25 October 1963
Brian Poole and The Tremeloes were from London, not Liverpool, but they nonetheless partook of the Merseybeat sound. What’s more, they were the group signed by Decca Records instead of The Beatles, both having auditioned the same day. So, that’s Brian Poole and The Tremeloes, the band The Beatles could have been. (Poole’s daughters Shelly and Karen found their own pop success as ’90s duo Alisha’s Attic.)
‘Do You Love Me’ is indeed the same hoarse, raucous early-’60s R&B number which gained a second life in 1988 when featured in Dirty Dancing. However, that 1962 original version was by Motown vocal group The Contours. (The song was written by Berry Gordy himself.) Here, Poole gives the American spoken word intro a fair go, and The Tremeloes do their best to reach the same level of frenzy as the original, but once you’ve heard the Motown OG then any other iteration is always a lesser artefact.
Irish Number Ones 