Life on the road continued pretty much unabated for Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets during 1976, while Paul took the master tapes of the "Manhattan Melodrama" album- which hadn't been released in England - around every record company in London, searching for some kind of deal.. It was no dice, though. Tony Visconti nearly talked himself into it, but not quite. Richard Williams, now a respected music journalist for the Times newspaper, was based at Island Records in 1976 and listened carefully to the tapes but then said in effect "Sorry, I think they're too old, I'm going to sign Eddie and the Hotrods instead." Jopp Wissier, now the head ofa small rock 'n' roll label called Charly Records, was A&R man at EMI then, and he turned the band down out of hand. At the same time the band found themselves booked in to so many May Balls in Cambridge that they had to check themselves into a truckers' stop-off area for a week in the summer to complete seven major gigs in five days, which must have made some kind of record. Following on their Dynamite Records experiences which had been so much fun, they decided to get Ian Lawrence back into the line-up with his peddle steel guitar, which he had been seriously practicing since his departure from the Sunsets a few years earlier. The band now had a definite hard-edged rockabilly sound to their music, which was startling, and even a little upsetting, for some of their more obsessive fans. Altogether it was an uphill climb for everyone, particularly Paul, whose tireless devotion to the cause was probably the only factor which held the band together during this time, even though they were all still earning very good wages from their live work.

Towards the end of the year Phil Bailey, who had produced the "Jungle Rock" single for them, as well as managing a rock 'n' roll band in their circle called Rock Island Line, approached Track Records to make friends with the small staff there, Danny Secunda, Mafalda Hall and Mike Shaw. The company was backed by the Who, and was making a name for itself during the punk era picking up on acts like Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, a New York punk band formed from the left-overs of the New York Dolls. Why they should have been interested in a straight rock 'n' roll act like Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets, or Rock Island Line, for that matter, is open to conjecture, but whatever the reason, Phil was able to persuade Danny Secunda and Mike Shaw to go along with him to Warwick University and see the two bands playing together on a double bill. Track Records became interested, and so began at least nine months of non-contractual to-ing and fro-ing for the band which for most of them spelled the end. It all seemed very exciting at first: Lloyd recalls sitting in Danny Secunda's smart office in Carnaby Street, gazing admiringly at the wall-to-wall gold disks and listening to a huge spiel about their rosy future with the company, undoubtedly genuinely put, at the time. They were sent out to "have a good time and buy themselves some new clothes at the expense of the company", which they duly did. In a trendy shop down the King's Road, the entire band fited themselves out with suede jackets, cowboys boots and fancy shirts, which they then left in the shop on the promise that it would all be delivered after a simple phone call from Track. They never saw the clothes again, needless to say.

There was nothing malicious in Track's dealings with them, just confusion. Adrian Owlett, a long time friend of the band who was about to playa major part in Shaky's life, was asked to do a photo session with the band and produced some shots which he thought they would love, but Mafalda Hall just looked at them and said "No, it's not quite what we want Adrian, although they're lovely. The thing is, this is 1977, let's play down the rock 'n' roll image a bit, can you take him out and do a session on top of a rubbish heap somewhere?" Adrian, a rock 'n roll purist who had been instrumental in bringing Gene Vincent into the country in the late sixties and who himself managed a rock 'n' roll hotshot band called Shades, didn't feel he could be a party to the conversion of Shaken' Steven's to punk, and politely refused.

At this time Malcolm Priest deci~ed that enough was enough, so he left the band, to be immediately replaced by the Crazy George Chick whose return was welcomed by everyone. The first tapes the band put together for Track Records were produced by Danny Secunda himself, at Gooseberry Studios. They were the only ones put together with the band, and in most considered opinions, they were the best things that Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets ever recorded, tracks like "Lightning Bar Blues" and "Lend me Your Heart" were given the new Sunsets-look treatment with the expert Ian Lawrence on steel guitar giving a loseness to it which perfectly balanced Lloyd's hard guitar edge. These numbers have never actually seen the light of day, which is a pity, they would have been a fitting memorial to the work of Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets after eight years of existence. Track Records weren't happy with them, of course, it didn't fit in with their imagined image for the band, and in particular for Shakin' Stevens, in whom it was becoming increasingly apparent that their genuine interest lay. Their next move was to bring in the respected independent producer now turned broadcaster Charlie Gillett, who produced a few sessions, also unreleased, but lacking in much conviction, because he also wasn't too sure exactly what Track was expecting him to come up with.

