(the) Tremeloes - Here Comes My Baby

Name: The Tremeloes
Album: Here Comes My Baby
Year: 1967
Style: Oldies, Pop Rock, Bubblegum
Similar Bands: Beatles, Monkees, Buddy Holly, Four Seasons, 1910 Fruitgum Co. Ohio Express, Kinks, Paul Revere & Raiders, Bee-Gees, Cat Stevens
"One-Word" Review: Another Merceybeat-Brit-pop band
Based Out Of: Dagenham, East London
Label: Epic, CBS

 Here Comes My Baby - Cover & Record

Here Comes My Baby - Back & Record

Here Comes My Baby (1967)

1. Here Comes My Baby 3:05
2. Run Baby Run 2:35
3. My Own 2:25
4. What a State I'm In 2:20
5. Loving You 2:25 /
6. Good Day Sunshine 2:00
7. You 2:30
8. Shake Hands 2:20
9. When I'm With Her 2:15
10. Even the Bad Times are Good 2:45

Album Rating (1-10): 8.5

Members & Other Bands:
Alan Blakley - Guitar, Keys
Len "Chip" Hawkes - Bass
Ricky West - Guitar
David Munden - Drums
Mike Smith - Producer

Unknown-ness: So I had never heard of this band before now. Or maybe I have, but I don’t recall them. Either way, I expect this to be full on oldies pop, perhaps psychedelic pop, since it is from 1967 and the cover has streaming, gloopy lobs of color. It could either be really good or really bad, and with the Paul Revere & Raiders outfits, I’m going to lean to pretty good.

Album Review: As it turns out, I really should have heard of the Tremeloes by now. After all, they were the band chosen by Decca over the Beatles in a rehearsal tryout back in 1962. At that time, Brian Poole was the leader of the band, and they did turn out a bunch of hits for Decca, and later, for CBS, which is where they were for this album. I do feel a little embarrassed for not knowing this band, but I guess you have to learn some time.

“Here Comes My Baby” begins with some hand claps and cheering, and it feels like it will go right into “If You Wanna Be Happy.” Then the George of the Jungle bass line comes in, (along with cow bell) and it finds footing as a much more rocking version of Cat Stevens’ original (released the same year). There are freewheeling hoots and hollers in the background, trying to promote an intimate live setting.

“Run Baby Run” starts off with the nice psych organ and is a much more garage heavy sound, with thick harmony, which gets dissected in the verse with a high falsetto voice singing in overlap to the title. The driving pace makes it hard to ignore, and the harmonies synch up the pop hooks.

“My Own” is a more vocal based skiffle song. It is laid back and features more of the male vocal band harmonies, making this a much lighter song, which is not always found to be a highly regarded style. It seems to be in the right place on the album to display the diversity of the band, but as a standalone song, it is a bit of a passé number, even for their time.

“What a State I'm In” has a guitar and harmony coupling that is very Beatles in production. There are backing sections of the guitar that is very fuzzed our and heavy, but they also added in short spacey lines that are spoken, that feel like when a story breaks the third wall of reader/story separation with a character speaking directly to the reader.

“Loving You” is a bouncy pop song, reminding me of the more exciting early Bee Gees songs. But it still is lacking some clinching hook that would make this a great song. It is pretty close. Perhaps it is because the chorus is too close to the verse, so there is not much diversity within the song.

“Good Day Sunshine” starts off the second side, like a Kinks version of the Beatles classic, released a year earlier. The melody of the chorus is not quite as sunny as the original, as the notes are not on an up-tempo structure, and they fall flat. The verse, however, is fun with a Vintage vaudevillian style.

“You” is a marching right from the get go, where the vocal melody is established right away, and is very catchy. After two verses, the song becomes guitar heavy and is more rock than pop. But after that “chorus” section, it returns to the simplified verse from the outset. The instrumental is very heavy with electric guitar. But the basic melody remains throughout the song, even into the fade out, and is one of the best hooks on the album.

“Shake Hands” goes back to the Beatles style of jangley pop that is super fun to dance to. They bring in some higher pitch harmonies here, and the Frankie Valli-ish falsetto vocals are the lead in the chorus (and are part of the chorus), and are the true spotlight to this driving song.

“When I'm With Her” brings the jangely guitar back (perhaps too much so) for this folksy, side-to-side love song. It is the most Buddy Holly / Roy Orbison style song on the record.

“Even the Bad Times are Good” is the stand out track on the album. It starts off with some background chatter and La-La-La’s before it delves into the rollicking melody that continually builds up to the chorus, which has a very satisfying delivery (particularly the hook ‘as soon as I get to you baby’). It is not as gritty as “the letter,” so it is not as good, but it feels like it has a similar structure. There is one particular odd mouth harp sound in the background of the chorus that doesn’t quite fit, but helps make the song that much less serious. 

Stand Out Track: Even the Bad Times Are Good

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