Tony Rivers' name occupies a special place in the heart of sunshine pop aficionados.  The singer born Douglas Anthony Thompson in Shildon, County Durham, England began his career with The Castaways in a beat mode - even supporting The Beatles on a 1963 Piccadilly gig - before discovering The Beach Boys and taking his already-impressive vocal arrangement skills to the next level.  A new 3-CD anthology, Move In a Little Closer: The Complete Recordings 1963-1970 on Cherry Red's Grapefruit imprint, is the definitive anthology of Rivers' work with The Castaways and his subsequent, cult-favorite group Harmony Grass.

The first disc chronicles Tony Rivers and The Castaways' 1963-1970 recordings, a time of seismic shift in British popular music.  It begins with six singles recorded for EMI's Columbia label, all in an appealing style that warrants favorable comparisons to the early Fab Four and their contemporaries.  The line-up of lead singer Tony, lead guitarist Vic Larkins, rhythm guitarist Micky Johnson, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Brian "Shirt" Talbot coalesced when he joined the existing Dagenham band The Cutaways but the line-up was short-lived; Johnson was replaced by Jon "Lon" Lyons and Larkins by Ricky West and then Steve Scott.  Rivers recalls in David Wells' exemplary liner notes the evening the band met The Beach Boys at an EMI showcase.  He joined an impromptu dressing room rehearsal singing Mike Love's bass part on "A Young Man Is Gone" and later drove Carl Wilson back to his hotel.  Soon, Carl and Dennis Wilson and Al Jardine attended the Castaways' London shows.  Tragedy struck when the group was involved in a fatal car crash that took the life of driver Brian Talbot, just 21 years old, and caused injuries to the rest of the group save Tony.  It was with substitute drummer Wally Cockell and probably bassist Chris Manders that Rivers cut The Castaways' first song with a California influence, the group-written "Till We Get Home."  With its drag-race storyline and "shut down" lyrics, it recalled The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean.  It was buried on the flipside of Manfred Mann member Paul Jones' "She," but augured for the Castaways' future.

By the end of 1965, the up-and-coming group had signed with Brian Epstein and found themselves faithfully covering "Nowhere Man" for a proposed single with an appropriately rocking version of Brian Wilson and Mike Love's "Girl from New York City" on the flip.  Though Epstein cancelled the Parlophone single, thinking better of having another of his groups cover a Beatles tune, the Beach Boys' influence remained, and The Castaways' next single comprised two more Brian Wilson compositions, "Girl Don't Tell Me" and "Salt Lake City," produced by Andrew Loog Oldham for his Immediate label.  Both demonstrated Rivers' chops for vocals and arranging as well as his affinity for the SoCal sound; the former even worked in a twist of the Four Seasons in the new vocal harmonies.  With guitarist Tony Harding, drummer Brian Hudson, and singer Kenny Rowe joining Rivers, Brown, and Lyons, The Castaways moved back to Columbia for a fine reworking of "God Only Knows" (adding a bit more tempo to the immaculate original) b/w a somewhat unusual choice, Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer's haunting "Charade."  The charts weren't kind when The Castaways' "God Only Knows" was released the same day in the U.K. as The Beach Boys' recording, but the cover stands on its own merits.

The Castaways went through another couple of line-ups in the latter half of the 1960s; one iteration recorded a clutch of fine outtakes released here, while another closed out the decade with the 1970 Polydor outing "I Can Guarantee You Love" b/w "Pantomime," which closes the first disc.  Among the strongest outtakes are a straightforward, pretty reading of The Four Freshmen/Beach Boys favorite "Graduation Day," Rivers' beautifully sung, spot-on Wilson homage "Summer Dreaming," the soft and dreamy "The Grass Will Sing for You," and a harmony-drenched cover of The Bee Gees' "Turn of the Century."  (Note that "For Once in My Life" is not the Ron Miller/Orlando Murden standard but rather a different song in a baroque pop vein.)

The second disc of Move In a Little Closer, Baby kicks off with a top 40 hit - something that had been long elusive for Tony Rivers.  ("When you've been managed by Brian Epstein, produced by Andrew Oldham, then managed by Robert Stigwood and Brian Epstein together and still couldn't buy a hit, it starts to weigh a little heavy on your mind," he quips in the liner notes.)  The song was Arnold Capitanelli and Robert O'Connor's irresistible invitation to "Move in a Little Closer, Baby."  With a bright orchestral chart by Johnny Arthey and ebullient vocals from Rivers, it seemed poised for the top of the pops.  It ended up peaking at No. 24 in the U.K., its momentum arguably stalled by the international rise of "Mama" Cass Elliot's sparkling U.S. version of the song as well as a change to the chart calculations.  Still, if Harmony Grass never achieved the pop success they deserved, their musical legacy as a U.K. answer to The Association or Harpers Bizarre has lived on.