They were playing with many different ideas, that's for sure, at one stage during a rehearsal session they had the band playing their own version of the Who's "Squeezebox", which no one was happy about and still no talk of a firm contract. Enter Mike Hurst one in a line of eminent producers provided by Track including Charlie Gillet and Vic Maile, who hadn't come up with material that pleased Track sufficiently. Mike Hurst, at a meeting with Track, Shaky and Paul, suggested an old Eddie Cochran song "Never", which everyone agreed to. He went into the studio himself with a series of session musicians, and then, when the back track was laid down, invited Shaky in to complete the vocals. It's not how rock 'n rollers are used to working, but Track wasn't all that interested in appeasing the likes of Paul Barrett and the Sunsets at this stage, they wanted to give it a try. The Sunsets had put up with enough, by now, they felt as if they had been dangling at the end of a hook for too long, and it was time to get away and start something new. Mike Lloyd Jones, Ian Lawrence and George Chick all left to start their own country rock group called Quater Moon.
Actually it was a pretty ill-fated move, soon after, George had a terrible car accident and landed himself in hospital for three months. Mike and Ian would possibly have carried on without him, if loyalty hadn't prevented them from owning up to the desperately ill, although cheerfully hopeful, George, that such a thing was possible. Soon, all three drifted their separate ways. Paul Barrett didn't allow himself to be daunted by this move. He brought in two replacements for Mike and George, Johnny Chop, otherwise known as Choppo on bass, he had roadied for the band some years before and caught the rock 'n' roll bug, and Danny Wild on guitar, perhaps not his real name, but he liked it that way. The new line-up gelled quite well, the band played a few gigs around London in places like the Greyhound and the Golden Lion in Fulham, and went down well, so there seemed hope for them yet.
Track liked "Never", and decided to give it the full promotional push by recording a special video at "The Rock Garden" one afternoon in September. It was meant to express a decadent feel, Angie Bowie was down there, watching her girlfriend cavort on stage with Shaky and the band while they endlessly performed "Never" to the whirr of the video cameras. Coming in and out of the Rock Garden to set up their equipment for a gig they were to play that same night were old friends Fumble, a long-serving rock band who had been on the circuit alongside Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets on many occasions. Fumble had just landed themselves with the prestigious position of in-house band for a forthcoming West End Show to celebrate the life of Elvis, who had died just two weeks before, August 15th, 1977. The show had been conceived by Jack Good, long before the death of Elvis, who now knew that the time was ripe to get his ideas into action on stage.

The venue was to be the Astoria Theater in London, managed by Ray Coney. The Daily Mirror were also interested, and just a few days before Paul met up with Fumble, there had been a large coupon in the paper for people to fill in and send off if they wanted to attend the audition for the Elvis role. There were to i;Je three Elvis characters, one covering the early part of the King's life, one for the latter part, and one for the Elvis that was able to display his brilliance in Jailhouse Rock. According to Fumble, Cooney and Good already had a young Elvis, Timothy Whitnall and a Las Vegas Elvis, old timer P .J. Prody, now calling himself James Proby and trying to turn over a new leaf. Telephone calls flew around London for the next couple of weeks, until Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets come up to London to playa gig at the Greyhound pub, in Fulham Palace Road. In the audience to "check him out" on behalf of Jack Good was Annabel Leventon, who must have been favourably impressed because after the show she approached Shaky. He hadn't been too interested in the whole Elvis idea, however, and that night had other things on his mind, like drinking, and touching up the local talent. He ignored Annabel, who's next tack was to try talking to Paul. He was his usual pleasant self, "Yeah, sure, you're welcome to talk to either myself or Shaky about the part, but you'd better leave it until next week." Paul gave her his number and resumed his conversation with Rockin' Louie at the bar. Annabel decided to have just one last try at approaching Shaky before the night was over, she figured it would be good to be able to report back to Jack Good that Shaky was "in the bag". She went over to him. Again he ignored her, almost to the point of rudeness, until finally she handed him her card and left.

