SANDIE SHAW – “Always Something There To Remind Me”
Something in Sandie Shaw’s voice reminds me of Helen Shapiro, but whether it’s the vastly improved material, or the changed times, or those few crucial extra years on her, Sandie sounds impressive where Helen sounded precocious. There’s maybe half an eye on Cilla Black, too – take a Bacharach hit and submit it to a heavy dose of dynamics – but Shaw starts off commanding and her belting isn’t so extreme. In fact if I listen closely I tend to think she’s more in control of the song when she’s giving it welly on the chorus – there are little mannered twinges in the verses (“city strits“) which might grate if I paid them too much attention.
So I don’t. I let the song sweep me past them. There’s a balance to be struck here between reflectiveness and jiving, and to be honest I would prefer a little more of the former. There’s a lashing anger in this song which the busy, floor-ready arrangement hustles off to the sidelines. As someone commented on a Cilla entry, it’s hard to get a great Bacharach song wrong. But it’s hard to get one exactly right, too.
6
Well I think Sandie got this one exactly right. This is still the best version around.
TOTPWatch. Sandie Shaw performed Always Something There To Remind Me on Top Of The Pops on five occasions;
8 October 1964. Also in the studio that week were; The Supremes, Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers and Matt Monro. Pete Murray was the host.
15 October 1964. Also in the studio that week were; The Searchers, The Nashville Teens and Matt Monro. Jimmy Saville was the host.
22 October 1964. Also in the studio that week were; The Dave Clark Five, Manfred Mann, Tony Jackson & The Vibrations and Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders. Alan Freeman was the host.
5 November 1964. Also in the studio that week were; The Kninks, The Pretty Things and The Rockin’ Berries. Pete Murray was the host.
24 December 1964. Also in the studio that week were; Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas, Herman’s Hermits, Manfred Mann, The Animals, The Beatles, The Four Pennies, The Honeycombs, The Kinks and The Searchers. Jimmy Saville, Alan Freeman, Pete Murray & David Jacobs were the hosts.
None of these editions have survived.
DESERT ISLAND DISCS WATCH:
Marlene Dietrich- Actress, Singer(1965)
Quentin Crewe-Journalist, Writer(1984).