Re-Set

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It’s fair to say that, had Elvis Presley’s life continued, then my life might have taken a different path,” admits Shaky, who stayed in the stage role for 19 months, before parting company with the Sunsets. Just before Christmas last year, he supported Status Quo in concert. His perennial favourite Merry Christmas Everyone “went down a storm”. Whenever we arrived at the venue, I used to ask the managers, ‘Where can I climb tonight?’. I used to love climbing up the lighting rigging, although one night I fell off and broke my ankle.” On ‘Re-Set’, those personal tales weave into an interconnected narrative about our collective place in the modern world, both real and virtual. There are songs about the plight of his ancestors, the uncle he never knew, and his own mother, who had a very difficult life, but nevertheless raised 13 children almost singlehandedly, while also holding down a job. But the album is also firmly rooted in the present day, as a call to arms about our planet and what we’re doing to it, and to each other.

Shakin’ Stevens: Re-Set. Album Review. | Liverpool Sound and Shakin’ Stevens: Re-Set. Album Review. | Liverpool Sound and

We wrestled for a bit on the sofa, and I ended up breaking his watch, but we buried the hatchet 25 years later when I appeared on the Richard & Judy Show.” A decade later, another unlikely fan emerged in the orange-haired form of anarchic Sex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten. “He was being interviewed on some TV show and said at the end of the chat, ‘Right, I’ve done this interview, I’m effing off to see Shakin’ Stevens’. And there’s no ego with me. I’m just a down-to-earth, ordinary guy who wants to connect with my audience, whether that’s with the old hits or with my new songs.” People used to travel from all over the world to see me perform, places like Poland and Germany. The last time I toured we had people from Brazil who hired a car and went from city to city to watch me.” It’s a follow-up,” as he says, “but it’s different. People were surprised by ‘Echoes Of Our Times,’ and I guess the same is going to happen with ‘Re-Set’.Forty-two years after that first number one – three more chart toppers and 33 top 40 hits followed, including festive favourite Merry Christmas Everyone – Shaky is celebrating the release of his new single, a rootsy, spiky observation on global inequality called All You Need Is Greed.

Re-Set by Shakin’ Stevens review: is he an underrated artist? Re-Set by Shakin’ Stevens review: is he an underrated artist?

Compared to his octogenarian countryman Tom Jones, who regularly performed amidst a flurry of underwear flung on stage by fanatical female devotees, Shaky’s followers were generally less frenzied. But the man who has sold more singles than Wham!, Britney Spears, and Lady Gaga in a career spanning seven decades, insists he’s not trying to ruffle feathers. I’m not pointing the finger. I’m not judging. I’m just observing,” he says. “Although I do believe that lyrics are very important, if you haven’t got a tune to go with them, then you’ve had it.”My wife Sue, who is also my manager, was with me. She had to speak to some TV people, so she left me alone in the dressing room.

Shakin’ Stevens – Re-Set Review | CULT FOLLOWING Shakin’ Stevens – Re-Set Review | CULT FOLLOWING

He says the strangest fan interaction was at a hometown gig in Cardiff. In his dressing room was a single bed, and a table with a full bottle of wine on it. After the show, he noticed some of the wine had been drunk. “I thought, ‘I didn’t drink any of that. How strange is that?’,” he remembers. Firstly, the lyrical concerns are rather more weighty than the classic Stevens songbook themes of boy meets girl/ boy tries to gatecrash next door’s party/ boy conducts disappointing structural survey. There’s a clear ecological message running through the album, and Greed Is All You Need is an unequivocal swipe at any dastard who puts profit above people or planet. Sometimes the message doesn’t get much beyond “like, the government, man”, and we probably didn’t need both references to 1984 within the first verse of Hard Learned Lesson to make the point. But throughout, the sentiments are clearly heartfelt and sincere. The best of the political songs is Beyond The Illusion, a paean to the men like Shaky’s ancestors who worked the Cornish copper mines, which sounds like something Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger would have included in a Radio Ballad, delivered with the brawny warmth of Show Of Hands.It’s the same one I wore on my first appearance on Top Of The Pops when I did This Ole House. It’s shrunk a bit and it’s seriously ripped up, but I can still get into it.” I’m not sure,” he says. “It’s been fun wearing them today, but I don’t think you’ll see me in those jeans on stage again. The sax player would throw his sax in the air and keep pretending to play it until he caught it, and I used to run across the bar during shows.

Shakin’ Stevens – Re-Set | Album Reviews | musicOMH Shakin’ Stevens – Re-Set | Album Reviews | musicOMH

They were very down-to-earth, lovely guys and I remember going out for a drink at The Ivy afterwards, where the price of a glass of red wine was extortionate.

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Over the years I’ve had a trainer and a nutritionist. I also lift weights now, once a week. And I try to keep as far away from stress as possible.” He is also very cautious about his most valuable asset. “I’m delighted that I can still belt out the songs, but I’m careful with my voice. I exercise my vocal cords, and I’m much more careful about how I handle myself on stage now.”