Shakin' Stevens

MUSIC: Shake, Rattle and Roll by Big Joe Turner

# Get outta that bed

# Wash your face and hands

# Get outta that bed

# Wash your face and hands

# Well, you get in that kitchen

# Make some noise with the pots 'n pans

# Way you wear those dresses the sun comes shinin' through... #

I first heard this on the radio by a DJ called Paul Raven

and I couldn't believe my ears.

Erm, you know...

really strong snares, like a stick hitting a cabbage, you know?

Great, great phrasing he's got,

and, for me, erm, this is the only version.

Joe Turner's Shake, Rattle and Roll, yeah!

# The faster my money goes... #

In the 1980s, Shakin' Stevens spent the equivalent of five years in the UK singles chart,

had more hits in Britain than Michael Jackson, Duran Duran

and Madonna,

and reached the Top 30 no less than 30 times.

He entered the Guinness Book of Hit Singles and Albums,

following the Beatles for the 1960s and Elton John for the 1970s,

by becoming the biggest selling UK artist of a decade

and he's got the gold and platinum discs to prove it.

They don't make them like that no more.

# I'm like a one-eyed cat peepin' in a seafood store

# I'm like a one-eyed cat peepin' in a seafood store... #

Two, one, two. Is the mic as it was?

Is the mic...it seems to be quiet.

Shaky's back in the studio recording a new album,

30 years on from his first Number One.

# You've got one way out I'd go down that tunnel

# Ooh, ooh

# You've got one way out I'd go down that tunnel... #

In 1981, it appeared as if Shaky had come from nowhere and become an overnight success.

Hold it!

But when he hit the top spot in the UK singles chart for the first time,

he was already 33 years of age, with a story to tell.

Michael Barratt was born into the proud, close-knit suburban estate of Ely in Cardiff

at a time when teenagers were lapping up skiffle

and the great American '50s import - rock 'n' roll.

Local venues were staging regular nights

with live music as the main attraction.

'I sang at a very, very early age. I used to sing in the house.

'We'd have records from, basically from Bobby Darin, Queen of the Hop,

'you know, erm, Larry Williams and Little Richard and stuff like that.

'Jerry Lee and, erm, great stuff, you know. Fantastic.'

OK, this is where I grew up, at 36 Marcross Road, there.

I think it was a different coloured door.

No, it wasn't green.

May, a hospital cleaner, and Jack, a building site foreman,

had 13 children and Michael was the youngest.

By the time he came into the world, one brother and one sister had passed away

and several had already left home and started their own families.

Six children remained at Marcross Road.

With Michael, he always had this thing about him.

He's a cheeky little bugger, you know?

But, erm...

He seemed to know more about music than other kids.

They just knew music from their time, sort of thing.

I suppose our time would be The Beatles and stuff,

but we knew further back and we liked music further back.

-The old...

-The old music as well.

-My father used to make us sing anyway, didn't he?

-Yeah.

"Oh, you're not a Barratt if you don't sing. C'mon."

-Even if you couldn't.

-Even if you couldn't(!)

# I've found my freedom

# On Blueberry Hill... #

Just coming up now is the, where the traffic goes across,

that's Wilson Road - the top end of Wilson Road to the right.

In fact, that's where Leslie and myself used to go up

and get records, there was a record shop up there.

The first record I bought was Blueberry Hill, Fats Domino.

# ..Blueberry Hill

# It lingered until

# My dream came true... #

One of the important live music landmarks on the local scene

was the Church of the Resurrection, known locally as "The Resurrs",

where Michael would make some of his first stage appearances in a band called The Denims.

There was a great sound in here. Fantastic acoustics.

We used to have Kia-Ora soft drinks there

and soft drinks over there, and it was jam-packed in here, basically.

Very sweaty.

There was no lighting shows, it was just very limited lights on stage,

and, erm... no, they were good times.

# You make me frantic when you rock and roll

# Frantic when you do the stroll

# Frantic at the record shop

# Frantic at the high school hop

# Frantic

# Baby, you make me feel frantic. #

When I left school, the first band I was in was, they were called The Olympics.

The reason we were called The Olympics

was because the drummer had an Olympic drum kit

and we were just learning, basically.

I started to learn guitar as well and so forth.

I was mainly the singer.

And then, from there, erm...

we did a few gigs.

But then I was in a band called The Bandits, The Velvets,

erm, we used to wear red sashes with a 'V' across here,

and we did a few gigs like that.

