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Gerry and the Pacemakers
American Discography

This page lists all the known American recordings of Gerry and the Pacemakers in their original US release, as well as "Greatest Hits" LP re-releases.

As with the Beatles, Capitol, EMI's American subsidiary, turned down Gerry and the Pacemakers' 1963 singles, forcing Brian Epstein to look for second tier labels to market his bands in America. While Vee Jay, and later Swan records picked up the slack for the Beatles' releases, a New York-based company which had previously released Dion and the Belmonts, the Chiffons, and practically no one else of any consequence. Until the Beatles' breakthrough in the early months of 1964, Gerry's singles were utter flops in Amreica, despite topping the charts in Britain. Unlike the Beatles, EMI never picked up any of Gerry and the Pacemakers' recordings once they'd made it into the American charts, thus all of Gerry's US releases are on Laurie with the sole exception of the Ferry Cross the Mersey movie soundtrack, released by United Artists.

Information on 1960s releases on non-phonographic media would be appreciated. Specifically, if anyone has information on reel-to-reel tape or four-track/eight-track cartridge releases, I'd be most eager to learn about them.

Contributors:
Frank A. Lowry, Koji Mikuma, Jean-Louis Beaudoin, Alan Lowell, Amy Michaels, Matt

All songs written by Gerry Marsden unless otherwise indicated.

Albums
Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying (1964)
Second Album (1964)
Ferry Cross The Mersey (1965)
I'll Be There (1965)
Gerry and the Pacemakers' Greatest Hits (1965)
Girl on a Swing (1966)

Singles

Albums

Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying

USA
Laurie (S)LLP 2024 (mono and stereo)
Release Date: July 1964

Side One

  1. Don't let the Sun Catch you Crying [2:35]
  2. I'm the One [2:16]
  3. Away from You [2:09] (Marden,Chadwick)
  4. Jambalya [2:35] (Williams)
  5. Maybelline [2:03] (Berry,Fratlo,Freed)
  6. You'll Never Walk Alone [2:38] (Rodgers & Hammerstein)

Side Two

  1. How Do You Do It [1:55] (Mitch Murray)
  2. You're the Reason [2:16] (Edwards, Henley, Imes, Fell)
  3. Don"t You Ever [1:47]
  4. Summertime [2:28] (D. Heywood G. Gershwin)
  5. Slow Down [2:26] (Williams)
  6. Show Me That You Care [2:05]

This and all other Laurie LPs (except Girl on a Swing) were only released in electronically rechannelled stereo (aka. distorted mono). This album was initially released in mono alone; the stereo release did not come until after Second Album.

Gerry and the Pacemakers Second Album

USA
Laurie (S)LLP 2027 (mono and stereo)
Release Date: November 1964

Side One

  1. I Like It (Mitch Murray)
  2. A Shot of Rhythm and Blues (Thompson)
  3. Where Have You Been?
  4. Here's Hoping (Stephens - Reed)
  5. Pretend (Douglas ParmanLavgre)
  6. The Wrong Yo Yo (Trad. Arr. Marsden)

Side Two

  1. Chills (Keller - Goffin)
  2. You Can't Fool Me (Mitch Murray)
  3. It's Happened to Me
  4. It's All Right
  5. Slow Down (Williams)
  6. Jambalaya (Williams)
This album marked the first LP to be issued by Laurie in stereo, albeit in processed-from-mono sound.

Note that the first to Laurie LP releases correspond to How Do You Like It? in the UK, containing the 14 tracks from that LP while adding the tracks on the first five UK singles, with the exclusion of "You've Got What I Like" (which was actually one of their better B-sides).

Ferry Cross The Mersey

USA
United Artists UAL 3388 (mono) / UAS 6388 (stereo)
Release Date: February 1965

Side One

  1. Ferry Cross The Mersey
  2. It's Gonna Be Alright
  3. Why Oh Why
  4. I Gotta Woman The Black Knights
  5. Fall In Love
  6. Think About Love

Side Two

  1. This Thing Called Love
  2. Baby You're So Good To Me
  3. I'll Wait For You
  4. Shake A Tail Feather Earl Royce & The Olympics
  5. She's The Only Girl For Me
  6. Why Don't You Love Me? The Blackwells

Soundtrack of the United Artists' film Ferry Cross The Mersey.
The lower image is of the Capitol Record Club reissue of the album.

I'll Be There

USA
Laurie (S)LLP 2030 or ST90385
Release Date: February 1965

Side One

  1. I'll Be There (Darrin)
  2. What'd I'd Say (Charles)
  3. Rip It Up (Blackwell, Marascalco)
  4. You Win Again (Williams)
  5. You You You (Marsden)
  6. Now I'm Alone (Marsden)

Side Two

  1. My Babe (Dixon, Stone)
  2. Rellin and A Rockin' (Berry)
  3. I Count the Tears(Pomus, Shuman)
  4. Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On (Williams, David)
  5. It'll Be Me (Clement)
  6. Skinny Minnie (Fefferit Day)

This album consisted of cobbling together a few UK single tracks, tracks from the Rip It Up EP, as well as six tracks flown in from England for this new release: What'd I Say, Now I'm Alone, My Babe, I Count The Tears, It'll Be Me and Skinnie Minnie. The Canadian 2nd Album was released practically simultaneously, and contained identical tracks (though different running order), with the exception of "What'd I Say" being dropped in favour of "Don't Let The Sun...". None of the six songs specifically recorded for this album showed up on UK releases (though live versions of My Babe and What'd I Say were on the Live EP.)

