Shakin' Stevens - Greatest Hits

Album/Artist Review

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.

Album Description

Track Listing

Artist • Shakin' Stevens Album Title • Greatest Hits Genre • Pop/Rock Year • 1984 Total Tracks • 18 Playtime • 00:55:16 Total Size • 331.49 MB ID3-Tag • vorbis Codec • FLAC / 817 kbps Mode/Channels • 2 Posted By • AZOR On 06/04/2019

01. This Ole House (03:07) 02. You Drive Me Crazy (02:50) 03. A Letter To You (03:12) 04. It's Raining (03:20) 05. Green Door (03:15) 06. Hot Dog (02:37) 07. Teardrops (03:58) 08. Breaking Up My Heart (03:59) 09. Oh Julie (02:32) 10. Marie, Marie (02:47) 11. A Love Worth Waiting For (03:21) 12. It's Late (02:04) 13. Give Me Your Heart Tonight (03:07) 14. Shirley (02:51) 15. Blue Christmas (02:45) 16. Cry Just A Little Bit (03:14) 17. A Rockin' Good Way (& Bonnie Tyler) (02:57) 18. I'll Be Satisfied (03:12)

Greatest Hits