8 June 1967
I didn’t know that ‘Silence Is Golden’ was originally by The Four Seasons. Their 1964 ur-text doesn’t have the same pep or swagger as their classic Jersey Boys sound, though – it’s closer to a pre-Beatles country-pop ballad. Think of Frankie Valli on a horse.
This Tremeloes cover sticks to the original sound and arrangement like peel on an apple. Why do this track and this style in 1967? Perhaps team Tremeloe thought the close harmonies were Beach Boys enough to pass muster with more modern pop punters. (They’re not.) And why would anyone buy this dreary, old-hat single in 1967? Maybe from nostalgia for the mild-mannered Merseybeat of four years before, a lifetime in the fast-paced evolutionary progress of ’60s pop music.
If their music hasn’t lasted well, then at least The Tremeloes still give good factoid. Their previous Irish number one, ‘Do You Love Me’ in 1963, was when their lead singer was Brian Poole, father of Shelly and Karen from ’90s duo Alisha’s Attic. ‘Silence Is Golden’ features their new Poole-less post-1966 line-up which includes Chip Hawkes, father of an even more iconic ’90s pop star – Chesney Hawkes. Nepo parents, eh?
Irish Number Ones 