-to-late 80s re-issue CDs:
unoffensive but unspectacular. To my ear, this CD is much more
"muddy" than, say, the brighter-mastered At Abbey Road CD,
probably the relic of mastering the CD from tapes somewhat
removed from the original master. Tape hiss is quite audible,
and individual instruments and vocals tend to blend together
indistinctly. (As an example, listen to how indistinct the
vocal reverb is on the first few tracks, and compare that sound
to a more recent EMI remaster--there is no comparison,
soundwise.) Conversely, the CD does not suffer from the over-compression or noise reduction artefacts that annoy some audiphiles on many releases from the late-90s onward.
This CD is now out-of-print, but the first 20 tracks have been
re-issued on the 2000 CD Story, which comes with a bonus
CD-ROM. I'd have to say
that this is really a CD is not essential for the casual fan, as
the best of the B-sides have made their way onto At Abbey
Road along with all A-sides. Some of the stereo mixes are hard to find elsewhere
now, given EMI's decision to use the (in my opinion, superior) mono
mixes in most recent releases. Collectors may also find this
desirable as an the first major G&P CD. Collects much material from the group's British EPs (22 of 32 EP tracks), repeating a fair number of tracks common to singles and LPS but having the inexplicable omission of "Rip It Up" (an EP-only release in the UK).
All of these tracks are available elsewhere on EMI and Repertoire
reissues, so there's really no special reason to get this one.
More of a greatest hits collection than any serious singles and EPs compilation. All tracks mono.
Germany Stereo except (*) mono.
A re-release of the band's first English LP with 10 tracks
added on as bonus. The album tracks use the stereo masters, while all bonus material appears in mono.
Stereo except (*) mono.
A re-release of the classic movie soundtrack with 14 bonus
tracks. The live tracks alone are worth the price of admission, as they give a good indication of just how good a live rock band the Pacemakers really were, and remove any doubt that they could challenge The Beatles on stage. Sound quality is generally very good, though tracks 18 to 20 are mastered from either a defective tape or from slightly worn vinyl as there is a fair bit of distortion at high frequencies and loud passages. The liner notes are also decidedly minimalist, and make a few rather careless errors (e.g. naming Gerry's stage debut at "Chelsea Girl", rather than "Charlie Girl"; crediting Paul Simon's "Big Bright Green..." as a Marsden composition!)
The Repertoire releases were apparently designed to complement
EMI's 1987 CD release, The Singles Plus. There is little
overlap between The Singles Plus and the two Repertoire releases, and together
these three CDs give all but eight of the 1960s G&P songs. Those
missing are as follows:
All of these songs are available on the Rock-in-Beat
Girl on a Swing, though mastered from an LP. The sound quality on this CD is quite
good, coming from the original master tapes.
The contrast between the mono
and stereo displays the limitation of the four-track recording
technology of the day: stereo mixes have a decidedly un-natural
feel to them, in a few cases (most notably "It's Gonna Be
Alright", which despite the mastering clarity sounds abysmal in
stereo) the entire rhythm section being relegated to a single
track and panned off to the side. It's better than the
twin-track of How Do You Like It, but only marginally.
My preference is for the mono mixes, but the beauty of this
presentation is that one has the choice of which mixes to
enjoy.
Obsessive audiophiles should note that the mono/stereo CDs have
been treated with Sonic Solutions NoNoise technology--a curse or
blessing, depending on the tuning of one's ear. I've never had
any problem with the resultant sound (and if you don't know what
I'm talking about, you're likely to be fine with it too!), but
those who do care should at least be warned.
Both of the mono/stereo issues have unfortunately been deleted by EMI, replaced with the (all-mono) 2on1 CD listed below.
If the foregoing wasn't confusing enough, in 2002 EMI Japan
decided to make life interesting by releasing yet
another reissue programme of the UK G&P albums. It combines the LP
tracks with the singles (and a few recently released out-takes)
released about the same time. It also included the album tracks
where there's a major variation between mono and stereo mixes
(though the non-orchestral version of "I'll Be There" is left
off, the "Gerry in California" tracks are nowhere to be found,
etc.). Had EMI undertaken this sort of release from the start
(along with a third disc to contain the two dozen or so songs
not on these CDs--mainly UK EP-only tracks, as well as the songs
released only in Canada and the USA), the long-winded
explanations about how to find specific tracks would have been
unnecessary.
I believe that these have been mastered from the mono mixes, as
seems to be current EMI practice (with the natural exception of
the stereo variations), but at about $45 US a pop I'm not going
to shell out to buy music I already have!
A re-issue of the complete Ferry Cross The Mersey movie soundtrack. All Pacemakers material has been re-issued elsewhere.
