Dave Berry
Briefly a big star in Britain in the mid-'60s, Dave Berry faced the same dilemma as several other British teen idols of the era: R&B was obviously nearest and dearest to his heart, but he needed to record blatantly pop material to make the hit parade. It was also obvious that Berry was in fact much more suited toward pop ballads than rough-and-tumble R&B, regardless of his personal preferences. At his peak, his output was divided between hard R&B/rockers and straight pop. Help from ace session players like Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones notwithstanding, his smooth voice was frankly ill-equipped to deliver the goods with anything close to the same panache as Mick Jagger or Eric Burdon on the bluesier items. He made a rather good go of it, on the other hand, with romantic pop/rock ballads, hitting the British Top Ten with "The Crying Game" (1964), Bobby Goldsboro's "Little Things" (1965), and the excruciatingly sentimental "Mama" (1966). "This Strange Effect," written by Ray Davies (though not released by the Kinks), was a huge European hit for him in 1965 as well.
Berry's voice was not exactly teeming with character and he never made the slightest impression on the U.S. market, but the best of his material is quite pleasant period fare. He remains well regarded in his homeland, where the Sex Pistols unexpectedly covered his toughest track, "Don't Gimme No Lip Child." Even more unexpectedly, "The Crying Game" brought Berry's voice to his biggest international audience ever in 1992, when it was used as the theme song for one of the year's most successful films.
© Richie Unterberger /TiVo
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Discography
18 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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The Collection
Rock - Released by UMC (Universal Music Catalogue) on 25 Jun 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dave Berry
Pop - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 6 Jan 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
This Strange Effect (UK Chart Top 40 - No. 37)
Pop - Released by Music Manager on 19 Jun 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
This Special Sound Of Dave Berry
Pop - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1966
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mama (UK Chart Top 10 - No. 5)
Pop - Released by Music Manager on 19 Jun 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hit Singles (Re-Record)
Rock - Released by Purple Pyramid on 1 Jan 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Crying Game (UK Chart Top 10 - No. 5)
Pop - Released by Music Manager on 19 Jun 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Hits Of Dave Berry (Rerecorded)
Rock - Released by Vanilla OMP on 20 Jul 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
68
Pop - Released by UMC (Universal Music Catalogue) on 1 May 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Memphis Tennessee (UK Chart Top 20 - No. 19)
Pop - Released by Music Manager on 19 Jun 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The One That Got Away / Yesterday's Sunshine
Pop - Released by Music Farm Records UK on 1 Mar 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Little Things (UK Chart Top 10 - No. 5)
Pop - Released by Music Manager on 19 Jun 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Little Things (Extended (Remastered))
Rock - Released by Delta Music - Boomerang Records on 8 Apr 2022
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Morning Walk
Country - Released by Quickfours Music on 28 Apr 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dave Berry
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by PnR on 7 Jan 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo