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Post by Richard Marple on Sept 12, 2016 17:00:29 GMT
Ironically Pete Best was eventually signed to Decca.
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Post by Patrick Coles on Sept 12, 2016 18:30:56 GMT
I'm sure I read somewhere that Christie later fell victim to 'chart rigging' - their third hit 'Iron Horse' mysteriously dropped out of the top twenty (or top thirty) despite apparently selling really well....while another CBS record shot up the chart instead !
years ago I knew a guy who was the manager at my local HMV Record shop - a certain record shot to number one (a ballad by a solo male singer), he was amazed and told me he'd sold only THREE copies of that single in the past two weeks and still had umpteen copies on hand...but another single had barely moved in the chart tho' he'd sold out of it....!
he told me he couldn't GIVE the new 'number one' single away...and if he'd put them out marked 'free please take one' he doubted if very many would have gone...!
o.k. that might have just been the sales at his shop, but it makes you wonder....
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Post by Richard Marple on Sept 12, 2016 19:42:29 GMT
I'm assuming the sales for one single were recorded as counting for another.
I remember one record label in the early 1990s got in trouble for employing buying gangs to go round record shops buying up certain singles, which were then sold back to shops as new stock.
Payola was a similar scam in the USA to boost the performance of certain songs by bribing DJs to play them more.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2016 15:06:55 GMT
I heard a story from a friend who worked in a local CD shop, that they used bar-code scanning for the sales info & was easily hijacked. One week, a tin of baked beans made #24 in the charts thanks to some organised scanning. Urban myth? Someone's tall tale? Maybe, but it's a good story.
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Post by markjhaley on Sept 13, 2016 16:28:55 GMT
You're not far off the mark Shelley. As I understood it, chart shop retailers were encouraged to have certain record sleeves at the counter which they would scan instead of the single the customer was actually buying.
Briefly back to the Trems they certainly did record 'Yellow River' and Christie's vocal was then overdubbed for his release.
From what Rick Westwood and Dave Munden told me over the years they were keen to release it as an A-side but were overuled.
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Post by Patrick Coles on Sept 13, 2016 18:28:10 GMT
The Tremeloes career was rather plagued by rival covers - some they won out with such as 'Do You Love Me' (over Faron's Flamingos and The Dave Clark Five)....and they scored with 'Twist and Shout' ...and they had UK hits with their covers of Cat Stevens 'Here Comes My Baby' and of course The Four Seasons old 'B' side 'Silence is Golden'....
....but later on 'Yellow River' went to Jeff Christie and 'Words Don't Come Easy' they lost out to F.R.David's version that seemed to get all the radio airplay (tho' I felt Len 'Chip' Hawkes sang it better !)
Hermans Hermits UK hit 'Something is Happening' was also recorded by The Tremeloes but with differing lyrics
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Post by Richard Marple on Sept 13, 2016 19:32:55 GMT
I didn't realise Words Don't Come Easy was a Tremeloes song.
A few acts in the 1960s-70s made both covers & had their songs covered by other acts, as well as simply writing their own songs.
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Post by Tony Walshaw on Sept 14, 2016 7:22:53 GMT
I didn't realise it had been, either. Theoretically then it would have been a big hit for the Trems in the early 80s. P.S: One week, a tin of baked beans made #24 in the charts thanks to some organised scanning. Urban myth? It was Heinz biggest hit since 'Just Like Eddie'....  |
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Post by Patrick Coles on Sept 14, 2016 18:52:48 GMT
yeah re 'Words Don't Come Easy' they reunited with CBS Records and it might have done well for them - it was the classic Len Hawkes/Alan Blakely/Rick Westwood/Dave Munden line up too
the F.R. David version had been released but had not done anything much chartwise, then The Tremeloes released their cover which seemed to galvanise Disc Jockeys into ONLY playing the F.R.David version which then became a big hit...!
The Trems version was synth based (something normally not to my taste) tho' it had a brief but good guitar break....however Len 'Chip' Hawkes sang it beautifully, in my opinion putting the F.R. David hit version in the shade
I did wonder IF those D.J.s didn't like the idea of a "veteran sixties band" doing it better (??) as fine singles by bands such as The Moody Blues, The Hollies, and The Searchers around then were also being ignored for almost any UK radio airplay too !
The Tremeloes also released a lovely new virtually acapella version of 'Silence is Golden' and a nice new version of 'Someone Someone' (their old 1965 Decca hit) sung by Len Hawkes too - tho' only in Europe I think
the various Tremeloes compilation CDs - one a notably superb four CD set on BR Records - have most of these rarer later recordings
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Post by paul carney on Sept 15, 2016 11:26:21 GMT
I have really enjoyed reading this thread. It is interesting how many contributors ,including myself, have such fond memories of the Trems. Not particularly groundbreaking with their music but always well performed and entertaining. They never seemed to be off the box in the 60s.