The next few weeks were spent gigging and trying to persuade Shaky to do the part, Adrian Owlett, Paul Barrett and even the other members of the band were keen. Eventually, with some reluctance, he went for an audition. Of course, he was perfect for the role. He'd been imitating Elvis either consciously or unconsciously all his life, and not just on stage. Now, if the soul of Elvis flew anywhere after his death, it surely would have flown into the young Shakin' Stevens. Cynical, he was to be sure, and bored with life on the road. But the dreams of Elvis Aaron and Michael were the same. The reason why Shaky always gets so annoyed when people compare him to Elvis is that he honestly doesn't believe it himself, he is the product of his own imagination: the dreams of a young boy with his plastic Elvis guitar and his collection of Elvis records have long since been forgotten. Shakin' Stevens is, he exists as a phenomenon, however he got there is a matter for the academics to debate; he doesn't particularly care.
In between the "real" and the "fake" auditions, there were two, one for Jack Good and Ray Cooney and one for the media, about which more later, both Paul and Adrian spent literally hours with Shaky, trying to persuade him that he should accept the part. Paul went through the script in detail with him during a long journey down to a gig in Portsmouth, saying, "Look, Shaky, it's really a gesture of respect towards Elvis, you're not losing any face by accepting. And I'll keep the Sunsets going for the duration of the show, when you come back we'll have all the added prestige of a West End star to help sell the band. Who knows, something else even more exciting may come out of it, you may be offered a film part!"

Adrian Owlett was more brutal, when Shaky stayed overnight at his Walton-on-Thames home after a London gig during that period of indecision. "Look, Shaky, you're going nowhere fast at the moment. You must accept this. Now you've got the chance to play on a large stage, to a large audience, it's the obvious career move." Finally Shaky was convinced. He really didn't like anything new, he'd been playing with a rock'n'roll band all his working life, and the jump to a West End musical was quite beyond his comprehension. But eventually he agreed for just long enough to allow Paul to go and organise the deal. He negotiated a good wage for the lad, 100 pounds a week during rehearsal rising to as much as 200 pounds once the show began, albeit in easy stages. Good and Cooney protested at first, it was more than they were paying P .J. Proby, but as Paul pointed out, Tim Whitnall (only sixteen years old) was a never- was, P.J.Proby was a has- been and Shaky, well, Shaky was going to make the show, and they all knew it. And so the contract was signed and the date for the Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets farewell gig was booked for October 25th, just two days before the start of rehearsals for the Elvis show. The fake auditions were held on October 24th, and everyone not involved in the world of high-sell theatre hated every minute of it.

The Daily Mirror ran a huge headline stating "The Great Elvis Hunt is on!" - weeks after the Great Elvis Hunt had been settled - although whether they knew this at the time only they can say. A large coupon on the same page asked readers, "Is yours one of the famous faces?" and allowed space for potential Elvises - soon titled collectively the "Elvi" to say "I think I am like Elvis because..." and "I would like to play the part of Elvis because..." and told them to delete where applicable "I can/cannot play the guitar" and finally asked that they go to all the trouble of enclosing a cassette of themselves performing an Elvis number, plus a photograph. The response was massive. Literally hundreds of prospective "Elvi" turned up at the Astoria Theatre at the appointed time wearing every kind of Elvis suit imaginable, lovingly sequined and sewed by their families and girlfriends. The theatre was full of duped pressmen eagerly taking notes and writing up the individual sob stories. Shakin' Stevens, too, was expected to take part in this audition but if this had really been a test, he would have failed it. The two numbers he performed on that day were mumbled and out of tune, he didn't even try, well, he didn't need to.

The last Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets gig was an emotional one, by any standards. It was at the Broom in Woolwich, and if at any time during the last couple of years the band hadn't quite hit it on stage, they made up for it now. They were all incredibly drunk, but they sang and played their hearts out. At the end of the night the audience went crazy, asking for encore after encore, which the band played. Then they started shouting for "Old Black Joe" a song Crazy Cavan had popularised on the Teddy Boy circuit. Paul went on stage. "I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, it's been great tonight and we love you all, but we can't sing any more, we don't even know that number!" Then Shaky jumped up on stage beside him and said "So what, let's give it a go" something he had never done before in his entire professional career. So they sang "Old Black Joe", Rockin' Louie knew it, and so did Ace, and it went down amazingly well. Later that night they all fell into a car, and were driven home by Ace, who hadn't driven for years.
Just before he left, Shaky turned to Adrian Owlett and said "I'll see you on Sunday night then, rehearsals start on Monday morning." Owlett nodded, he had already agreed to offer Shaky "crash pad" accommodation in London until he got himself sorted out. There was some talk of Shaky and P .J. Proby sharing a Ray Cooney owned flat together, apparently, but Shaky didn't like the idea of that, he and Proby didn't go too well together.
Track Records saw themselves as lucky at that point, they'd just squeezed Shaky onto a personal contract, and their chances of breaking him while playing Elvis in a West End musical were good. They immediately started planning an album to be rushed out for Christmas release, which was called "Play Loud" and which included three musicians from Sounds Incorporated, rustled up by Adrian Owlett; Ace Skudder a couple of freaking guitarists and an additional guitarist from Bob Marley's band. It was recorded in Island's Basing Street Studios at the same time as Marley, so there were some interesting encounters over the vending machine.