And then The Denims came along.

When I first met him, erm, obviously, a little bit shy,

but as soon as we, you know, we got to know each other,

he was quite an extrovert, you know?

Especially when he had a few drinks

and started playing, you know?

Yeah, I found him a really nice person.

We seemed to be like two brothers together.

We seemed to...just gel together, you know?

It was the Catman's idea for Shaky to lose the guitar,

which freed him to become a real frontman and work on his trademark moves.

Now, all that was needed was a new name for the band,

and it was the memory of a childhood friend that would provide it.

Steven Vandewalker, it was him that thought of the name Shakin' Stevens And The Sunsets.

When he was having his innings, or whatever, with the bat and that,

he used to say, "Ladies and gentlemen, Shakin' Stevens And The Sunsets."

The name impressed me and that was a name that he came up with.

I thought, this shambolic band with this ludicrous equipment,

and yet that name, I like it.

I thought, it's so out there it's good.

I was impressed with Shaky.

He was a young kid,

he was good looking

and he was singing '50s rock 'n' roll

and he was singing it like '50s rock 'n' roll.

Legs, the manager - Paul Barrett,

erm, eventually, sort of, got the back beats in one by one...

..to back Shaky.

Basically, that was it. Yeah.

By 1968, Shaky was playing more and more shows around Cardiff and the Valleys,

but still having to hold down a variety of day jobs.

I had many, many, many, many day job, you know,

from working in warehouses stacking beer or whatever...

I worked on the buildings and so forth.

I was a milkman for a short time and I also was an upholsterer.

I liked that job.

It was a trade and the great thing about it, there was a radio there,

so you had the radio playing while you worked.

In this room is more stuff.

It's where I keep my records and awards and posters and so forth.

Urgh! That's quite a wild poster, isn't it?

Shakin' Stevens And The Sunsets. I don't know if you can see that.

And that's the...of course, it's The Silver Surfer.

It says on the bottom, here,

"Shakin' Stevens And The Sunsets,

"number one band, New Musical Express."

And that's April 1972.

Yeah, we were a hard working band, basically.

We turned professional in '69, we gave up our day jobs,

and we got on the road in our tin van and off we went.

In the hot summer of that year, the manager saw an opportunity

to break into the London circuit.

In the back pages of the Melody Maker, a rock 'n'roll fanatic

was looking for bands to play his pub - a well known hang out for die hard musicians

and dedicated music fans.

With Shakin' Stevens And The Sunsets,

he was not going to get the traditional song list,

but something a little bit different.

We used to do a lot of obscure material like, you know,

like Johnny Burnette's The Train Kept A-Rollin', Lonesome Train,

Flying Saucers by Billy Riley, Cast Iron Arm, Peanuts Wilson.

Little Queenie by Chuck Berry, that used to go down very well.

A show stopper at the end, yeah.

# Go, go, go, little queenie

# Go, go, go, little queenie... #

They were great days, you know, they really were.

It was a great place to play.

Good acoustics, lots of sweat on the walls and people were thirsty,

and we had a great night every time we came here.

We couldn't afford hotels then.

There was a car park there and we'd go out in our van at the end of the evening

and just try and get comfortable somehow and fall asleep.

And wake up in the morning and on to the next public convenience,

you know, quick shave, wash up and on to the next gig

and rock like hell.

How we really got out of South Wales was,

when John Lennon had played at the Toronto Peace Festival

in 1969,

there was a lot of coverage and he did traditional rock 'n'roll.

He wore a white suit

and I wrote to the Melody Maker as a half joke, really,

saying that...

If John wants to come down to one of our gigs and sing a song or participate,

but, don't forget, you must bring the suit,

we'll look forward to it, you know?

The Melody Maker played it up pretty big,

and the next thing I know, the Rolling Stone's office is in contact.

We were playing Cardiff University and somebody came down

and watched us play and it was a good night,

we were pleased with the sound and the audience loved it,

and they said, "Yeah, we'll have them."

So it was straight from Aberkenfig Non Political,

Beddau Rugby Football Club, straight up there.

We travelled up in our van,

we had little amplifiers and unloaded the van and went in

and I think Mick and the guys were making us feel at home

because they were doing a... kind of, you know...

a rocking blues type song, or whatever,

and we got in there and we set up

and they had this massive PA.

I remember Shaky singing Mean Woman Blues

and he's doing these great bumps and grinds across the stage.

