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Post by gee on Mar 4, 2020 15:15:49 GMT
and in the sixties
Silence is Golden - mixing The Byrds guitars and Four Seasons song plus their own harmonies
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2020 15:55:41 GMT
Although none of them played instruments, those 'Brian Poole and The Tremeloes' concerts from 2/3 years ago were great fun. Here's 'Do You Love Me':
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Post by gee on Mar 5, 2020 18:00:43 GMT
Call Me Number One - which made no.2 in the UK !
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Post by gee on Mar 5, 2020 18:08:53 GMT
Do You Love Me - as was !
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Post by gee on Mar 5, 2020 18:13:28 GMT
1967 Tremeloes
Suddenly Winter
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Post by gee on Mar 5, 2020 18:20:23 GMT
A fav harmony vocals flavoured one of mine
I'm With You All The Way
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Post by stuball on Mar 6, 2020 15:14:24 GMT
Always loved The Trems fabulous sound and their catchy material. Still do to this day. But one thing always puzzles me: whatever happened to their career stateside? One minute they were riding high in the charts with Epic records, and then after 'World Explosion 1968' and the 45 'Helule Helule', they totally disappeared. It was like they never existed. No records, no articles, no tours, nothing. All groups careers eventually fade, but with The Tremeloes it was truly a case of 'here today, gone tomorrow'.
Visiting England in 1972, I was truly flabbergasted to find newish Tremeloes' records in the shops and being played on jukeboxes! I had no idea they were still around! And successful! And still recording! But for me, it just deepened the mystery of their North American total 'disappearance'.
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Post by thejanitor on Mar 13, 2020 14:08:43 GMT
I've become strangely fascinated by "Windows Are Nice" recently. Obviously not hit material, but still a fun listen without a dull moment for me. It pre-dates the similar kind of eccentric and quirky electronic music from the McCartney II album by a couple of years.
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2020 17:12:28 GMT
Probably a specially compiled fake 'promo', but some great footage here:
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Post by cameron on May 6, 2020 0:33:41 GMT
Probably a specially compiled fake 'promo', but some great footage here: What a great video of how the well off lived in the 1960s! Not sure about that wallpaper though... I've always thought 'Once On A Sunday Morning' was one of the worst choices for an A-side that the Tremeloes ever picked. It didn't chart anywhere, their first true flop since their initial success. The B-side 'Fa La La, La La, La Le' was equally uninspired. Having lucked out on 'Suddenly You Love Me', they seemed to not be able to resist an English re-write of an Italian pop song. Luckily, the self-composed follow up, 'Call Me Number One' would be perhaps the finest song that they ever recorded, though allegedly they sat on it for over a year before having the courage to release it. The Tremeloes frustrate me so much because they were caught between this teenybop image and a more progressive sound. And they were such a musically tight band with four really great players and singers. It's a shame that their 'Master' LP was issued before they really finished it, as it's a pretty faultless album. Their problem was that they made one self-indulgent mis-step after another with that ridiculous rock and roll US only LP in 1968 (the only saving grace being their superb cover of 'It Ain't Nothing But A House Party'), the Elvis style tracks that Chip Hawkes was obsessed with doing that stick out like a sore thumb on 'Master' (apart from 'Blue Suede Tie', I'll give him that one, it's superb) and picking random covers when their in-house songwriting was arguably better than most of the covers that they picked to issue as singles. Not to mention constantly bigging their music up to the press (cue the infamous "music for morons" comment) and the big talk of "going progressive" while not really delivering it. In contrast, the Hollies never really got "serious" about their music in the press and they weren't afraid to go right back to what they did best - a catchy pop song. The Tremeloes seemed to step in one direction, not find the same level of success as before, then hop in another direction straight after, which leads to an extremely mixed bag on their Greatest Hits albums. I don't believe that they had a producer who was firm enough with them. They had the talent, they had the songs, and they could write well too, but the timing always seemed off when it came to releasing new material. They started off so well in 1967 and just into 1968, but got totally lost for two years, churning out the aforementioned rock and roll covers LP, shelved a soundtrack LP and eventually relented to recording a live album to just get a new album product out there, then gave it the name 'Live in Cabaret', which seemed like the un-coolest thing ever by 1969! It's a shame, because that is one of the tightest/best live albums of the 1960s. Another band cursed with mis-management like the Hollies were in many ways.