A re-issue of the first two US albums, less the original
duplication of "Slow Down" and "Jamabalaya". "Girl on a Swing"
has been added as a bonus track. No idea as to sound quality,
as I've been buying the EMI reissues. Given that almost all of
these songs are on At Abbey Road and How Do You Like
It (the only exceptions being "It's Happened To Me" and
"It's All Right", which are on The Singles Plus), this
one's not really essential.
1. Girl On A Swing (2 05)
All tracks stereo except (*) mono.
A welcomes release, containing the tracks which didn't make it
onto the Repertoire CD re-issues/The Singles Plus reissue
programme, along with some deadly rare Gerry Marsden solo
material. Tracks 22 to 24 are from Ed Sullvian Show appearances in 1964 and 1965. Tracks 1 to 14 and 25 to 32 sound as though they are mastered from vinyl (13 and 14 from somewhat noisy vinyl), and the stereo tracks have undergone some strange processing to reduce noise, resulting in slightly mufled vocals on quiet passages. The CD is still quite listenable, and a welcome release given the rarity of much of this material. This release seems to fall into what can delicately be called the "grey market" (and a very deep shade of gray at that). It does not appear to have been licensed by EMI or the Ed Sullivan rights holders. Can be purchased online at www.rockinbeat.de/.
All songs stereo except (*) mono.
A good collection, but a bit heavy on pop songs and ballads, overlooking the fact that Gerry and the Pacemakers really could rock as well! Tracks 1, 3-6 and 8 were remixed from pure twintrack by panning the two channels closer to the centre. "Give All Your Love...", "Girl on a Swing" and "Fool To Myself" were also fresh mixes, as the original mixes had genuinely unbalanced feels to their stereo spectra.
All songs stereo except (*) mono
The British version of The Defnintive Collection, this collection re-used the re-mixes for the American release but did not do any fresh remixes of the twintrack recordings not on its transatlantic counterpart. On song selection, this collection is stronger than Definitive, as such great rockers as "Slow Down", "A Shot of R&B" and "Why oh Why" and balance the ballads and pop songs that dominate the American collection. If the compilers could have dropped a couple of the inessential B-sides and worked in a couple of the live tracks from Gerry In California, this collection would have blown all others out of the water. As it is, this is probably my favourite compilation on song selection alone, narrowly edging out At Abbey Road.
(Version two): All tracks stereo except (*) mono. Tracks 2, 5, 9, 17 and 19 use the remixes created in 1991 for The Definitive Collection; all others are original mixes.
A long history to this one. Originally released in 1984 as a Greatest Hits LP with 16 tracks, The Very Best of... was re-issued on CD in the early 1990s with four additional tracks. It was again re-issued with a different cover in 1997, with seven further tracks added. The collection has since been expaded by 13 tracks, increased to two CDs, and lost the "Very" in the title to be issued as The Best of Gerry and the Pacemakers in 2005.
Still a superb budget collection for UK CD buyers. Unlike most other EMI collections, this one does not stick to a chronological structure, an approach which is perhaps more listenable for the casual listener but which has the trade-off of not showing the musical evolution of the group.
Track selestion is generally good, though one or two of the "Rip
It Up" EP tracks could have been cut to make room for some other
good material from 1965-66. For a general compilation album,
either this one or The Definitive Collection are probably
the way to go.
Liner notes are amongst the best of any G&P CD, containing
recording and release information for each song, and a decent
history of the band. There's also a concise and cogent
explanation for why mono, instead of stereo masters have been
used.
This album was re-issued by EMI-UK in 2003 under the title
Essential (cat. no. 582 0982). This disc appears in the
controversial new "Copy Control" format--a method of digital
encoding which is meant to discourage digital-to-digital copying
but allegedly also reduces audio quality and may reduce the
effective life of the disc by making it more prone to failure.
The disc may also not play on all CD players (computer CD
players, car stereos and portable players are allegedly
particularly prone to failure) and is, strictly speaking, not
within the stipulated production parameters of a Compact Disc
stipulated by Phillips (the patent/trademark holder). For
further information, visit the website for the Campaign For Digital
Rights for a summary of the problems that have arisen from
this new medium. Judge your purchase of this and other Copy
Control discs accordingly. For all practical purposes, you're
probably safest to buy At Abbey Road while supplies last,
as its deletion can't be far behind. Disc one
Canadian Tracks:
All tracks stereo except (*) mono.
American Tracks: A rather cheap,
short collection of Pacemaker material, with inferior sound
quality to more recent EMI reissues, and a complete lack of
liner notes. Poorly done, though not entirely without
merits as a budget compilation for someone only wanting the
band's best-known songs. This is, to my knowledge, the only CD with the original stereo mix of "How Do You Do It?", though the 1991 remix is so similar (merely panning the two channels closer to centre), that it's hardly a rarity worth hunting down.
