 |
| GERRY AND THE PACEMAKERS-La La La/Without You LR 3337 1966 |
Liverpool's Gerry and the Pacemakers were on life support in the U.K. in February 1966 when EMI's Columbia issued today's subject as "DB 7835" and headed to the lucrative but depressing cabaret circuit. The band's U.S. label Laurie followed suit and issued the single the following month. If the band were on life support back in the U.K. they were dead and buried since the previous year when their "Ferry Cross The Mersey" reached #6 (curiously two positions higher than it reached in the U.K.!) in February of '65, their last visit to the U.S. Top 40 (even stranger their next U.S. single "Girl On A Swing" would make #28 here, their final visit into the U.S. Top 40).
"La La La" sounds different than anything the band had ever done to my ears. Despite always been photographed with a 1964 Rickenbacker 360 12 string (which he sawed the tip of the peghead off to fit in it's case! True story! Don't believe me, Google it!) you never got a chance to hear the guitar's distinct sound on any of their records (though I am FAR from being an authority on the band, so if I am wrong please set me straight). That changed on "La La La", a Marsden original composition. It's jangly but not Burds jangly, more like the Beach Boy's jangly when Carl played his (think "I Get Around"). With it's upbeat tempo, infectious Rickenbacker 12 thrashing along with some piano. Lyrically it's almost juvenile but it's incredibly catchy and damned near infectious!
The flip, Without You" is another Mardsen original. It starts out with some Bach influenced churchy organ that leads you to believe it's going to be a proto "Whiter Shade Of Pale" (the organ lick reminds me so much of "No Time" by The Applejacks or a slowed down "Liar Liar" by The Castaways). Nope, it just falls into a weird ballad that has so many different bridges and choruses in it's two minutes and fifty three seconds that's it's a wonder they ever got it recorded. Some Walker Brothers style strings sweep in and threaten to revive this turkey but then a trumpet comes in and Gerry sings another verse in a different key/melody. I'm confused, I like it enough to keep going back hoping, just hoping, something else will jump out and make me decide that I REALLY like it. I'm still waiting for that to happen....
Both sides are on a slew of 60's EMI Gerry comps and both are available on streaming.
Hear "La La La":
Hear "Without You":
No comments:
Post a Comment