He gets to the piano where we've positioned a chair

for him to step on and get on top of the piano, you know,

and do the whole number, you see?

Of course, he gets his foot there,

and there's not enough microphone lead.

The stage is too big, much bigger than we're used to.

For a few moments he was, sort of, like that.

I think Shaky was aware we had gone up a big league

from local band to, sort of...

..big potato, sort of thing, so things were good. Yeah.

I think he grew with the knowledge that he had to grow, you know?

We just played with...

with all of the... we played with Roxy Music.

Chuck Berry in Leeds, Locarno Ballroom.

-David Bowie.

-Mott The Hoople.

-Free.

-Marmalade.

-Bill Haley and the Comets.

-Sweet.

-Georgie Fame, Alan Price.

All that sort of stuff, you know?

We played with Wishbone Ash,

erm, The Pretty Things, erm...

loads and loads of people.

# ..tongues were screaming out "more and more"... #

By 1972, the band began its first forays into Europe,

at a time when they were getting a serious reputation

for some very wild stage shows.

It was a band to listen to.

You could look at the band as well and get a lot of enjoyment from it.

The sax player we had used to throw his sax up in the air and catch it.

If he dropped it, I mean, he wouldn't be playing sax for the rest of the night.

They were a power house. Everybody moving on the stage, you know?

Shaky jumping on top of the piano.

A great voice. He looked great.

The piano player used to go for it and I used to stand on the piano, jump off the piano.

The piano player used to pick up the bass player on his shoulders.

The bass player jumped off the stage with a 50 foot lead.

The sax player's climbing up the scaffolding.

The piano player seriously did somersaults.

Shaky danced on the piano, Louie standing up playing the drums.

At the end of the night, he'd normally climb on the piano

as he's singing Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On.

The next minutes, "Bloody hell, where's Shaky going?"

Up the curtains he went. Climbed the curtains to the ceiling.

The mic in one hand. # Shake it, baby, shake. #

I was climbing up this curtain and looking up. It was like a cartoon.

I'd look up and see these things going ping, ping.

I thought, "I'm going to go down here."

I went, crash, on this piano.

-I heard something go...

-MAKES SNAPPING NOISE

..and I thought, "Oops!"

# Sweet little rock and roll... #

Between 1970 and 1976,

Shakin' Stevens And The Sunsets released six albums,

all of them failing to chart.

I'm sure Shaky always expected success,

considered it his birthright.

But, to become the man he became,

he needed his apprenticeship, he needed what he learnt,

he needed all that rehearsals, all the practices, hundreds of gigs

that got him good - that taught him.

# Going to the barber's shop Gonna have them do me up

# Gotta get clean for my little buttercup... #

It appeared the big break had finally come when Track Records,

the original home to The Who and The Jimi Hendrix Experience,

signed Shaky as a solo artist in 1977.

But the luck didn't last long.

Track were to fold soon after his first solo album, Shakin' Stevens,

was released in 1978.

However, in the middle of all this, an opportunity would come knocking

that would change Shaky's life forever.

Right, let's try it again.

ROCK 'N' ROLL INTRO

Up.

In August 1977,

the death of Elvis Presley shook the world of rock 'n' roll.

Legendary television producer and impresario, Jack Good, had been working on an Elvis musical

and was looking for three singers to play the King in the different stages of his career.

# He goes by the name of King Creole... #

It was on the last run of gigs of myself with The Sunsets

and one of the gigs we were playing was The Greyhound in Fulham.

A very prestigious gig.

Jack Good came down, watched and liked,

and he offered me the part, basically.

I think Jack said,

"As far as I'm concerned, you've got it. It's yours."

As soon as I saw him, I knew I wasn't going to get anything better.

# He lays down a beat like a tonne of coal

# He goes by the name of King Creole

# You know he's gone, gone, gone... #

You didn't want somebody coming on

with some sort of sideburns and guitar

and trying to do fake American.

You wanted somebody who was going to excite like Elvis.

To have genuine excitement,

not a performance of waxworks, Madame Tussauds Elvis, you know?

# The warden threw a party in the county jail

# The prison band was there and began to wail

# The band was jumpin' and the joint began to swing

# You should've heard those knocked out jailbirds sing

# Let's rock... #

I remember one Saturday night he just leapt off the stage.

People were sitting in their rows and he'd leapt on to the back

of somebody's seat and walked about three rows out on the back of the seats.

He could have fallen on anybody.

Health and safety and all of that!

He could have killed people there and then.

