Customer Reviews

Tops With Me/Helen Hits Out

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

British pop singer Helen Shapiro had a handful of pop hits early in her career (1961-63), when she was under 16 years old, but she is too often remembered as a novelty, mostly because her voice was preternaturally deep and husky, and her bouffant was big enough to hide a small child. (In America she had only one small hit, "Walking Back to Happiness," which did not endear her to rock 'n' roll enthusiasts.) By the time Helen's age caught up with her voice, she was over, which is too bad, because these mid-'60s American recordings are some of her best. Gone are the annoying string arrangements and girl choruses of her early Columbia recordings with Norrie Paramor at Abbey Road. Helen's voice and style have matured, and the generally hipper songs and instrumentation here provide her with a more flattering showcase. Too bad Helen never got around to recording "Misery," the song that John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote for her when the Beatles were her opening act back in '63. Paramor nixed it at Columbia, but why didn't she do it this time? Oh well.

In this CD Helen Shapiro covers hits of a wide range of american artists : The Shirelles, Neil Sedaka, Elvis Presley, Connie Francis, Smokey Robinson, Little Eva, Betty Everett, The Crystals, Dionne Warwick, Carole King, Brenda Lee among others and also Italian singer Rita Pavone, all of them with different styles, and incredibly she is able to print her personal touch to all of them, some sound even better by her than the originals. The sound quality is excellent. If you like good and carefully produced cover versions with particular arrangements, I highly recommend this CD.

One unbeatable CD of Ms. Helen Shapiro. Of the four Columbia UK original Long Play albums released, this disc has the first and last, ('62 and '64) respectively.
I am the proud owner of 'Helen Hits Out!' Lp's (mono) and (stereo) releases, and is extremely good not only for Helen's vocal range, but, for the outstanding musical arrangements by Ivor Raymonde. This particular LP in it's original format has now become a prized collectors item. You'll only have to listen to 'Walk On By' and 'My Guy' to see why.
Own it if you can!

I bought this CD because these songs are all "cover versions" of songs that I grew up with and I wanted to see how they sounded sung by someone other than the original artist. The fact that they are all stereo versions was a plus because most of the U.S. originals were only recorded in Mono as Rock 'n Roll was thought to be a passing fad over here.

In case you care, the original versions of these songs were recorded by: Neil Sedaka (Little Devil); The Shirelles (Will you love me tomorrow); James Darren (Because they're young); Elvis Presley (Are you lonesome tonight); Dion & the Belmonts (Teenager in love); Connie Francis (Lipstick on your collar); Bobby Darin (Beyond the sea); Brenda Lee (Sweet nothin's); Marv Johnson (You got what it takes); Mary Wells (My Guy); Brenda Lee (All alone am I); Darlene Love & The Blossoms as The Crystals (He's a rebel); Doris Day & The Blossoms (Move over darling); Little Eva Boyd (Keep your hands off my baby); The Miracles (Shop around); Dionne Warwick (Walk on by)and The Marvelettes (Please Mr. Postman). Any that I skipped, I either don't remember or didn't notice.

I played this CD once. There's a good reason why British acts didn't make it here before the British invasion. They were mostly lousy rotten singers! This dame always sounds as if she has a cold! She's uglier than Streisand to boot with no talent! File this one alongside Mrs. Miller!