Billy J Kramer With The Dakotas - Do You Want To Know A Secret: The EMI Years 1963-1983

Thoroughly diverting footnote of cultural history

Though bereft of the pot-shots at the charts released by other labels, thisotherwise represents the last word on the third of Brian Epstein’s clients to reach No 1. A wealth of hitherto unissued items here includes an atmospheric US concert taped at the height of the scream-rent British Invasion just before the momentum was lost at home, courtesy of the first serious flop, It’s Gonna Last Forever. Bidding farewell to the Top 20 in 1965 with Trains & Boats & Planes, Billy and the group lasted longer than most Merseybeat acts, aided as they were by made-to-measure Lennon-McCartney songs that provided them with four of their half-dozen smashes, and by boyishly handsome Kramer’s distinctive croon. As exemplified by a credible crack at Marvin Gaye’s I’ll Be Doggone, he could cut up rough when required, but he shines brightest with serenades such as Twelfth Of Never and Twilight Time. He’s most effective, too, with mediumpaced tracks of the Under The Boardwalk/Da Doo Ron Ron canon. Moreover, The Dakotas prove an accomplished twoguitars- bass-drums backing combo, even scoring a hit in their own right with 1963’s The Cruel Sea, contained here along with their other releases without Billy. Kramer himself, if concentrating unashamedly on the nostalgia circuit nowadays, is still a compelling entertainer, and this vast retrospective should do brisk business on the merchandising stall.

4 stars 4 stars 4 stars 4 stars

EMI | 2678 972 (4-CD)

Reviewed by Alan Clayson
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