Gerry & the Pacemakers - BBC Sessions (1963-1966)

To be honest, I'm not much of a Gerry and the Pacemakers fan. Until I made this, I only knew a few of their hits. But I'm planning on posting just about all the 1960s artists that have enough material for BBC albums, so I got to get to know their music better making this. I have to admit that I'm fairly impressed. For one thing, lead singer Gerry Marsden actually wrote many of their songs, including their big hits "Ferry Cross the Mersey" and "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying." For another, they actually could rock. You can see that here with lots of covers of famous rock hits mostly from the 1950s, such as "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" and "Slippin' and Slidin'."

The band's most successful years were 1963 and 1964. But weirdly, their BBC recordings here are mostly from 1965 and 1966, with only three from the tail end of 1964. I assume that's because earlier sessions didn't survive. That assumption is strengthened by the fact that many of the biggest hits aren't represented by any BBC versions. So I've supplemented the BBC stuff with some versions done on various TV programs, most especially the Ed Sullivan Show. Luckily, between the BBC and TV versions, all their major hits are included here.

All the BBC recordings come from an official live album called "Live at the BBC." The others are all unreleased. The sound quality is excellent throughout, though the BBC versions sound a bit better. 

As is usual for recordings from this time period, the BBC DJs sometimes talked over the music. I'm surprised there are only five cases like that here (marked with "[Edit]" in their names), which is a lot less than average for these years. Also like usual, I fixed those using the audio editing program X-Minus.

This album is 62 minutes long.

01 A Shot of Rhythm and Blues (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
02 How Do You Do It (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
03 You ll Never Walk Alone (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
04 Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
05 I'm the One (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
06 I Like It (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
07 Dizzy Miss Lizzy (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
08 Slippin' and Slidin' (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
09 Ferry Cross the Mersey (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
10 Why Oh Why (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
11 You You You (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
12 Baby You're So Good to Me (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
13 I'll Be There (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
14 Slow Down (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
15 My Babe [Edit] (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
16 It'll Be Me [Edit] (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
17 You Win Again (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
18 Reelin' and Rockin' [Edit] (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
19 Hallelujah I Love Her So [Edit] (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
20 Walk Hand in Hand (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
21 Chills (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
22 La La La (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
23 Shop Around (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
24 Girl on a Swing (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
25 Guatanamera [Edit] (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
26 A Fool to Myself (Gerry & the Pacemakers)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15118274/GerryntPace_1963-1966_BBSessions_atse.zip.html

The cover photo was taken backstage during an appearance on the British TV show "Thank You Lucky Stars" in 1964. There is a song here from that show, but it was a different episode.