Twist and Shout

Brian Poole & the Tremeloes' second album and their first crediting the group properly (their debut had been an anonymous album of cover versions on Decca's budget Ace of Clubs imprint), Twist and Shout appeared in August of 1963, hastily recorded to take advantage of the Top Five success of their version of "Twist & Shout"; ironically, the group had been signed by Decca in place of the Beatles and got the impetus to record "Twist & Shout" (which had been in their live set for some time) from the Beatles' debut album Please Please Me. The resulting album isn't much by modern standards, but it isn't bad, either, mostly covers as was the norm at the time — apart from one group original, "Keep on Dancing," that was used in the feature film Just for Fun. Poole was too straight a singer in the '50s teen crooner mode to get very far into the '60s, but the combined sound of the singer and band, on ballads such as "Don't Be Afraid Little Darlin'," rockers like "Da Doo Ron Ron," or novelty numbers like "Alley-Oop" aren't bad — just not overly exciting. This does mostly seem like the kind of rock & roll that the Beatles made obsolete, but they try hard, and just when one is expecting the expected, as on "We Know," lead guitarist Rick West will do an interesting solo or the group will interject a harmony flourish out of the Beatles repertory.