Gerry and the Pacemakers

Liverpool's own Gerry and the Pacemakers were key players in the Merseybeat and British Invasion scenes with such timeless George Martin-produced hits as "Ferry Cross the Mersey," "How Do You Do It," and "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying."  The Gerry Marsden-led group was definitively chronicled in 2008 on the EMI box set You'll Never Walk Alone: The EMI Years 1963-1966, with 123 tracks on 4 CDs.  But now, more than 15 years have passed, and that set has become long out-of-print.  So Cherry Red's Strawberry imprint has jumped in with a new 3-CD, 98-song anthology that covers much of the same ground.  I Like It! includes singles, EPs, LPs, various stray tracks and mixes from international pressings and subsequent collections, and the band's Oakland, California show unearthed in full on the 2008 set.  Though there are fewer tracks than on the earlier set, the main omissions are the alternative stereo mixes that occupied a full disc of the 2008 collection.  I Like It! is a fine, splendid-sounding, and well-annotated reminder (liner notes are by compilation producer Jon Harrington and mastering is by Simon Murphy) of a great group that existed in the shadow of The Beatles.  We like it, indeed.