Home > Music > G > Gerry & the Pacemakers > Discography

Albums | Compilations | Singles | Videos

Gerry & the Pacemakers
I'll Be There
Release Date: 1965
Label: Laurie
Rating:

The EP format never took off in the United States like it did in Britain. As a consequence, American record companies were left with a number of tracks which were often gathered together with stray singles to produce compilations for the U.S. market. If the companies were a few tracks shy of an album, they would often specifically request an artist to produce the goods. The Beatles only did this once with "Bad Boy" for their Capitol album, Beatles VI. However, their fellow Liverpudlians, Gerry & the Pacemakers, recorded six new songs for this America-only release -- "What'd I Say" (with drummer Freddie Marsden on vocals), "Now I'm Alone," "My Babe," "I Count the Tears," "It'll Be Me," and "Skinnie Minnie." None of these cuts were released in the U.K. and the haste at which some of them were recorded is evident, compared to that of the group's previous releases. The lead track is one of the album's few highlights -- one of the group's final chart entries in the U.K., very much in the MOR vein of earlier successes like "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying." The remaining tracks include the U.K. B-side to "Ferry Cross the Mersey," entitled "You, You, You," and four more old rock & roll covers, from the U.K. EP Rip It Up. All in all a collection of hastily recorded rock & roll covers which will appeal more to the hardcore enthusiast than the casual listener. Rob Flanagan, All Music Guide