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Post by cameron on May 7, 2020 0:36:46 GMT
I was thinking about what I said in the above comment today when I hear the Tremeloes' version of 'Yellow River' come on in the car. That was another prime example of them being self-indulgent. Anyone could hear that 'Yellow River' is an absolute ear worm on the first listen. But they admitted that they were too proud to release it, it wasn't "progressive enough", they said. And Dave Munden definitely has the vocal edge over Jeff Christie, and those sweet Tremeloes harmonies creeping in on their version, but absent from the Christie version are the deal clincher for me. Chip Hawkes said in an interview that the biggest mistake of their career was passing up on that song because it would have ensured that their public profile stayed raised into the 1970s.
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Post by dirtyfaz on May 7, 2020 6:07:33 GMT
Don't The Tremeloes have their own forum?
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2020 6:42:36 GMT
Don't The Tremeloes have their own forum? Not as far as I'm aware.
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Post by cameron on May 7, 2020 8:23:39 GMT
They have a Facebook group which many of their family are a part of, including Chip and Dave's wives I think. But there's not much activity there, certainly no in-depth discussions like we have here.
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2020 9:52:28 GMT
They have a Facebook group which many of their family are a part of, including Chip and Dave's wives I think. But there's not much activity there, certainly no in-depth discussions like we have here. No good for those of us not on FB... Incidentally, I re-joined FB briefly when I launched 'Channelling The Beat!', and when I told Chip's wife about it she messaged me back saying she'd ordered a copy!
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Post by gee on May 7, 2020 17:33:36 GMT
the 'music for morons' remark was made by a frustrated Alan Blakley much to the horror of his band mates
Dave Munden later said; 'I loved Al but he sure had a big mouth at times...'
I think besides having the musical direction problems many others such as Hollies, Marmalade, Badfinger, Move etc ALL had around 1969 as the sixties became the seventies The Tremeloes later have suffered in some people's eyes for having the audacity to BEAT The Beatles to that Decca contract - surprising how some seem to hold a grudge against The Tremeloes for that when they could hardly be at fault !
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Post by baz on May 7, 2020 18:55:35 GMT
I think besides having the musical direction problems many others such as Hollies, Marmalade, Badfinger, Move etc ALL had around 1969 as the sixties became the seventies The Tremeloes later have suffered in some people's eyes for having the audacity to BEAT The Beatles to that Decca contract - surprising how some seem to hold a grudge against The Tremeloes for that when they could hardly be at fault ! Let's be honest, a listen to The Beatles Decca audition tape proves they weren't on good form that day. Mike Smith wanted to sign both bands but was only allowed one so opted for Brian Poole... it's been said that was because they were more local, but I'm willing to bet their audition wasn't as stiff and awkward as the Fabs was!
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2020 19:27:05 GMT
I think besides having the musical direction problems many others such as Hollies, Marmalade, Badfinger, Move etc ALL had around 1969 as the sixties became the seventies The Tremeloes later have suffered in some people's eyes for having the audacity to BEAT The Beatles to that Decca contract - surprising how some seem to hold a grudge against The Tremeloes for that when they could hardly be at fault ! Let's be honest, a listen to The Beatles Decca audition tape proves they weren't on good form that day. Mike Smith wanted to sign both bands but was only allowed one so opted for Brian Poole... it's been said that was because they were more local, but I'm willing to bet their audition wasn't as stiff and awkward as the Fabs was! If Brian Poole and The Tremeloes sounded anything like their first album then I would've signed them too!
