All the hits from the sixties and eighties
Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 09/17/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Born Sandra Goodrich, she was discovered by Adam Faith and became Sandie Shaw. Sandie quickly established herself as one of the most important female singers of her generation, at least in Britain, between 1964 and 1967. Sandie was best suited to up-tempo material and that is clearly reflected in this collection. If you are looking for soft, romantic love songs, look elsewhere.
Sandie began her career with the Bacharach-David classic, Always something there to remind me. Taking the record to the very top of the UK charts, she knocked Roy Orbison (Oh pretty woman) off the top spot and remained there for three weeks, after which (curiously) Oh pretty woman returned to the top for one last week at the top.
Chris Andrews (who had his own hit with Yesterday man) wrote all of Sandie's subsequent hits prior to Puppet on a string, including her second UK number one (Long live love) and three other UK top ten hits (Girl don't come, Message understood, Tomorrow).
By the beginning of 1967, Sandie seemed to be fading fast, but she was then selected to represent Britain in the Eurovision song contest, which she won with Puppet on a string, written by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter. Sandie hated the song (so do I) but the public loved it and it became her third and last UK number one hit.
Sandie only had one more UK top ten hit, Monsieur Dupont, a translated French song. It was the first of two hits that Sandie had in 1969, after which it seemed that her career was over.
Sandie made a surprise comeback in the eighties because some of that decade's pop stars were fans of Sandie. Morrisey (then lead singer of the Smiths, who has since gone solo) was foremost among them. The Smiths had originally failed to make their own breakthrough with Hand in glove, but after making the big time with other songs, they provided the backing for Sandie's cover of the song. The ensuing publicity helped it to become a UK top thirty hit. Sandie followed-up with a minor hit, a cover of Are you ready to be heartbroken (Lloyd Cole).
Apart from all the hits, this set includes Sandie's covers of Those were the days (Mary Hopkin), Rose garden (Joe South - later to become an international hit for Lynn Anderson) and Anyone who had a heart (an American hit for Dionne Warwick, a British hit for Cilla Black and a French hit for Petula Clark). Also here is a single that completely missed the charts (Heaven knows I'm missing him now) but which inspired Morrisey to write the Smiths hit, Heaven knows I'm miserable now.
This compilation contains everything that most people will ever want of Sandie's music."
Track Listings (26) - Disc #1