Search - Newbeats :: Very Best of

The hits and then some...

Zub | Forks Twp., PA | 12/30/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Newbeats started out strongly with their just-missing-the-top "Bread And Butter" ditty in 1964. After a respectable follow-up, the John D. Loudermilk-penned "It's Alright", they gradually slipped from the charts until a year later when they rebounded with the Motownesque "Run Baby Run", a tune which made a run for, but just missed, the top ten. There was little follow-up success however and after two more minor-charting singles, they disappeared from the pop charts by the end of the decade. Hardly one-hit wonders though and this collection from Varese Vintage brings together for the first time all their top-100 singles, an accomplishment not achieved by previous domestic or foreign Newbeats collections. Beyond the hits, rounding out the 18 tracks here are failed singles, album cuts and a few recordings by the group's members done outside their collaboration as the Newbeats. Another improvement on previous collections comes in the form of better sound quality and the appearance of stereo versions where only mono was presented before. All tracks except 13-16 and 18 are presented in stereo. Completing the package is an eight-page liner notes booklet with a few pics, illustrations and backround notes on the group and its members' musical histories. While containing fewer total tracks than the Sequel piece of some years ago, this new effort by Varese does the job best overall and is preferable to the domestic Collectables version as well."

+1/2 -- Beyond the one-hit wonder: a real surprise

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 11/17/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If one were to be pedantic, you'd have to admit that the Newbeats actually had a handful of charting singles, rather than just one; but only an ardent pop fan could name any of their hits after "Bread and Butter." Larry Henley's distinctive falsetto was set apart from the likes of The Beach Boys, Four Seasons or Lou Christie by the slight twang of the group's Nashville origins, and as artists signed to Wesley Rose's Hickory label, the Newbeats had access to some of Nashville's best songwriters. They cracked the top-40 with songs from John D. Loudermilk ("Everything's Alright") and Joe Melson & Don Gant ("Run, Baby Run (Back into My Arms)," and scraped the lower rungs with songs that included Doug Kershaw's Searchers-styled "Shake Hands (And Come Out Crying)," and a stellar pre-Dick & Deedee take of Loudermilk's "Thou Shalt Not Steal."Varese's eighteen track collection is the sort of treasure trove that pop fans dream of, essaying a seeming one-hit wonder that actually has a catalog of non-hit and album tracks backing up the radio glory. Many of the band's productions predict the sunshine pop that would become popular in the UK in the late'60s and early-70s, drawing on sounds from The Everly Brothers, The Tokens, and Gary Lewis & The Playboys, and inspiring acts like The Tremeloes.Though Henley's falsetto is the band's most distinctive element, the balance between pop and soul is what really sustains the their catalog. The blue-eyed soul of "Pink Dally Rue" and the Bo Diddley inspired "Hey-O Daddy-O" fit perfectly with the Motown-styled "Run, Baby Run (Back Into My Arms)," the Goffin & King hand-clapper "I Can't Hear You No More," and the discotheque twist "Little Child." The collection's last two tracks pull together the Mathis Brothers' Everlyesque pre-Newbeats single "With Tears in My Eyes," and Larry Henley's solo "His Girl."What's particularly gratifying about these selections is that almost all of them were written expressly for the band, and surprisingly few have been covered (or at least covered in well-known fashion), creating new ground for pop fans. The only nit-pick with this collection is the absence of a few tracks mentioned in the liners, including the original A-side of "Bread and Butter," the Corvair-themed "Tough Little Buggy," and the group's last single for Hickory, "Love Gets Sweeter." Completists will also have to look elsewhere for the group's two post-Hickory singles on Buddah and Playboy.Tech note: All tracks true stereo except for 13-16 and 18, which are mono.4-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings."