![\"daveberry\"](\"http:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/daveberry.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThis Strange Effect<\/strong> \u2013 \u00a02 CD Set (RPM Records RETROD860)<\/em><\/p>\n Among RPM Records\u2019 latest re-releases, this comprehensive 2 CD set of Mike Berry\u2019s Decca sessions 1963-1966 with no less than 57 items for the die-hard fan. Known best for his deep, emotional performance of \u2018The Crying Game\u2019, a 1964 track memorably utilised as the theme for the 1992 film of the same name, Dave continues to sing to this day, and has worked with some of the best known musicians in rock\u2019s community. Big Jim Sullivan, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones all make appearances here as session musicians.<\/p>\n \u2018Easy to Cry\u2019s beat and twang is a light beginner, followed by the steady rolling \u2018Tongue Twister\u2019 with its accessible wit, and a capable cover of the Chuck Berry classic, \u2018Memphis Tennessee\u2019 sees us into CD1. The light treatment of the fine \u2018Tossin\u2019 and Turnin\u2019 is a little too \u2018showbizzy\u2019 for these ears, but the driving rocker, \u2018My Baby Left Me\u2019 is more to my liking, its descending riff, good vocal and pleasing guitar solo toward the end, an early standout.<\/p>\n \u2018Hoochie Coochie Man\u2019s tinkling bar room piano sound proves wittily appropriate, with a good, strong backing and voice, and we\u2019re into a couple of rock classics, an apparently live recording of \u2018Little Queenie\u2019, the vocal good and rough, with backing as tough as you like, and a capable \u2018Diddley Daddy\u2019. Dave delivers all the sensitivity needed on \u2018Baby It\u2019s You\u2019, and has effective if distant, female backing vocals on \u2018Sweet and Lovely\u2019, even if the track\u2019s wild guitar solo feels out of place here.<\/p>\n One listen to the sublime \u2018The Crying Game\u2019 tells you why it still receives regular plays on radio to the present day, its sad lament a perfect antidote to some of the wide-awake forced happiness that often infects the lighter end of the pop market. \u2018Don\u2019t Give Me No Lip, Child\u2019s rude, raspy rocker is a match for many other of the 60\u2019s harder breed of artists, and is perhaps one of the more unusual choices of cover songs by the notorious Sex Pistols, in the following decade. A trio of rock standards follows, with a jaunty \u2018Not Fade Away\u2019 a deep, echoing \u2018You Better Move On\u2019, and an understated alt-take of \u2018Diddley Daddy\u2019, followed by a better, beatier take of \u2018Not Fade Away\u2019.<\/p>\n The slow, orchestral ballad of \u2018I Don\u2019t Want To Go On\u2019 possesses too little power to satisfy, and the country craziness of \u2018Ella Speed\u2019 takes the biscuit for odd placement immediately after it, but is made up for by the gentle, \u2018The Girl From The Fair Isle\u2019. \u2019Go on Home\u2019 has some great, fuzzy guitar to go with this boastful, challenging song, and \u2018Everybody Tries\u2019 wistfulness brings us an antidote to this, perhaps too soon.<\/p>\n The reediness of Dave\u2019s voice on \u2018God Bless The Child\u2019 suits the orchestral backing, but would surely be unlikely to light the fires of his young audience; they would have to wait for something more robust, perhaps the Mexican-flavoured \u2018On The other Side Of Town\u2019, with its pregnant pauses among the strong vocals. Dave brings a country feel to \u2018Go Home Girl\u2019 in this song of the eternal problem of loving your best friend\u2019s girl, and the mournful \u2018My Last Date\u2019 stays with the country vibe, with a high rise in the chorus.<\/p>\n Folk-blues chestnut \u2018St James\u2019 Infirmary\u2019 is rendered here in a funereal jazzy style, with a good piano break rumbling in there. \u2018Just A Little Bit\u2019 has a great guitar intro and a fast, exciting beat, leading us into \u2018C.C. Rider\u2019s country steel guitar and rockin\u2019 voice double-act. The moody, sensitive performance of \u2018Don\u2019t Make Fun of Me\u2019 has a nervous note that ends the first CD well.<\/p>\n \u2018One Heart Between Two\u2019 opens the second CD, a mournful balled with a pleasing vibrato on the guitar, followed by the staccato rock \u2018n\u2019 roll of \u2018You\u2019re Gonna Need Somebody\u2019, the vocal with a touch of a sneer backed by a fuzzy bass. \u2018Me-O My-O\u2019s upbeat, steady roller and \u2018If You Need Me\u2019s bar-room blues is delivered brightly, in a Georgie Fame\/Blues Band style.