I Like It

by William Ruhlmann With "I Like It" belatedly becoming Gerry & the Pacemakers' third American Top 20 hit in the fall of 1964, Laurie Records, which licensed the band's recordings in the U.S., wanted a new LP to back it up. But the album the group had just made was the soundtrack for its film, Ferry Cross the Mersey, which had had its U.S. release delayed until February 1965. So, Laurie did what it had done the previous June for the American LP Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying: It assembled an album by using tracks from the band's 1963 U.K. long-player How Do You Like It? along with a couple of B-side singles and the current hit. Since the label had culled the better material for the previous release, this one wasn't as strong. However, lead singer/guitarist Gerry Marsden's composition "It's All Right" was a typically pleasant Merseybeat workout, Mitch Murray's "You Can't Fool Me" was almost on a par with his hit songs "How Do You Do It" and "I Like It," and "A Shot of Rhythm and Blues" was a strong cover of a good Arthur Alexander R&B number. Unfortunately, even though Laurie had access to enough tracks that had not yet appeared on an American LP to make up the requisite 12 tracks, the label chose to reuse two tracks, "Slow Down" and "Jambalaya," that had appeared on Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying five months earlier, doing a disservice to fans. That made Second Album even more of a disappointing rehash, and it hurt Gerry & the Pacemakers' momentum in the U.S.