There was a bit of a rebel in him, but it was terrific stuff.

It was great theatre, even though it was outside the rules.

The show played to 8,000 people a week for nearly two years,

winning the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical

and a nomination for the Society of West End Theatre Awards.

"Elvis!"

Clearly he was hungry by then to use this as a platform

to get elsewhere.

And I can remember that I would visit him in his dressing room

and he would...he would...

he would play me his latest effort at getting a hit record.

He'd say, "What about this one?"

# Baby works in a hot dog stand

# Makin' them hot dogs as fast as you can

# Up steps a cat, now don't be slow

# Get me two hot dogs ready to go

# Hot dog! She's my baby

# Hot dog! Drives me crazy

# Hot dog! Don't mean maybe

# You ought too see my baby in a hot dog stand... #

The success of the musical encouraged influential music industry executives

like Muff Winwood to come and see Shaky in action.

Muff, an original partner in Island Records

and responsible for signing Sade and The Clash to the major CBS Epic label,

signed Shaky in the late 1970s.

The thinking behind signing Shakin' Stevens

was just purely that he was an extremely good artist,

regardless of the style of music that he did.

He was just a great artist and did his music extremely well.

The song choices were often sifted through by Shaky

with his producer at the time,

who also helped him a lot, Stuart Coleman.

We did a song called Hot Dog which was a Buck Owens song in the '50s

and it had a very basic verse line but the chorus was so anthemic...

# Hot dog! She's my baby... #

Of course, Shaky just nailed it when we came to record.

Shaky...had this...

..other sense about certain songs

that were very difficult for the rest of us to see.

There are two classic examples here, I think.

This Ole House and Green Door,

which were both songs that had been done to death as far as I was concerned

and were, kind of, ordinary songs, but Shaky felt

that he could give them something that they'd never had before.

# This old house is afraid of thunder

# This old house is afraid of storms

# This old house just blows and trembles

# When the night sticks out its arms... #

Shaky's reworking of This Ole House in 1981

topped the UK charts and became a huge international hit.

We were a big, big success then.

The tours came fast and furious,

here, there and everywhere, and it was big, big, big.

It was massive, yeah.

With an extensive knowledge of music,

years of touring with The Sunsets

and a successful run in a West End theatre show behind him,

Shaky was able to draw on a mix of very different experiences

to take full advantage of his success.

He had all of this history, if you like, of rock 'n' roll to choose from

and, again, he chose correctly.

He dressed himself in a way that worked for him

and worked for the songs.

But it was nearly always his vision of how he saw it

and it was a very focused vision.

Well...

we all know what these are.

This jacket is pretty beat up now, as you can see.

I think I've lost a sleeve... and patches and things.

The first time I wore these was, erm...in front of camera

was in Cambridge, where I did the This Ole House video.

Nobody said, "What are you gonna wear?"

so I thought, "Well, I'll just pitch in there."

So I thought, "I'll shove these on", and I did.

I don't think they quite fit me now, but erm...

there you go, it's memories.

Another testament to the level that Shaky reached

was that he was the first person to notch up

50 performances on Top Of The Pops. That's phenomenal.

Hello, we're the Westenders and welcome to another Top of the Pops.

A special Top of the Pops because it's Shakin' Stevens' 50th birthday.

No, you've got it wrong. It's his 50th appearance on Top Of The Pops!

Shakin' Stevens!

-Shakin's Stevens.

-Shakin' Stevens.

-Shakin' Stevens.

-Shakin' Stevens.

-Shakin' Stevens.

Shaky!

Which means that Britain's Number One must be Shakin' Stevens for the third week.

Behind The Green Door.

# Midnight... #

He sat well at Top Of The Pops. They loved him.

Very colourful, very fresh, upbeat

and a contrast to ballads and "yesterday's music"

which was still flowing around.

Shaky, as far as I know, did between 50 and 60 Top Of The Pops.

As a presenter you'd MAYBE expect to do that.

# There's an old piano and they play it hot

# Behind the green door... #

As an artist, a most extraordinary feat, really.

Erm, but he was very acceptable.

A great entertainer, great performer,

always delivered, very professional, so they knew they could count on him

and the record was probably going in the charts as well.

The success came quite quickly. I mean, when it came.

And it came at a massive, massive level.

You know, here's a guy that was selling records, certainly singles,

all the way around the world.

This doesn't happen by chance.

Pop was going through a massive renaissance,

certainly in terms of the way it was covered.

