A'S B's & Ep's

Freddie & the Dreamers released 17 singles and seven EPs on the Columbia Records subsidiary of EMI in the U.K. (no relation to the American Columbia label) between 1963 and 1969. Even allowing for some overlap, those releases added up to more than the 24 tracks on this CD. In part, that's because the selections only run up to 1966, when the hits ran out, but this simply is not a comprehensive collection of the recordings featured on the group's singles and EPs. Rather, the title is just an excuse for another Freddie & the Dreamers best-of. In fact, the main point about the emphasis on selections from singles and EPs has to do with the mixes that were used. The word in the largest print face on the CD cover is "mono," and indeed the tracks are presented in monophonic sound. All of the band's U.K. Top 40 hits are included, but U.S. fans will be less pleased by the omission of "Do the Freddie," which was released only on LP in Britain. Freddie & the Dreamers seem to have filled out their EPs with the kind of American R&B covers also being played by the other British beat groups. Their version of Leiber & Stoller's "Kansas City," like the Beatles' version, is actually a medley with Little Richard's "Hey! Hey! Hey!" copied from Little Richard's 1959 recording. A complete, chronological collection of their singles and EPs would make for a good portrait of the band. This is not that collection.