The Merseybeats

The Merseybeats - I Think Of You (Complete Recordings)

Reviewer: Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide

All 31 songs the Merseybeats ever recorded manage to fit on this single-CD compilation. That includes the A-sides and B-sides of all eight of their 1963-1965 singles, all of the tracks from their sole album that weren't on 45s, the songs from their 1964 On Stage EP (none of which made it onto any other format at the time), and even German versions of "I Think of You" and "It's Love That Really Counts." That doesn't leave much to complain about. Nonetheless, it has to be said that if you have their Edsel best-of, Beat & Ballads, which concentrates on their best singles, you're not missing much, even if it's only half the length. Of the cuts here that aren't on Beat & Ballads, few are memorable, largely encompassing some mediocre group-penned B-sides and drab covers, some of inappropriately pop-oriented tunes. Among this material, really, the only song that's up to the standards of what was selected for Beat & Ballads is a lively rockabilly arrangement of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Hello, Young Lovers." And the liner notes aren't as good as those for Beat & Ballads, though they do have some comments by Merseybeat-for-a-time John Gustafson. Still, this does have everything, at no more expense than you'll likely incur from a used copy of Beat & Ballads. And much of the best stuff, like "Don't Turn Around," "Milkman," "Don't Let It Happen to Us," "I Stand Accused," and "It's Love That Really Counts," rates among the better unknown (in the U.S., anyway) Merseybeat, with "Last Night" counting as one of the best obscure early British Invasion pop/rockers.

1. It's Love That Really Counts
2. Fortune Teller
3. I Think of You
4. Mister Moonlight
5. Don't Turn Around
6. Really Mystified
7. Wishin' and Hopin'
8. Milkman
9. Last Night (I Made a Little Girl Cry)
10. Send Me Back
11. Don't Let It Happen to Us
12. It Would Take a Long, Long Time
13. I Love You Yes I Do
14. Good Good Lovin'
15. I Stand Accused
16. All My Life
17. Hello, Young Lovers
18. He Will Break Your Heart
19. Funny Face
20. Girl That I Marry
21. Fools Like Me
22. My Heart and I
23. Bring It on Home to Me
24. Lavender Blue
25. Jumpin' Jonah
26. Long Tall Sally
27. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry
28. Shame
29. You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover
30. Nur Unsere Liebe Zählt
31. Nur du Allein

I Think Of You - Complete Recordings