Great modern rock'n'roll

Shakin' Stevens had been performing professionally for ten years before signing to a major record lable. Before then, the highlight of his career had been appearing as the mid/late 50s Elvis in the award-winning Elvis The Musical in London's West End. The Elvis tag was to follow him in subsequent years but despite occasional cover verions of Elvis songs (Blue Christmas was a UK number 2 hit in 1982), he established his own identity and had 38 charting singles in the UK, becoming the most successful artist of the 80s in Great Britain (ahead of Madonna, Michael Jackson and all others). He had the ability to update long-forgotten 50s hits such as This Ole House and Green Door, together with charting with original material, sometimes self-penned (Oh Julie). He continues to perform to this day and really should record a new album of the new songs he's introduced to his concerts.

Strongly influenced by Elvis

Shaky (as he was generally known) based his style on the young Elvis Presley, including his stage act. He brought fifties rock'n'roll, albeit in an updated form, back to the British pop charts in the eighties.

This collection covers all his UK hit singles from 1980 to 1984, which means most of his important tracks. It does not include his fourth and last UK number one hit, Merry Christmas everyone (my favorite of his), but that can be found easily on British Christmas compilations. Only one other UK top ten hit is missing - his cover of What do you want to make those eyes at me for. I like his version of that classic but I can live without it.

This ole house began life as a country song but is best known via Rosemary Clooney's international hit version. It provided Shaky with his first number one hit. Green door, his second number one, is another fifties cover, although I am more familiar with this song via a cover by Crystal Gayle. It appeared in her 1977 album, We must believe in magic, the album that yielded Don't it make my brown eyes blue. Oh Julie is an original song, written in a rock'n'roll style by Shaky, which provided him with his third number one hit.

Apart from his number one hits (three included here, plus Merry Christmas everyone), he had some near misses, with Blue Christmas (actually one track of a four-track EP), A love worth waiting for and You drive me crazy all peaking at two.

Cry just a little bit peaked at three and was also a minor hit for him in America, where it was later covered by Sylvia, who had a top ten country hit with it. Note - this is the Sylvia who is best remembered for Nobody, not to be confused with the Swede called Sylvia who is famous for Y viva Espana, or another American singer called Sylvia, famous for Pillow talk.

Teardrops (an original song) and A rocking good way (a duet with Bonnie Tyler, first recorded by Brook Benton and Dinah Washington in the sixties) both made number five. The album contains more UK top ten and top twenty hits.

Some people dismiss Shaky as a poor man's Elvis but I'm sure that more than a few people discovered rock'n'roll because of him. He demonstrated that he could also write his own material when he chose to so he's better than a mere impersonator. If you want to listen to some music by Shakin' Stevens, this is a good way to do it, despite it not covering his whole career.

The best music you can get

Shakin' Stevens "Greatest Hits" is a true Rock 'n' Roll/Rockabilly album. It's a must for every lover of this music and is an excellent addition to every collection. It also is the greatest party CD avaiulable on the market. This CD will make your party go wild. You just got to dance and bop this his music. Also watch out for newer releases of Shakin' Stevens - the world's leading Rock 'n' Roll act.