USA A reasonably good collection of the highlights of Gerry and the Pacemakers, though now apparently out of print. The Definitive Collection is probably the better buy, having a dozen
more songs on it.. Out of print
now. One of many repackagings of the 1982 20th Anniversary Album studio sessions. A budget priced CD with very
poor sound quality, production quality, packaging, and overall
just poorly done. An example of the many releases of the 1981
live tapes. This is an
extremely poor compilation, lacking both liner notes and
structure. Another release of those 1981 live tapes.
2. '70s Medley
3. Rock 'N' Roll Medley
4. Lights Down Low Medley
5. '60s Medley
6. You'll Never Walk Alone
A variation of the 'stars On 45' theme, this is a budget-priced
56:01 long CD with five continous play mega-mixes featuring
portions of 50 golden oldies British Invasion hits,
including five of their own seven U.S. hits: "Ferry Cross The Mersey",
"I Like It", "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying", "How Do You
Do It?" And "It's Gonna Be Alright". The last (sixth) track is
"You'll Never Walk Alone". There are numerous releases of this
album, usually quite inexpensively priced.
Tracks:
This is a tribute album to Gerry and the Pacemakers by
The Stool Pigeons as part of their "British Inversion"
series from Sympathy Records. Their first album was "Rule,
Hermania!" (sftri 446), a tribute to Herman's Hermits.
Both have been released on CD, and are available in stores, or
from Sympathy records.
Box Sets
You'll Never Walk Alone (The EMI Years - 1963-1966)
United Kingdom
LP, EP and 45 reissue attempts
The UK LPs have been reissued by EMI in their entirety
on three occasions (EMI mono/stereo, the 2on1 series, Japanese remaster) in addition to the mid-90s Repertoire reissue, the EPs have (mostly) been available on the See For Miles collection, and the eleven UK singles have likewise been available
chronologically on The Singles Plus and a few other knock-offs.Reissues of British Albums, EPs, 45s
The Singles Plus
United Kingdom
All tracks stereo except (*) mono
The EP Collection
United Kingdom
*Live From Gerry in California
As Bs & EPs: Mono
United Kingdom
How Do You Like It
Bonus Tracks
Ferry Cross the Mersey
Germany
Bonus Tracks
How Do You Like It
United Kingdom
Mono mixes are followed by the stereo versions. Superb sound
quality, with the primitive twin-track recording technology
giving the mono mixes hands-down superiority. Stereo separation
is typically instruments to one side, vocals to the other, and
everything panned to the centre for a solo; the odd tamborine is
overdubbed and panned to the centre on a couple of recordings (A
Shot of Rhythm..., You're The Reason). It's an interesting
historical record of the recording techniques of the day, though
all but the hardcore musicologist is likely to prefer the mono
mixes.
Ferry Cross The Mersey
United Kingdom
Digital remaster of "Ferry..." soundtrack. On the CD there are
back liner notes on the movie with a small b/w photo of the
band on the lower right hand corner. The first 12 songs are
presented in mono. The second 12 songs (the same ones) are then
presented in stereo.
How Do You Like It/Ferry Cross the Mersey
EMI 60s 2on1
EMI International
A 2002 reissue by EMI consisting of both of the UK albums
packaged on a single CD, replacing the previous mono/stereo
releases. The mono mixes alone have been used. As I
already have the mono/stereo reissues, I have not purchased this
one. I would not be entirely surprised if the same remasters
have been used on this CD. (Digital transfer technology
advanced a little in the five interening years, but one
questions whether EMI would spend that kind of money for so
little improvement.) Liner notes in this series are typically minimal, comprising front-and-back images of each original album.Japanese Remasters, 2002
How Do You Like It
Ferry Cross The Mersey
Ferry Cross The Mersey (2009 soundtrack reissue)
United Kingdom
Reissues of US Albums
Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying/Second Album
United States
Girl on a Swing
Hungary/Germany
2. The Way You Look Tonight (2 08)
3. Guantanamera (2 50)
4. Pretty Flamingo (2 15)
5. At The End Of The Rainbow (2 13)
6. Looking For My Life (2 43)
7. Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine (2 47)
8. See You In September (2 26)
9. Who Can I Turn You (1 51)
10. Without You (2 55)
11. Strangers In The Night (1 55)
12. La La La (2 38)
