The Tremeloes

It's difficult for anyone who has heard them not to like -- or even love -- the Tremeloes. They were one of the more prodigiously talented British pop/rock bands of the 1960s, and they threw that talent into the making of amazingly catchy and well-crafted singles that lit up the charts and radio on both sides of the Atlantic for four years running, from 1966 through 1970. Their version of "Twist and Shout" managed to rise to number four on the English charts, despite running up head-to-head with the Beatles' recording. Their next record, a cover of the Contours' hit "Do You Love Me," was a classic of the era, an honest, authentic-sounding screamer of a single that hit number one in England once the Beatles' "She Loves You" vacated the spot, and managed to eclipse a rival version by the Dave Clark Five. In its wake, Brian Poole & the Tremeloes managed a series of respectable, even occasionally inspired hits over the next two years, including a U.K. Top Ten cover of Roy Orbison's "Candy Man" and a convincingly raucous rendition of the Strangeloves' Bo Diddley-beat-driven anthem "I Want Candy." Yet, the Tremeloes are also one of the least known and least respected of 1960s English bands. The precise reason for the lack of respect is difficult to pin down, except perhaps that their timing was out, as far as making the most of their success -- they generally didn't write their own material, and they cut their best singles long after the British Invasion (and the mystique surrounding the bands that were part of it) had ended. And, yet, ironically, the Tremeloes are also one of the longest surviving English rock & roll bands, still playing regularly more than 40 years after the group's founding. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide