the of mirror eye

* Sandie Shaw: As Long As You’re Happy, Baby (4 mb) | (There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me (4 mb) | Don’t Run Away (Early Version) (3 mb)
From Nothing Comes Easy : EMI : 7243 866070 2 7

I first heard about Sandie Shaw while perusing Tuning. And I was immediately blown away. This lady looked like she had attitude and moxie, and the pipes to back it up. So, when I chanced upon her newly released boxset, I decided to take the plunge and see what I’ve been missing.

This set is absolutely amazing. It collects all of her singles (A and B sides) into one neat package, remastered and with great liner notes. Her story is pretty amazing and is way too long to even paraphrase. But I’ll leave you with this great passage from the liner notes.

The onset of fame in 1964 didn’t exactly seem to phase her or make her forget where she came from. A lot of the time she seemed fantastically bored by it, as if she was still pushing buttons back at Ford’s. Mum ran her fan club. She ate toffees all day long. No mugging to the camera (Lulu), or Victorian poses (Marianne) for Sandie. She stayed true to her school.

Her complete indifference to the giddy pop whirl was captured for posterity when she was due to perform ‘Long live love’ on ‘Top of the Pops’. Sandie was asked to stand in various positions while they worked out the camera angles. Somebody, thankfully, kept the camera running. As Chris Andrews’ clangurous calypso rings out, Sandie just stands and pouts, all angles and sleek straight hair. Bored stiff, she looks typically teenage and quite irresistable.

(from the liner notes)

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