13. On a Wonderful Day Like Today (2 09)
14. Tonight (1 51)
15. It ll Be Me (2 18) *
16. Hello Little Girl (1 53) *
17. Give All Your Love To Me (2 37)
18. Fool To Myself (1 56)
19. Come Back To Me (2 39)*
20. When Oh When (2 20)*
21. Hallelujah I Love So (2 46)
22. Ferry Cross The Mersey (2 23) *
23. It's Gonna Be Alright (1 55) *
24. Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying (2 33) *
25. GERRY MARSDEN Please Let Them Be (3 30) *
26. GERRY MARSDEN I'm Not Blue (2 21) *
27. GERRY MARSDEN In The Year Of April (3 12) *
28. GERRY MARSDEN Every Day (1 59) *
29. GERRY MARSDEN Gilbert Green (3 10) *
30. GERRY MARSDEN What Makes Me Love You (2 29) *
31. GERRY MARSDEN & DEREK NIMMO Liverpool (3 17) *
32. GERRY MARSDEN & DEREK NIMMO Charlie Girl (1 37) *
Greatest Hits Collections
The Definitive
Collection: Best of Gerry and the Pacemakers
USA
The Best of The EMI Years
United Kingdom
The Very Best Of Gerry & The Pacemakers
Version One
United Kingdom
Version two
United Kingdom
At Abbey Road 1963-1966
United Kingdom
Digital remaster by EMI, being a greatest hits collection
including LP, single and unreleased-in-the-60s tracks. All songs
are mono. Sound quality is superb, clearly mastered from the
best available source tapes, and much "brighter" and clearer
than, say, The Singles Plus. The track banding is at
times sloppy: the studio chatter included before a few songs is
mastered improperly as the tail end of the previous track, an
indication perhaps of a rushed process, and "Big Bright
Green..." is banded so that the first word of the a capella
intro is banded as part of the previous track. (Certainly not
the same care being exercised as, say, the Beatles'
Anthology.)
The Best of Gerry and the Pacemakers
Europe
Disc two
Gerry And The Pacemakers Greatest Hits
Canada and USA
Gerry Cross The Mersey
Gerry and the
Pacemakers: The Collection
United Kingdom
Other Stuff
Magic
Moments
USA
Super Hits Live
Holland
Golden Hits
ITC Masters 2426 1091 2
Gerry and the Pacemakers
Japan
Non Stop Party Album
A 7664824691231. Party Medley:
Let's Dance
Let's Twist Again
Loco Motion
Simon Says
Singing The Blues
Y.M.C.A.
My Old Man's A Dustman
Agadoo
Knock Three Times
Da Doo Ron Ron
I'm The Leader Of The Gang
Sweet Caroline
It's Heartache
Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye
I Hear You Knocking
Get It On
Rockin' All Over The World
Radio Ga Ga
Lucille
Peggy Sue
Rock Around The Clock
Jailhouse Rock
Let's Have A Party
It's Gonna Be Alright
Long Tall Sally
C'mon Everybody
Rock And Roll Music
Great Balls Of Fire
It Might As Well Rain Until September
The Most Beautiful Girl
Raining In My Heart
Roses Are Red
All I Have To Do Is Dream
If You Leave Me Now
Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying
Ferry 'Cross The Mersey
Hi Ho Silver Lining
Do Wah Diddy Diddy
Keep On Running
Glad All Over
I Like It
How Do You Do It?
Save The Last Dance For Me
You Really Got Me
Young Girl
Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da
Ticket To Ride
Do You Love Me?
I'm The One
Tribute Album
The Stool Pigeons
British Inversion Vol.2
"GERRY CROSS THE MERSEY"
USA
Performers:
Distributed by Mordam Records (in San Francisco)
Lisa Jenio - Lead Vocals
Mark Fletcher - Bass, Psychedelic guitar (rt channel) trk 10
Mark Sogomian - Rhythm Guitar
Peter Gilabert - Lead Guitar
Heather Stanfield - Backup vocals, lead vocals trk 6 & 9
Stuli - Drums
sympathy's address: 4450 California Place #303, Long Beach, CA
90807
e-mail: sympathy13@aol.com (a
website should be up soon)
I just got a copy of this album from the record
company. It's an interesting take on the original songs. It is
certainly not a direct lifting of style, sound, etc of the
Pacemakers' music, but rather a merging of Gerry's original
songs with a 90s style rock. Some fans may see this as
sacrilegious, but I personally found the album quite enjoyable
and listenable. (I think it's only retailing for about $10
US--at that price, it really can't hurt to pick it up, take a
listen, and decide for yourself.)Collection CDs
The Sullivan Years-The British
Invasion
(Various Artists)
TVT records, TVTD 9428
(1990)
The British Invasion/The History of British Rock
Vol. 1
Rhino Records R2 70319 (1988)
USA
Vol. 2
Rhino Records
R2 70320 (1988)
USA Vol. 3
Rhino Records R2 70321
(1988)
USA Vol.
4
Rhino Records R2 70322 (1988)
USA
This page maintained by Ian Speers
Last updated: 18 August 2009.
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