Though Cherry Red's retired RPM imprint released two collections of the group's material, the second disc of the new collection (plus the additional songs on the third disc) adds up to the most comprehensive Harmony Grass release yet.  It comprises has all of Harmony Grass' studio recordings released on RCA plus a soundtrack cut originally issued on Pye, and studio demos and outtakes.  Producer Chris Andrews shepherded Harmony Grass - a.k.a. former Castaways Rivers, Brown, Rowe, Hudson, and singer/guitarist/keyboardist Tom Marshall - for the follow-up single "First Time Loving," which Rivers views unfavorably today, especially as compared to another tune from Capitanelli and O'Connor.  Their "Good Thing" had much of the flavor of "Move In a Little Closer, Baby" but was shelved for the group's debut LP.  1970's This Is Us remains as beautiful a lost sunshine pop gem as you're likely to find.  Rivers penned seven of the album's tracks including the spellbinding psych-pop nugget "I've Seen to Dream" which recalls an exquisite Beach Boys/Sagittarius mélange, the bright "It's a Groovy Day," and "Take Five"-inspired "Ballad of Michael."  He co-wrote the shimmering bossa nova "I Think of You."  Harmony Grass brought their own vocal sound to tracks also recorded by Spanky and Our Gang ("(It Ain't Necessarily) Byrd Avenue") and Harpers Bizarre ("Chattanooga Choo-Choo"), and even made the folk staple "Tom Dooley" sound romantically swoon-worthy.

Of the numerous singles recorded by Harmony Grass at RCA, Neil Sedaka and Carole Bayer Sager's lighter-than-air "Teach Me How" fit like a glove, but a rote cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Cecilia" gave the group little room to shine.  Tony Rivers sensed it was time to move on.  Following his departure in mid-1970, his bandmates recorded two more sides for a final single; after a brief period as Grass, the group would morph into Capability Brown (named for the eighteenth-century English artist).  Kenny Rowe was the last man standing.  Tony went on to record for various studio outfits and serve as a house producer for CBS.  He also memorably led Cliff Richard's vocal group (reuniting with Castaway John Perry) in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Grapefruit's anthology doesn't end with Rivers' leaving Harmony Grass, though.  The third disc rewinds to present over two dozen live BBC rarities from The Castaways and another seven from Harmony Grass.  There's tremendous variety in these (mostly) cover recordings, beginning The Castaways' early beat days doing "Little Darlin'," "All My Loving," "Rockin' Robin," and "Roll Over Beethoven."  While still in beat mode they surveyed Jan and Dean's "Surf City" and "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena" before going full-blown Beach Boys style on "I Get Around" and "When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)."  The Castaways' brisk run through Ruthann Friedman's Association hit "Windy" anticipates the Harmony Grass sound.  The tempo stays fast on that lineup's unusual version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "Walk on By," yet it works thanks to the soaring vocal harmonies.  Equally enjoyable is the group's soft and sweet take on Jimmy Webb's "Wichita Lineman;" these versions of the Grass' LP material proves, too, that they were certainly able to replicate their intricate harmonies outside of the commercial recording studio.  The sound isn't perfect on all of these rare recordings, but they're all eminently listenable and capture the band's youthful live energy.

Grapefruit's collection is housed in an eight-panel digipak.  The enclosed 24-page booklet has David Wells' notes plus photos, memorabilia, and single and album images.  Simon Murphy has mastered the audio.  Move In a Little Closer, Baby works as both an introduction to Tony Rivers and the Castaways and Harmony Grass and as upgraded one-stop shopping for longtime fans.  You'll find the track listing and order links below.

Tony Rivers, Move In a Little Closer: The Complete Recordings 1963-1970 (Cherry Red/Grapefruit CRSEG126T, 2023) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: Tony Rivers and The Castaways In the Studio

1. 1. Shake, Shake, Shake
   2. Row, Row, Row
   3. The Happy Song
   4. I Love the Way You Walk
   5. I Love You
   6. Life's Too Short
   7. (Don't You Ever) Tell on Me
   8. She
   9. 'Till We Get Home
   10. Come Back
   11. What to Do
   12. Come On and Love Me Too
   13. Pretend
   14. Baby, What You Want Me to Do
   15. Love You Baby
   16. Nowhere Man
   17. Girl from New York City
   18. Girl Don't Tell Me
   19. Salt Lake City
   20. God Only Knows
   21. Charade
   22. Can't Make It Without You Baby
   23. Einer Kleiner Miser Musik
   24. Graduation Day
   25. Summer Dreaming
   26. The Grass Will Sing for You
   27. Sun
   28. Turn of the Century
   29. For Once in My Life
   30. I Can Guarantee You Love
   31. Pantomime