There was loads and loads of magazines.

While Shaky didn't really fit quite into that pattern

of interviews, et cetera,

we did a lot of photo sessions.

I never thought about being on people's bedroom walls and things,

but, erm... I knew in my heart of hearts

that, erm, I dreamt...

and I wanted to make it in the music business to perform.

I never thought of this side of it at all.

The pressure was unbelievable.

How he handled it without diving into a pool

and never coming up again, I don't know,

because he probably had more pressure on him than any other act of the time.

# What do you wanna make those eyes at me for

# If they don't mean what they say? #

You then get everybody and his dog telling you how wonderful you are.

Putting their arms around the shoulders and saying, "You are great. I've loved you forever.

"And there's nothing that you do that isn't brilliant."

A lot of artists have difficulty dealing with it.

You know, drugs can often alleviate the problem to them.

And so can alcohol, alleviate the problem to them.

He took the alcohol route and, erm...

he went through two or three years

where he was a bit difficult to deal with.

But then, when you thought that here was a guy

that was spiralling out of control...

..he stopped it.

I don't know how it happened,

but...he...

golf suddenly took over.

"Easy does it. Look at that. Oops. A little bit too much.

"A bit of body English."

One day there was the President of the United States playing,

all kinds of things,

it was a massive do, on this golf course right behind my shoulder

And then, all of a sudden, I saw this incredible crowd of people.

Incredible crowd of people!

And I wandered towards it and it was Shaky.

"He's in the bunker at the ninth and he's given it a dirty hit.

"Will it get up there? Yes, it will. Good shot."

And he had around him

hundreds of fans and they were all wearing badges.

And wherever they went they were clinking and clanking.

I can always remember, he was playing with a professional golfer,

who was complaining all the time that these people were making so much noise.

And Shaky, every shot he made, you know, fantastic applause,

and that changed his life, I think.

It turned him around fantastically well.

With a string of chart hits, live shows, television appearances,

photo shoots and constant worldwide travel,

life for Shaky in the 1980s became a blur.

And, as one of the UK's most successful recording artists,

renewed interest in the records he'd made before he was famous was inevitable.

On the back of his solo success,

some of the records he'd made with The Sunsets were re-released.

They re-issued it?

It's in the Top 30 singles charts?

An album? Ours?

Ooh, great!

Get the royalties. Where's the royalties?

-SERIOUS TONE:

-Where's the royalties?

I certainly didn't authorise the release

and it was released by EMI.

I was dashing here, there and everywhere in the early '80s.

Apart from recording, doing interviews, and so forth,

I was doing gigs throughout Europe, Australia - everywhere,

so I had no time for any of that.

On my side, I think management and a lawyer were saying,

"Well, somebody's getting money, you should have your share."

And I think they set about getting my share.

I strongly believed that the rest of it was taken care of

and everybody else was getting their share.

But as time went on, many, many, many years went on,

erm...I found out that wasn't the case.

Shaky's lawyers attempted to settle over one of the albums, A Legend,

before it got to court, but The Sunsets weren't happy

with what was offered and wanted a judge to decide.

The long-time friends now found themselves on opposite sides of a complicated dispute.

"The band, who are all from Cardiff,

"claim they never received a penny in royalties on that re-release of the album.

"They're suing Shaky and the record producer Dave Edmunds for breach of contract.

"The Sunsets want a share of royalties.

"Their former manager Paul Barrett is taking out a separate legal action

"against Dave Edmunds, the producer, on behalf of The Sunsets."

It took over a decade for the case to come to court.

The judge ruled in The Sunsets' favour

and they were awarded compensation to reflect their loss of royalties.

At the end of the day, the court offered them less money than what I offered them.

In a mass of bootleg releases and royalty grievances,

the division between Shakin' Stevens And The Sunsets

has never been resolved.

After the whirlwind of the '80s,

the 1990s saw Shaky's UK career begin to slow down.

His international success continued, however,

with compilation albums hitting the top end of the charts in Norway

and Denmark in 1999,

the same year he took on a new manager, Sue Davies.

During the '90s, Shaky probably went a bit of the radar in the UK.

He has been doing tours

but until you bring out a release and have that success again,

then, you know, people do think you're not doing anything.

You're at home, probably, watching TV, I don't know,

but not doing anything in the industry.

Shaky began the new century as determined as ever

to continue his international and UK success.

A UK compilation album went platinum.