<\/p>\n Dave\u2019s sizeable hit, \u2018Little Things\u2019 is another standout, the horn and guitar backing perfectly suited to the voice, capturing all the intimacy suggested in the title. \u2018I\u2019ve got a Tiger by the Tail\u2019s country twang sees Dave\u2019s voice on good form, and \u2018Can I Get It from You\u2019s light-touch romantic ballad seems at odds with the loaded suggestion of the title. \u2018Why Don\u2019t They Understand?\u2019s routine youthful self-pity has a rather old fashioned backing that could not have helped its chances, and \u2018He\u2019s With You\u2019 is positively mawkish.<\/p>\n \u2018Always Always\u2019 has Dave back on track, with the lush orchestration and female backup vocals, adding to this highly atmospheric song. The title track to this compilation, the excellent Ray Davies-penned \u2018This Strange Effect\u2019 is among the best cuts here, Dave\u2019s voice plaintive over the piece\u2019s tense mixed message. \u2018Now\u2019s twangy, \u2018Spanish Stroll\u2019 atmosphere has a choppy rhythm that sets off nicely, and \u2018I\u2019m Gonna Take You There\u2019 has that Buddy Holly-esque, teasing style lyric that keeps you listening the whole way through the song.<\/p>\n \u2018Just Don\u2019t Know\u2019s echoing chords and mysterious feel hides a classic country love lament and \u2018If You Wait for Love\u2019s martial beat and Northern-Souly metre is a pleasant departure. \u2018Hidden\u2019s acoustic guitar and crashing chords lead into a doomy lyric, alluding to unnamed problems, but not without a hint of hope in it. \u2018I Ain\u2019t Going Without You Babe\u2019 has a mocking edge to its humour, and \u2018It\u2019s Gonna Be Fine\u2019 reprises the Northern Soul beat, turning it to a mini-standout.<\/p>\n \u2018So Goes Love\u2019 takes us back to the characteristic moodiness of slow, vibrato guitar and sad refrain, followed by \u2018You Made a Fool out Of Me\u2019s jokey, creeping beat. \u2018Sticks and Stones\u2019 staccato beat has a strong start and swings along nicely, and \u2018Now And From Now On\u2019 continues the swinging beat, held up with a good horn solo. \u2018Same Game\u2019s lost love lament climbs well, and lives up fully to its early promise, and \u2018Alright Baby\u2019 proves an upbeat rocker with a great guitar hook, albeit one in which Dave\u2019s voice doesn\u2019t shine.<\/p>\n \u2018I Love You Babe\u2019s fuzzy rock guitar and moody jazz start is reminiscent of Dave\u2019s contemporaries, The Animals, and all the better for it, and \u2018Soft Lights (And Sweet Music)\u2019 masks the less than honourable intentions of its subject, in a soft, soul-y treatment. \u2018Green Grass\u2019 jollies up well, and it\u2019s up to the final selection, \u2018Love Has Gone out Of Your Life\u2019 to restore the moody, emotional style of performance we long associate with this highly individual performer. BUY HERE!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Among RPM Records\u2019 latest re-releases, this comprehensive 2 CD set of Mike Berry\u2019s Decca sessions 1963-1966 with no less than 57 items for the die-hard fan.
\nDave\u2019s mixture of beat ballads and pop were a typical combination for artists of the early 60\u2019s, hungry for fame but with a hard edge so as not to alienate the teens. This formula did prove successful, especially in the Netherlands and Belgium, but US success eluded Dave, as it did many British artists. Image was all-important then, and Dave\u2019s air of mystery and mild sexual threat helped separate him from the crowd of male vocalists all vying for their place in the hearts of the UK\u2019s young, predominantly female pop fans.<\/p>\n
\nDave\u2019s mixture of beat ballads and pop were a typical combination for artists of the early 60\u2019s, hungry for fame but with a hard edge so as not to alienate the teens. This formula did prove successful, especially in the Netherlands and Belgium, but US success eluded Dave, as it did many British artists. Image was all-important then, and Dave\u2019s air of mystery and mild sexual threat helped separate him from the crowd of male vocalists all vying for their place in the hearts of the UK\u2019s young, predominantly female pop fans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":7557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,128,71,74],"tags":[750,1218,962,305],"series":[],"class_list":["post-7553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-hot-plugs","category-music","category-reviews","tag-cherry-red-records","tag-dave-berry","tag-rpm-records","tag-scenester"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7553"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7559,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7553\/revisions\/7559"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7553"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=7553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}