New Vinyl LP: Sandie Shaw On Radio & TV 1965 – 1970

Available now from http://www.1960s.london

Tracklisting

Side One

1. Girl Don’t Come (Andrews)
2. You Can’t Blame Him (Andrews)
3. I’ll Stop At Nothing (Andrews)
4. I’ve Heard About Him (Andrews)
5. Long Live Love (Andrews)
6. You Can’t Blame Him (Andrews)
7. Love Letters (Heyman, Young)
8. Long Live Love (Andrews)
9. Coconut Grove (Sebastian, Yanovsky)
10. I’d Be Far Better Off Without You (Andrews)

Side Two

1. Yesterday Man (Andrews)
2. (There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me (Bacharach, David)
3. (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66 (Troup)
4. Do You Know The Way To San Jose (Bacharach, David)
5. Homeward Bound (Simon)
6. Girl Don’t Come (Andrews)
7. Get Away (Powell)
8. Trains And Boats And Planes (Bacharach, David)
9. Day Tripper (Lennon, McCartney)
10. Ticket To Ride (Lennon, McCartney)

Recording Details

Side One

Tracks 1-8 recorded for BBC Radio in 1965

Tracks 1 – 3 Top Gear February 5^th

Tracks 4 -6 Saturday Club May 3^rd

Tracks 7-8 Top Gear May 10^th

Track 9 recorded for BBC Radio DLT February 5^th 1970

Track 10 recorded for US TV Shindig! April 28^th 1965

Side Two

Track 1 broadcast from The Bratislava Festival Of Pop Music,  June 14th 1967

Track 2 recorded for US TV Shindig! January 6th 1965

Tracks 3 – 10 recorded for BBC TV The Sandie Shaw Supplement,  September 17^th 1968

Sound Quality

Excellent, apart from from Side Two tracks  1 & 2 which are Very Good

Sleevenotes

Together with Ready Steady Go! presenter Cathy McGowan, Sandie epitomised Swinging London. Her distinctive looks were emulated by many teen girls and she performed bare foot, a habit she attributed to her bunions.  This record collects many of the live vocal recordings she made for radio and TV in high recording quality throughout.

In 1964 teenager Sandra Ann Goodrich was working at the Ford factory in Dagenham, Essex whilst doing some part-time modelling. She was a big fan of Adam Faith and the Roulettes. and after managing to get backstage at one of their gigs she sang for him and his manager Eve Taylor. Taylor immediately signed her to Pye Records and changed her stage name to Sandie Shaw. Writing for Faith was an anglo-German songwriter called Chris Andrews. When he started writing for Sandie they had a string of massive pop hits throughout 1964 and 1965.

Opener Girl Don’t Come reached number 3 in 1964 and showcased Shaw’s breathy vocals. The song had started life as the B-side to I’d Be Far Better Off Without You, but it was switched to the A side in response to DJ demand. In 1979 Girl Don’t Come would be a highlight of early Pretenders early live shows, starting a life-long friendship with singer Chrissie Hynde.  You Can’t Blame Him is a bouncy piano, driven number with call and response vocals. It was the B side of I’ll Stop At Nothing, where Sandie’s vocals are cleverly supported by the backing vocalists. Lyrically I’ve Heard About Him takes Sandie into Shangri-La’s territory and is another ace B-side, this time to Long Live Love.Released in 1965Long Live Love was Sandie’s second UK number one single and features a more upbeat arrangement. The arrangement of Love Letters faithfully follows Ketty Lester’s original right down to the distinctive piano part. Although Sandie was not writing her own material at this stage she had a keen ear for a good tune, as shown by her version of The Lovin Spoonful’s Coconut Grove, performed here in an understated arrangement featuring acoustic guitar, organ and flute. I’d Be Far Better Off Without You was another Chris Andrews song, sung demurely on US TV show Shindig! in an unsuccessful attempt to break into the American market without actually touring there.

Eve Taylor was keen for Sandie to record Andrews’ Yesterday Man but she disliked the melody and refused. Chris Andrews released his own version in September 1965 and it reached number 3 in the UK charts. This rare Sandie vocal comes from an international song festival held in Slovakia in 1967. Robert  Wyatt would record a reggae-tinged version in 1974 as his follow-up to I’m A Believer. (There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me was another chart-topper in the UK andis the first of three songs on this LP written by Burt  Bacharach and Hal David: this version was recorded for Shindig!. The final eight songs come from The Sandie Shaw Supplement, a twenty-five minute programme broadcast weekly on BBC TV throughout September and October 1968. “Quicksand”  was the second episode, directed by Mel Cornish with the theme of travelling. “Sandie Shaw with the music of speed and travel. From here to there with Sandie, travelling lady. Down Route 66 to San Jose in a Tijuana Taxi, she’s a Homeward Bound Day Tripper with a Ticket To Ride on Trains And Boats And Planes. And if the Girl Don’t Come – she’ll have made her Getaway. Or hit a quicksand.” We learn that even when Sandie is driving her GT40 – number plate SANDIE –  she does so barefoot, in massive sunglasses and whilst smoking a cigarette. Homeward Bound has a delicate folk-rock arrangement and is sung as duet with John Walker from The Walker Brothers. Get Away had been a hit in July 1966 for Georgie Fame after originally being written as a jingle for National Petrol. A Beatles medley includes Day Tripper with Lennon’s guitar riff played by a brass section and a Ticket To Ride which features some bare-footed grooving from Sandie.

“I only ever spoke to Sandie Shaw twice. First time out, I asked her questions and she, just having had her first hit, didn’t answer much. “Dunno” she kept saying. The second time, some eighteen months later, I asked her more questions and she still didn’t answer much but she had changed, she belonged to new worlds. “Ca va” she kept saying “comme ci, comme ca”. Nik Cohn, AwopBopaLooBopLopBamBoom (1970)

Sleevenotes: Mr DuPont