A Berry Gordy Jr song original recorded by The Contours in 1962 for Motown, 'Do You Love Me', there's a Beatles link here this too in that The Tremeloes were the band that Decca signed rather than the fab four. Time has shown who had the longest legs, but for a while they were equals with Brian Poole and the Tremeloes tapping into the same Merseybeat vein of the era, albeit giving it more American slant in their output (they also covered the Isley Brothers, Roy Orbison and The Crickets in this era).
Their version of 'Do You Love Me' is a fair and faithful approximation of The Contours in form, but though he's game enough, the polite edge of English in Poole's vocal is no match for Billy Gordon's original rasping plea to his woman to take him back now that he's learned some dance moves. Yes it's a trite concept for a song, but Gibbon's comical desperation makes it work - I can picture him busting some moves to illustrate as he sings while Poole just sounds pissed off in a way that at a stroke shaves a layer of charm off what is essentially a ludicrous proposition. Not 'bad', just eversoslightly redundant.
Thursday, 15 April 2010
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