GERRY AND THE PACEMAKERS -- HOW DO YOU LIKE IT? and FERRY CROSS
THE MERSEY (both on Repertoire Records): For fans of the British Invasion,
these two discs, that include a total of 50 tracks, are nothing short of
fantastic. While the EMI reissue a couple of years ago (that's now apparently
out of print) covered most of the usual and easily available tracks, these two
CDs have rarer stuff. HOW DO YOU LIKE IT? starts out with the 14 tracks from the
album of the same name, then includes 10 bonus tracks of such titles as "Whole
Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and "You Win Again," which I can't say I
ever imagined Gerry doing, but the evidence is here. FERRY CROSS THE MERSEY has
the soundtrack of the British album, which is different from the American. The
British includes a track by the George Martin Orchestra ("All Quiet on the
Mersey Front"), Cilla Black ("Is It Love") and the Fourmost ("I
Love You Too", which has been bootlegged in the past as having Paul
McCartney on vocals, but, as this CD proves without a doubt, doesn't). The bonus
tracks include another Gerry track, Simon and Garfunkel's "Bright Green
Pleasure Machine." I'd expected a lot of the tracks between these disks to
be repeated on the EMI, but surprisingly, few are. (Dec. '95)