The album was virtually recorded live, with an invited audience and included the single "Justine", which did noting too spectacular. Unluckily for Shaky, Track folded soon after this, early in 1978, when one of its proprietors, Chris Stamp, won a huge legal battle against "The Who" including a large settlement, and so withdrew his interest in the company and split the scene, leaving a motley assortment of acts and a flotsam of record company executives in his wake.

Back to Shaky/Elvis, settling himself into Adrian Owlett's lovely Walton home and into the part. It took no time at all to do the former but a huge struggle to accept the latter. He was very upset that Paul didn't come up to London to help him through his first days of rehearsal, and this puzzled even Adrian for a while, until he discovered that Shaky had refused to give Paul any credit for negotiating him the Elvis role. Paul had almost had enough of looking after Shaky by this time, for years he had dedicated himself tirelessly to the Shakin' Stevens cause, if the band starved (which wasn't often, particularly in the latter years) then so did Paul. He had been flogging rock In' roll during the dead years, the time when no one wanted to know, and so by any standards he had achieved miracles, getting publicity where he could and making sure that the band earned a living wage. The world just wasn't ready for an Elvis lookalike, at least, not until Elvis died, and that's the bottom line of Shaky's story. To Paul, that last gig with Shaky at the Broom had been a huge relief' "I waved goodbye to years of acting as nursemaid, nanny, pimp and official nose-wiper that night," he says. "If he had wanted to keep me on as his manager, that was fine by me. All I wanted was a fair deal, properly worked out. And yet I got the impression that he still wanted me in Cardiff, looking after him and generally on call whenever he needed me, while using Adrian as my substitute in London, neither of us getting paid for our trouble, of course.

I couldn't speak for Adrian, but that wasn't on for me, not any more." Paul continued with the Sunsets for a while, just a few days after the Broom gig they played at Bath University with Rockin' Louie on vocals and got called back for three encores. The Friday after that, however, they played the Rock Garden, Paul went up with Louie and Sid Petherick, an ex-Backbeats guitarist who had replaced Danny Wild some time earlier, and Peter Lee Wenger. Ace was supposed to be getting to the gig under his own steam, but somehow he never made it that night. The audience were disappointed, instead of Shakin' Stevens on vocals there was Rockin' Louie, and the crazy black piano player, who had become something of a trade mark for the band over the years, was also missing. The owners of the Rock Garden pointed this out to Paul at the end of the night, in no uncertain terms and it was now, after eighteen years as a calm, cool, no-nonsense manager that Paul cracked. "You didn't take your sign down from outside, even after you watched us set up today, I didn't see you giving any of the audience a refund!" he shouted, but the owner was adamant. When Paul swept his arm across the top of a vending machine, sending coffee cups and cold coffee smashing to the floor, the owner threatened to call the bouncer and have him thrown out. But Paul had gone past the limit of caring. Picking up a bottle while Peter Wenger produced a pocket knife he advanced on the man.
"Before any bouncers get here we can do a lot of damage to you, now pay up!" It was Rockin' Louie who saved the day, putting all his years of watching Paul at work into action and thrusting his friendship for the man across his path. Holding Paul's arm, he said "Look, you've got a point, why not compromise and pay us half what you intended. That way no one loses." Thrusting a hundred pounds hastily in his pocket, he led the still furious and emotional Paul out into the night. That wasn't the end of the Sunsets, though, actually they carried on quite successfully for two years, although Ace Skudder left the band, which was something of a blow, for all his individual faults, and like all of them, he was by no means perfect, he was an excellent piano player and they missed his on-stage antics. Rockin' Louie has reformed the Backbeats now, still based in Penarth, with Sid Petherick and Dave Goddard, and he's still playing rock 'n' roll and happy.