Tracks 1-2 from Columbia (U.K.) single DB 7135, 1963
Tracks 3, 12-15, 22-28 released on Castaways: The Tony Rivers Collection Vol. 1, RPM 193, 1999
Tracks 4-5 from Columbia (U.K.) single DB 7224, 1964
Tracks 6-7 from Columbia (U.K.) single DB 7336, 1964
Tracks 8-9 from Columbia (U.K.) single DB 7448, 1965
Tracks 10-11 from Columbia (U.K.) single DB 7536, 1965
Tracks 16-17 scheduled for Parlophone single R 5400, 1966, released on Castaways: The Tony Rivers Collection Vol. 1, RPM 193, 1999
Tracks 18-19 from Immediate single IM 027, 1966
Tracks 20-21 from Columbia (U.K.) single DB 7971, 1966
Track 29 released on Harmony Grass: The Tony Rivers Collection Vol. 2, RPM 194, 1999
Tracks 30-31 from Polydor single 56245, 1968

CD 2: Harmony Grass in the Studio

1. Move In a Little Closer Baby
2. My Little Girl
3. What a Groovy Day
4. I've Seen to Dream
5. (It Ain't Necessarily) Byrd Avenue
6. Chattanooga Choo-Choo
7. Good Thing
8. Richie
9. Summer Dreaming
10. I Think of You
11. Ballad of Michael
12. Tom Dooley
13. What Do You Do When Love Dies
14. Happiness Is Toy-Shaped
15. First Time Loving
16. I Remember
17. Teach Me How
18. Cecilia
19. It Takes a Lot of Loving
20. Let the Tears Flow
21. You and I
22. Summer Dreaming
23. Move In a Little Closer Baby
24. Te Lo Ricordi (I Remember - Italian Version)

Tracks 1-13 from This Is Us, RCA (U.K.) LP SF 8034, 1970
Track 14 from RCA (U.K.) single 1772, 1968
Track 15 from RCA (U.K.) single 1828, 1969
Track 16 from RCA (U.K.) single 1885, 1969
Track 17 from RCA (U.K.) single 1928, 1970
Track 18 from RCA (U.K.) single 1932, 1970
Track 19 from Take a Girl Like You, Pye LP NSPL 18353, 1970
Tracks 20-22 from This Is Us [Expanded Edition], RPM 510, 2003
Track 23 live in-studio radio performance, rec. 1969
Track 24 from RCA (U.K.) single N 1601, 1970

CD 3: At the BBC

Tony Rivers and The Castaways

1. Swinging on a Star
2. Little Darlin'
3. Shake, Shake, Shake
4. Jezebel
5. All My Loving
6. Roll Over Beethoven
7. Surf City
8. Row, Row, Row
9. I Love the Way You Walk
10. Abilene
11. Unchain My Heart
12. I Love You
13. Shipwreck
14. Life's Too Short
15. The Ferris Wheel
16. Rockin' Robin
17. Little Old Lady from Pasadena
18. She
19. 'Till We Get Home
20. I Get Around
21. When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)
22. Baby, What You Want Me to Do
23. I Can Guarantee You Love
24. Windy
25. A Girl Like You

Harmony Grass

26. Walk on By
27. First Time Loving
28. Baby You Come Rollin' Across My Mind
29. Summer Dreaming
30. I Remember
31. Richie
32. Cecilia
33. Wichita Lineman

Tracks 1-16, 20-22 dates unknown
Tracks 17-19 from Saturday Club, rec. January 6, 1965/transmitted January 9, 1965
Tracks 23-25 from The Jimmy Young Show, rec. April 28, 1968/transmitted May 27, 1968
Track 26 from The Tony Brandon Show, rec. January 22, 1969/transmitted February 3, 1969
Tracks 27-28 from The Tony Brandon Show, rec. June 25, 1969/transmitted July 7, 1969
Tracks 29-30 from The Jimmy Young Show, rec. October 13, 1969/transmitted October 27, 1969
Track 31 from The Dave Cash Show, rec. February 12, 1970/transmitted February 23, 1970
Tracks 32-33 from The Terry Wogan Show, rec. March 9, 1970/transmitted March 23, 1970