This CD contains the complete 1960s recordings of Tony Jackson following his departure from the Searchers. These are mostly cover versions of well-known songs, a pity really as the band was almost certainly capable of more. Nevertheless, this CD is full of excellent tracks including a number of rareities.

Bye Bye Baby and Watch Your Step formed the pairing for the first single release by Tony Jackson & the Vibrations on Pye. The former was a cover of a Mary Wells song. The single reached 24 in the charts, the only one of the band's singles to reach the charts. You Beat Me to the Punch was released as the second single coupled with This Little Girl of Mine. Again this was another Mary Wells track. The third single was Love Potion Number 9, a Lieber & Stoller song that had recently been released by Jackson's former colleagues in the Searchers, giving the group its biggest US hit. However, Tony Jackson had less success with his version despite its obvious quality. Fortune Teller features some great guitar work from Ian Buisel.

By now, the group had become the Tony Jackson Group. Stage Door was the first single as the Tony Jackson Group. You're My Number One b/w Let Me Know was the first single following a switch from Pye to CBS. This is a superb track with Buisel contributing some excellent Byrds-style guitar, providing recollections of the Bells of Rhymney. Let Me Know features a Beatles-like melody and vocal harmonies that are certainly reminiscent of the Searchers. The follow-up was Never Leave Your Baby's Side which was backed with I'm the One She Thinks a Lot of. Both Follow Me and Is There Anything Else You Want? continued the tradition of failing to reach the upper reaches of the charts. Never Leave Your Baby's Side makes use of a brass section to deliver a powerful sound and shows what the band could have promised but, ultimately, failed to deliver.

By this time frustration had set in and the group headed off to Portugal. There, they recorded five tracks for an EP, of which four were released in Portugal only. This has become a major rarity amongst 1960s music and so their inclusion on Watch This Step mark their first release in the UK. While these are all cover versions they are certainly well worth listening to. The Small Faces' Understanding is outstanding even though the introduction sounds more like the East End Fab Four's I've Got Mine. Coincidentally, Sam Cooke's Shake was also covered by the Small Faces. The Small Faces version is better. The Byrds' He Was a Friend of Mine and Paul Revere & the Raiders' Just Like Me are also well worth a listen, the latter being the outstanding track on the album. Again, this is a taste of what the band could have sounded like as it moved them away from the Searchers' sound towards something which would have made them stand out more and, possibly, would have helped their popularity. Also, it would have helped to ensure that they were continually compared with the far more successful Searchers.

This is perhaps a "curio" that has not had a wide audience. However, it is certainly worth listening to with a set of excellent songs that are performed very well. Chart success eluded the Vibrations and the Tony Jackson Group and this is probably due to their reliance on covers at a time when bands were moving towards writing their own material. They could have done much better based on this evidence.

Release Date: August 2004

Castle CMQCD892

Essential Tracks:

• Just Like Me
• You're My Number One
• Never Leave Your Baby's Side

Track Listing:

1. Bye Bye Baby
2. Watch Your Step
3. You Beat Me To The Punch
4. This Little Girl of Mine
5. Love Potion No 9
6. Fortune Teller
7. Stage Door
8. That's What I Want
9. You're My Number One
10. Let Me Know
11. Never Leave Your Baby's Side
12. I'm The One She Really Thinks a Lot of.
13. Follow Me
14. Walk That Walk
15. Is There Anything Else You Want?
16. Come on and Stop
17. Just Like Me
18. Understanding
19. Shake
20. He Was a Friend of Mine
21. Stage Door (Alternate take)
22. Is There Anything Else You Want?  (Alternate take)
23. She Wanted Me (Previously Unreleased)
24. We Can Work it Out (Instrumental) (Previously unreleased)