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Post by Patrick Coles on Sept 15, 2016 13:07:21 GMT
They were actually surprisingly innovative from 1966 onwards, having recorded a pop album before The Beatles debut ('Big Hits of '62' on Decca's Ace of Clubs label)
Like Hollies, Searchers, Marmalade, Badfinger etc they got tagged too lightly as 'pop groups' but in fact were far more creative than many thought
they did an early cover of Paul Simon's 'Blessed' in 1966 before spotting Cat Stevens talents, and put his rather mournful 'Here Comes My Baby' (a lament song on his debut 'Matthew & Son' album) to a good time 'party' Trini Lopez style arrangement !
- note how the sad lyrics DON'T match their fun time Tremeloes 'singalong' arrangement at all...and it works brilliantly !
they repeated this on 'Even The Bad Times Are Good' ('go on Len ave a sing !') while the Four Seasons 'folky' acoustic 'Silence is Golden' gets a Byrds style jangling guitar set to their glorious harmonies (to reach no.1)
'Helule Helule' has African and Latin style percussion with jangly guitars while their dramatic take on Dylan's 'I Shall Be Released' featured lush strings
'As You Are' (double 'A' side to 'Suddenly You Love Me') has fine harmonies while 'All The World To Me' ('B' side to 'My Little Lady') features a great harpsichord over a strong melody (a Blakely-Hawkes song)
Blakely-Hawkes were a much underrated songwriting team, penning quite a lot of their later sixties tracks, while 'Call Me Number One' and 'Me And My Life' saw them moving towards rock style - 'Try Me' was a blistering out and out rock track
'Hello Buddy' - their last UK chart single in 1971 - featured fiddles, pedal steel guitar, and was a country style 'hoedown' fast paced number reflecting Chip Hawkes love of country music - he later went solo and did a 'country' style album on RCA Victor records
on albums they experimented, note the fluid guitarwork on 'Runnin' Out', the alternation of Rick Westwood's falsetto voice against group harmonies on 'Shake Hands (Come Out Cryin') and the psychedelic tinges on 'Suddenly Winter'
Rick and Alan Blakely were both excellent lead guitarists while Dave Munden a powerful drummer and Chip Hawkes a strong bass player
they had tight layered vocal harmonies ('I'm With You All The Way', 'Negotiations in Soho Square', etc) and Hawkes & Munden were two fine lead vocalists
they were hit by non musical problems later when distinctive high harmony singer Rick Westwood's hearing became a major health problem (Rick had to give up singing and just play guitar robbing them of a key part of their notable vocal sound) , then Alan Blakely's health went downhill too - Bob Benham replaced Rick and later Rick returned in place of Alan (sidelined on and off due to his illness)
always regarded as a 'singles band' their albums; 'Here Come The Tremeloes' and it's follow up 'Alan, Chip, Rick, Dave' (- probably not in that order !) were interesting sixties power/pop efforts with some strong tracks - they were among the first to record a few Gilbert O'Sullivan songs such as 'You' and 'Come on Home'
the infamous 'slagging off their pop music fans as idiots and morons' that the UK music press jumped upon with glee, was Alan caught in a frustrated mood re them not being taken more seriously musically (Graham Nash was feeling the same re The Hollies) - the rest of the band were horrified at Alan's outspoken remarks...but it probably cost them in the eyes of many young fans back then
They did the soundtrack to the Jane Birkin film 'May Morning' (now out on CD)
Re later 'proper' albums; 'Master' (a forgotten gem) went largely unnoticed , while 'Shiner' (with Bob Benham in place of Rick) on DJM Records was an excellent mid seventies pop/rock album as their sound got heavier - notable mid seventies singles around then featuring Bob Benham (the blonde left handed guitarist) were 'Ride On', 'Blue Suede Tie'
'Don't Let The Music Die'(1975) featured only Dave Munden and Bob Benham...with Paul Carmen and Paul Issac making up the group, it was interesting, quite progressive in places but didn't sound much like the classic Trems, indeed they became 'The Trems' and even briefly 'Space' before reverting to the famous group name 'Tremeloes'
Chip and Alan later returned for a time - when they cut 'Words Don't Come Easy', and Chip later left to go solo with Davey Fryer and Joe Gillingham replacing him...
Alan finally sadly lost his long battle with cancer, and I think the fourpiece continues on today, possibly with new members by now
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Post by Dale Rumbold on Sept 15, 2016 18:33:22 GMT
I will be seeing them, with Brian Poole, at Ipswich Regent in 2 weeks time, as part of a(nother) 60s show.
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Post by Alan Turrell on Sept 15, 2016 21:16:53 GMT
I recently bought the 'Don't Let The Music Die' album from 75 from Discogs and i have to admit i was a little dissapointed with it, it wasn't what i was expecting as Patrick say's not like the classic Trems,i also bought the single 'Ride On' from 73 on the epic label heard it for the first time on Radio Luxembourg not sure if it was a power play or not,i bought it mainly for the intro but it didn't chart.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2016 22:18:34 GMT
Silence Is Golden was the second record that I ever picked up on & got well into (the first being Hold Tight by DDDBM&T). I still love it to this day. A friend turned me on to (Call Me) Number 1 about 40 years ago ... great little example of psychedelic pop. Great hipster beards on this ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwmov_cmsEsAnd they could do it live ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=n03g8nsaBro |
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