SHAKIN' STEVENS ALREADY HAD FOUR HITS UNDER HIS BELT BY JULY 1981, TWO OF THEM MONSTERS - "THIS OLE HOUSE" AND "YOU DRIVE ME CRAZY" - BUT IT WAS HIS NEXT SMASH-HIT RELEASE "GREEN DOOR" THAT DISPELLED ANY LINGERING DOUBTS THAT HERE WAS A NEW STAR OF SERIOUS MAGNITUDE. NEVERTHELESS, SHAKY'S SUCCESS HAD BEEN A LONG TIME COMING: HE'D BEEN PERFORMING SINCE 1968 (WITH HIS BAND THE SUNSETS) AND BEEN RECORDING SINCE 1970, BUT IT WASN'T FOR A FULL FURTHER DECADE THAT HE CHARTED. DURING THAT TIME, THE '70S, HE'D HONED HIS CRAFT TO PERFECTION - THE VOICE, THE MOVES, THE MANNERISMS, THE LOOK - ALL PICKED CAREFULLY OUT FROM THE '50S ROCK & ROLL CAULDRON, AND EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM WAS JUST RIGHT. THEN IN 1978 SHAKY'S NEW MANAGER FREYA MILLER NEGOTIATED A CONTRACT WITH EPIC RECORDS, AND IN 1980 STUART COLMAN BECAME HIS PRODUCER. IN THE FIRST HALF OF '81 SHAKIN' STEVENS BECAME A STAR.

"I made all those records bar a few at the Eden Studios in Chiswick," remembers Stuart Colman. "It was a converted dairy and it was THE hit studio of the '80s. Dave Edmunds produced there, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, and we had this lovely system 'cos Shaky and I loved to record during the day but not through the night, so we'd start bright and early at ten in the morning, finish on the dot of 7.30, and Nick Lowe would follow in at eight and stay through the night, so the studio was doing round-the-clock business. Talk about an ebullient time. And in the half-hour between seven-thirty and eight, I'd always have a pint with Nick in the pub and he'd ask how the session went, and I'd be saying 'What you got coming up?', so we were keeping tabs on each other's work, and he was producing other people as well as himself. One particular time, he bought me a pint and said, 'Look, "This Ole House" is doing well, and "You Drive Me Crazy", I bet you're going to do "Green Door" next. I said 'What a good idea!' and I pulled his leg because I said 'Yourfather did the original'. He said 'What the hell are you talking about?', so I said - Jim Lowe'. That's how we came to do 'Green Door'." "Stuart nearly swallowed his beer glass, and I thought it was a wacky idea - but it worked!" added Shaky. "I don't think that reviving songs is a bad thing, but you do need to take the song forward somewhat. In a way, though, you can't really revive rock & roll music, simply because it has always been around". This, the final volume of "Shaky - The Hits", contains not only revivals of rock songs, but revivals of pre-rock era songs, plus several originals. Best of the latter is the Bob Heatlie composition "Cry Just A Little Bit", produced by Colman's sucessor Christopher Neil, a No.3 in 1983, and a hit in the USA. Pre-rock era revivals include "Mona Lisa", the Nat 'King' Cole standard performed here a la Conway Twitty; the Fats Waller classic "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter" given a suitably rollicking treatment; and of course "Green Door" - a big hit in the UK for Frankie Vaughan, as well as Jim Lowe.

Other hits here are "It's Raining", the old Irma Thomas hit penned by Allan Toussaint (under the psuedonym of Naomi Neville) - this hit No.10 for Shaky in '81; the old Jackie Wilson number "I'll Be Satisfied" (part-penned by Berry Gordy), from '82 (also a No.10 hit); "Lipstick, Powder And Paint", the Jesse Stone tune, a No.11 in 1985 produced by Dave Edmunds; "Turning Away" (No.15) a year later; and Shaky's second hit "Marie Marie", a No.19 in 1980. Equally exciting and inventive are the Shakin' Stevens' versions of other such fine songs as Roy Head's blue-eyed R & B smash "Treat Her Right", Conway Twitty's "Lonely Blue Boy" (cut for, but not used in "King Creole" by Elvis - with the title of "Danny"), Kenny Dino's hypnotic "Your Ma Said You Cried In Your Sleep Last Night"; and "The Shape I'm In", custom-tailored by Otis Blackwell for young bodybuilder Johnny Restivo, Junior Mr. Universe in 1959. That all adds up to a wonderful rock & roll album - and! there are two others, equally strong, in this series, testament to the enduring music ofthe biggest singles artist in the UK during the 1980s, and most of all, a terrific rock & roller.

SHAKY- THE HITS Vol.3: GREEN DOOR / CRY JUST A LITTLE BIT / THE SHAPE I'M IN / TURNING AWAY / I'LL BE SATISFIED / BREAKING UP MY HEART / MARIE, MARIE / I'M GONNA SIT RIGHT DOWN AND WRITE MYSELF A LETTER / TREAT HER RIGHT / LONELY BLUE BOY / YOUR MA SAID YOU CRIED IN YOUR SLEEP LAST NIGHT / LIPSTICK, POWDER AND PAINT / IT'S RAINING / MONA LISA