Although this three-CD, 82-song package may not have everything
the Tremeloes did (and has nothing from the era in which they were the backing group for
Brian Poole), it might be the most comprehensive collection of their work, unless someone actually dares to put out a box set of every last damned thing they ever cut. Needless to say, it's not for the casual fan, though it does contain all of their chart singles. Even considering that
the Tremeloes were always a resolutely non-innovative pop/rock group that reflected rather than initiated trends, however, it can be a tough challenge to wade through all of this. First, there certainly is a quality gap between their big hits -- especially the best of these, "Here Comes My Baby" and "Silence in Golden" -- and much of the rest of their recordings, which were usually upbeat but fairly faceless period late-'60s/early-'70s British pop. Second, despite their prolific output, and despite writing much of their own material, not too much of a group personality emerges, other than an urge to entertain and please using the sunnier pop vocabularies of the day. Those willing to take the plunge, however, will find a pretty wide range of approaches that the group tried on for size at one time or another, some from quite obscure flop singles, B-sides, and LP tracks. There is, for instance, the sole Decca single they did on their own in 1966 before moving to CBS, a folk-rock cover of
Simon & Garfunkel's "Blessed," and "What a State I'm In," the B-side of their second single, which actually flirts with fuzzy pop-psychedelia. Along the way you also get mediocre American soul covers; the lame
Four Seasons knockoff "Shake Hands (And Come Out Crying)"; Swinging London mod pop with moderately ambitious lyrics; toe-dipping ventures into harmony psychedelia ("Suddenly Winter"); precious storytelling British Baroque pop ("Norman Stanley James St. Claire"); and cheery singalong numbers with vaguely tropical rhythms. As the '60s waned, there were some occasional more serious moves afoot, like their cover of
Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released" (actually a minor U.K. hit), its pensive folk-rockish flip "I Miss My Baby," and the almost-tough heavy instrumental blues-rock of "Instant Whip." They never strayed too far from the easygoing path they knew best, however, despite other byways into '50s rock & roll revivalism, early
John Lennon solo-like arrangements (1970's "Me and My Life," their last big U.K. hit), the surprisingly late-'60s
Beatlesque rocker "Willow Tree," the
Creedence Clearwater Revival-influenced "My Woman," and even some quasi-glam pop. Disc three, unfortunately, stretches out the time line a little too long, tacking on a few horrid tracks from the late '70s and early '80s, when the band remained conscious of chart trends, even putting on a disco beat. For such a bulky release, it's also unfortunate that this -- like some other similar packages on Sanctuary (for
the Status Quo, for instance) -- includes only brief liner notes, and no information regarding on which specific discs the tracks first appeared. ~ Richie Unterberger