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Sharon O'Neill, We've been wait...wait...waiting for you....

PEAM (Pen with Ears & Mind). | Australia | 11/30/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Sharon O'Neill won several prestigious Countdown "Best Female Vocalist" awards at the height of her career in the early - mid 1980s. She began her recording career in New Zealand in the 1970s, where she recorded her first album "This Heart This Song" and released several singles, including a duet with Jon Stevens, before moving to Australia at the turn of the new decade. "This Heart This Song" had a country / pop flavour. This style was inherent in her work right through her career. In fact, at the time of the release of her 1990 album "The Edge of Winter", she said that she would like to do a true country album one day. Most of her CDs were deleted years ago, so it is good to see this "Best of Sharon O'Neill" compilation released. Her earliest and latest work is her strongest. "Asian Paradise", from her second album, is brilliant. I think this is one of the best songs that emerged anywhere in the 80s. The production, band and Sharon's performances on "Words" and "Baby Don't Fight" are strong, gritty and full of life and energy. These three tracks were singles lifted from her 1980 album "Words". A fourth single from the album, "How Do You Talk to Boys", was the most successful, but it's a bit dreary. It's the only track on the album that she didn't write, and you get the feeling the record company convinced her to record it. It's a silly song with quite a weak melody and lyrics. Sharon's third album included the wonderful ballad "Maybe" and the brilliant country rocker "Waiting for You". These magnificent songs, plus "For All the Tea in China", were not the successes they deserved to be when released as singles. Sharon wrote "Maybe" on a beat-up old piano in a recording studio just after she arrived in Australia, while she was waiting to meet the team who would work with her on this album. The promo film-clip for "Waiting for You" was very eye-catching, and Sharon rocked it up on Countdown when she appeared to perform "Tea in China", which was chosen to represent Australia in a Japanese-based song-writing contest. It's the weakest of the three tracks representing the "Maybe" album here. It's great to hear "Smash Palace" and "Hold on Love" on this Best Of collection. These tracks were both from Sharon's soundtrack for the Roger Donaldson movie "Smash Palace". Donaldson also directed "Sleeping Dogs" and other international successes. On these two songs from the soundtrack Sharon has included some interesting chord changes, and stretches herself vocally on "Hold On Love". In the early / mid 80s the bright lights of the U.S. beckoned. Sharon O'Neill ventured overseas to record her album "Foreign Affairs" with U.S. musicians and producer. The result was an over-produced, over-polished album with a lack of the grit, life and energy of her earlier and later work. One single from this album, "Maxine", was her biggest hit ever. When criticised for commercialising the story of a drug-addicted prostitute, Sharon retorted that she herself lived in King's Cross, and was merely writing about characters who she observed every day in her neighbourhood. "Losing You" and "Danger" were singles from the same album. Generally, synth-driven music of the early-mid 80s has not aged well, no matter who the artist. Sharon later re-recorded a version of "Losing You", making it a bit more grundgy, on her album "The Edge of Winter". Could it be that she herself recognised the slightly lifeless quality of her "Foreign Affairs" adventure? "Power" fits into the "Foreign Affairs" category. In 1987 Sharon woke up again, and delivered some punchy power rock/pop with "Physical Favours" and "Satin Sheets". An autobiographical track, "Danced in the Fire", spoke of her disillusionment with the music industry when, in the mid-80s, she was entwined in a lengthy legal dispute that kept her from recording for several years. "Danced in the Fire" was the title track from her come-back album, and it features background vocals by the brilliant New Zealander vocalist Mark Williams, an artist with whom she had duetted in 1977 on his album "Taking It All in Stride". (Now there's a vocalist who should have had world-wide success)! "Danced in the Fire" is a wonderful, dreamy, bouncy, floating track. Also included on this CD is "Water for the Flowers", a great track with a surprise reggae feel. This was written and recorded for an ABC album aimed at children under the age of ten - but it's just as accessible to adults. I think the producers of this Best Of collection would have been well-advised to leave the live version of "Maxine" off. The live recording of "Words", from "When the Cat's Away - Live in Paradise", is a stronger performance. Sharon's vocals in concert generally seemed to be more raunchy than on record. A televised concert with The Wild Colonial Boys (Marc Hunter and Angry Anderson) demonstrated her vocal strengths live. Sharon had a strong connection with Marc Hunter and Dragon, co-writing their fantastic singles "Western Girls" and "Young Years", and teaming up romantically with Alan Mansfield from the band. If you can get hold of Sharon O'Neill's 1980 album "Words", I would strongly recommend it. This album has a great pub-rock feel, and through the lyrics of Sharon O'Neill and through her musical influences, it speaks very strongly of a certain place and time. Her voice as a writer and story-teller is very strong. Lyrics like "You waved goodbye from that North Island train" make this a uniquely New Zealander offering, and I think that is part of its strength, (I'm not a New Zealander myself). The production and band performance fully bring the songs to life. The albums "Maybe" and "Foreign Affairs" are available in Australia on a budget 2-CD set. I think my favourite track by Sharon O'Neill, apart from the unbeatable "Asian Paradise", is "I Don't Want to Touch You I Just Wanna Ride in your Car", a rocker from her album "Maybe". I also liked her version of John Lennon's "Imagine", which she performed live on a televised charity concert in the mid-80s. This year, Sharon has been supporting Leo Sayer in his Australian concerts. There are new notes by Sharon on the sleeve of this "Best of Sharon O'Neill" set. In these she hints that there may be new material soon. I'm sure that she has many fans who will be pleased to hear it. Maybe her next album will be her country album..........."