This album, plus the first two by Laurie and the Ferry... soundtrack, collected all of the Pacemakers' studio output to the time of their release, leaving out only "You've Got What I Like" and "It's Just Because" (both UK b-sides).

Gerry and the Pacemakers' Greatest Hits

USA
Laruie (S)LLP 2031
Release Date: May 1965

Side One

  1. Ferry Cross The Mersey [2:22]
  2. How Do You Do It [1:55] (M. Murray)
  3. I'm The One [2:16]
  4. My Babe [2:24] (W. Dixon)
  5. Away From You [2:09] (Marsden-Chadwick)
  6. I'll Be There [2:41] (B. Darin)

Side Two

  1. It's Gonna Be Alright [2:09]
  2. Pretend [2:24] (Douglas-Parman-Belloc-Lavere)
  3. I Like It [2:14] (M. Murray)
  4. Chills [1:57] (Keller, Goffin)
  5. It'll Be Me [2:16] (J. Clement)
  6. Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying [2:33]

Girl on a Swing

USA
Laurie (S)LLP 2037 (mono and stereo)
Release Date: December 1966

Side One

  1. Girl On A Swing
  2. The Way You Look Tonight
  3. Guantanamera
  4. Pretty Flamingo
  5. At The End Of The Rainbow
  6. Looking For My Life

Side Two

  1. The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine
  2. See You In September
  3. Who Can I Turn To
  4. Without You
  5. Strangers In The Night
  6. La La La

This was the only Laurie album to be released in true stereo. The album was not a good seller, and is significantly rarer than any of the band's other 1960s American LPs. Corresponding to the Canadian Today LP, this US release has three songs ("Looking For My Life", "Big Bright Green..." and "Without You") which did not appear on that album, but lacks "Tonight" and "On a Wonderful Day Like Today", which the Canadian LP uniquely released. Within a few months of these albums' release, the band split up and Gerry Marsden began working on a stage career.

Ferry Cross The Mersey

USA
Accord SN-7148 (stereo)
Release Date: 1981

Side One

  1. How Do You Do It [1:38] (Murray- Edmond)
  2. Ferry Cross The Mersey [2:45]
  3. It's Still Rock & Roll To Me [2:30] (Murray)
  4. I'm The One [1:43]
  5. Unchained Melody [3:36] (A. North - H. Zaret)

Side Two

  1. Roll Over Beethoven [3:13] (Berry)
  2. Imagine [2:30] (Lennon)
  3. Running Man [3:55]
  4. Just The Way You Are [4:14] (B. Joel)

A live album, recorded circa 1981. A noticeable change, musically, from the earlier works, in part because Gerry is the only original Pacemaker on the record.
Has been re-released on CDs on numerous occasions, sometimes containing two extra tracks.

Singles

It was common marketing technique in the USA to issue singles in picture sleeves at this time (e.g. the extensive series of Beatles sleeves), but I have never seen any of Gerry and the Pacemakers. Does anyone know if these exist?

How Do You Do It? / Away From You
Laurie 3162 (April 1963)

I Like It / It's Happened To Me
Laurie 3196 (Aug. 1963)

You'll Never Walk Alone / It's All Right
Laurie 3218 (Jan. 1964)

I'm the One / How Do You Do It?
Laurie 3233 (March 1964)

Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying / Away From You
Laurie 3251(May 1964) - Billboard: 4

How Do You Do It / You'll Never Walk Alone
Laurie 3261 (June 1964) - Billboard: 9

I'm The One / It's Alright
Laurie 3233 (June 1964 - Billboard 82

I Like It / Jambalaya
Laurie 3271 (Sept. 1964)
- Billboard: 17

I'll Be There/ You You You
Laurie 3279 (Nov. 1964) - Billboard: 14

Ferry 'Cross the Mersey / Pretend
Laurie 3284 (January 1965) - Billboard: 6

It's Gonna Be Alright / Skinny Minnie
Laurie 3293 (March 1965) - Billboard: 23

You'll Never Walk Alone / Away From You
Laurie 3313 (May 1965) - Billboard: 68

You're the Reason / Give All You Love to Me
Laurie LR 3313 (July 1965) - Billboard: 68

Walk Hand in Hand / Dreams
Laurie 3323 (November 1965) - Billboard: 103

La La La / Without You
Laurie (Feb 1966) - Billboard: 90

Girl on a Swing / The Way You Look Tonight
Laurie 3354 (August 1966) - Billboard: 28

Looking For My Life / The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine
Laurie 3370 (January 1967)

Girl on a Swing / Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying
Eric 205 (1980s)

Ferry Across the Mersey / I Like It
Eric 206 (1980s)

This page maintained by Ian Speers
Last updated: 2 June 2007
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