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Post by cameron on May 7, 2020 23:35:17 GMT
Let's be honest, the Beatles' early efforts were fairly "average" until George Martin got involved. He completely turned around their dreary arrangement of 'Please Please Me', for example. And no one can argue that Ringo's version of 'Love Me Do' is better than the much punchier re-cut without him. Nothing against his drumming, but George Martin knew what he was talking about when it came to arranging a hit pop song. The Tremeloes came off really slick and polished on their audition tape, the Beatles sounded half asleep! Their songwriting talent wasn't completely obvious at this early point. George Martin certainly really dragged out the talent from John and Paul and nurtured it.
The Beatles always seemed threatened by the Hollies because the Hollies were a much tighter band with a much more technically skilled drummer and lead guitarist. Not to mention their vocal department had an infinitely wider range than the Beatles did. The Hollies were the only band that ever really managed to un-nerve the Beatles to come out swinging (re: the 'If I Needed Someone' incident), even if they did smooth things over soon after.
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Post by JamesT on Jun 21, 2020 9:48:10 GMT
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Post by Stranger on Jun 22, 2020 13:08:18 GMT
Thanks for the heads up James, I've never really listened to the Tremeloes so I might buy this in the hopes of discovering a new band and really liking them. I've heard the song By The Way for the first time this year and it became an instant faovurite!
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Post by cameron on Jun 23, 2020 6:41:01 GMT
Thanks for the heads up James, I’m very excited about this release! There’s a lot of rare material there. There was a semi-official bootleg put out via Chip Hawkes’ website many many years ago with most of those previously unreleased tracks on it, but I notice that there’s a few new ones on the track list plus the stereo version of the second LP has never been issued on CD, though I’m pretty sure it’s in fake stereo.
‘May Morning’ also had a very limited issue in 2000 I think and has long been out of print. It’s a pretty good psychedelic soundtrack LP with lots of wah-wah guitar and copious amounts of mellotron, which according to the liner notes, was purchased from a certain Jeff Lynne of the Idle Race...
‘Live In Cabaret’ was my introduction to the Tremeloes and it’s one of the most exciting and well-played live albums of the whole 1960s. They were an extremely talented band.
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Post by baz on Jun 23, 2020 9:18:03 GMT
Thanks for the heads up James, I’m very excited about this release! There’s a lot of rare material there. There was a semi-official bootleg put out via Chip Hawkes’ website many many years ago with most of those previously unreleased tracks on it, but I notice that there’s a few new ones on the track list plus the stereo version of the second LP has never been issued on CD, though I’m pretty sure it’s in fake stereo. I suspect that second album remains in fake stereo as the page states "Featuring no less than 165 tracks in mono, full fat stereo and even electronically-processed stereo (the way the band’s mono-only early recordings were heard at the time in more stereo-oriented countries such as the USA)" I do wish "electronically-processed stereo" tracks were dumped into the dustbin of history and that original mono mixes were used in their place. CD actually makes such "stereo" sound even worse... it always sounded horrid, always will and should have no place in our collections, so kinda disappointing this comprehensive set is using some tracks in that format.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2020 9:34:30 GMT
Thanks for the heads up James, I’m very excited about this release! There’s a lot of rare material there. There was a semi-official bootleg put out via Chip Hawkes’ website many many years ago with most of those previously unreleased tracks on it, but I notice that there’s a few new ones on the track list plus the stereo version of the second LP has never been issued on CD, though I’m pretty sure it’s in fake stereo. I suspect that second album remains in fake stereo as the page states "Featuring no less than 165 tracks in mono, full fat stereo and even electronically-processed stereo (the way the band’s mono-only early recordings were heard at the time in more stereo-oriented countries such as the USA)" I do wish "electronically-processed stereo" tracks were dumped into the dustbin of history and that original mono mixes were used in their place. CD actually makes such "stereo" sound even worse... it always sounded horrid, always will and should have no place in our collections, so kinda disappointing this comprehensive set is using some tracks in that format. Agreed! This actually puts me off what is otherwise a very tempting purchase indeed.
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Post by JamesT on Jun 23, 2020 16:16:44 GMT
What actually is/was "electronically-processed stereo"? I seem to recall The Move box set of a decade or so ago had such tracks on it as well. They sounded 'sparse'.
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