He topped the album charts in Scandinavia

and made landmark live appearances in both the UK and Europe,

including a show headlining to 100,000

on home soil in Wales to see in the new millennium.

However, his professional resilience was severely tested during this time.

It'd been over ten years since he'd last recorded a new album

and he wouldn't get the chance to do so again until 2006.

I was re-signed... Hello, guys!

By this time with Rob Stringer.

Rob Stringer, one of the most powerful figures in the music business and head of Sony BMG,

who had bought Shaky's old label, CBS epic,

was the perfect person to back Shaky's new album.

# In a second

# Everything could change... #

I was very, very pleased with the album, so was a lot of people involved with it.

It was a kind of a bridge, really, because I had an album out for quite a while, a new album.

It was the right move, you know, it was perfect. Much excitement.

We were over the moon, we thought, "Yes!"

# So if that's all it takes

# We can learn from our mistakes... #

For Shaky, the Now Listen album was an ideal opportunity

to move into a new phase and leave the image of '80s behind.

You know, the hits are the hits. I'm proud of that time, you know.

But if people look at YouTube and Top Of The Pops,

it's not like that any more. You know, it's not.

We thought, "Crikey, if we can get this record away,

"we can stop people thinking just This Ole House and those hits."

It's more about the music.

# Make your emotions

# Shelter from the cold... #

Despite the best of intentions, an unexpected twist,

would thwart Shaky's plans for the album.

What happened was that it was all systems go

and Rob was called to go to the States

with his brother for a position out there.

It was left with people to take care of the album,

but nobody took care of the album at all.

So, yes, that was a low one for me.

Like a skittle, you knock him down, he gets up.

I think it comes from his family. I think they had a very hard time.

You know, it was a very poor time for them

and there was no money around.

I think, you know, he's just learnt from that

and he's got a spine of stainless steel in that way

and he will just keep on doing what he wants to do.

# Somewhere in the night... #

Thanks to his loyal fans in the UK and Europe, Shaky bounced back,

performing to 200,000 in Poland and to a record audience

for an opening act on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury in 2008.

And, as a symbol of his enduring popularity,

he was invited to appear on the 2011 Christmas special of Strictly Come Dancing

to perform his perennial hit, Merry Christmas Everyone.

# Time for presents And exchanging kisses... #

But in 2010, we nearly lost Shaky forever.

I was actually working in the garden, I was lifting these bags,

very heavy bags.

That was a very silly thing to do anyway.

From there, I went down and did some recording

and had a very light dinner and came back and I just felt,

I didn't feel very well at all.

Then I closed my eyes and after that I don't remember anything.

I heard a very strange sound coming from his throat

and I turned around and his eyes had rolled up

and he stopped breathing.

Erm, I didn't know what to do.

So I just pushed my hand into his chest and he breathed,

but it was just getting rid of the air that was in his lungs.

I did it again and he breathed and then stopped again.

So a rang from my mobile and dialled 999.

It was really lucky that Sue spoke to the right person

because he knew exactly what should be done.

He said do it very, very hard and keep doing it 60 times, or whatever.

I was thinking my rib was broken as well and Sue said,

"I think I've broken his rib..."

"It doesn't matter, you're doing it right!"

It took three hospitals to get him right and he was very poorly

but, I think, now he's safer than any of the rest of us now.

So, that's good.

With an unwavering focus, and a dedicated commitment to rock 'n' roll,

Shaky's never been swayed by the prevailing musical trends.

He is determined to continue playing live

and recording his roots music for as long as he can.

We're having fun making the new album.

I'm very pleased with what we've got.

There's some new songs on there and there's some rooty stuff as well

and we tried a lot of the tracks out within the audiences

and they go down very, very well.

Yeah, I'm very, very pleased with it.

# Raise your window

# I got out that door

# Raise your window

# I got out that door

# Cos there's a man outside

# He might be you, I don't know

# Raise your window... #

'I feel good about what I've done.

'You know, there's certain things that maybe could have been done differently, I suppose.

'But you can't change that, you know.

'The early days was one stage, Shakin' Stevens And The Sunsets were another stage.

'The solo artist with Epic Records was another stage.

'Now, I'm on another stage.

'So, moving on from the hits and so forth,

'and going on to the next stage of my career.

'There's still a lot more, I feel a lot more to give, music wise.

'And, er, with a lot more substance

'within myself and my music.'

I enjoy it and I'll continue to do it

until I can't do any more.

# I won't be kind no more... #

Yeah!

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