Where is the love for SHAKIN' STREET for that matter?

"Suzie Wong" -- great, always wanted a heavy metal pop song to go with a Bill Holden movie. "No Compromise," equally great, was also done on "Vampire Rock," no? Elewy got sacked or left in France for Ross the Boss, not that great an improvement. "I Want to Box You" is something only someone really not so hot in English could make. Reminds me of Telephone whose first album was produced and mixed to sound like AC/DC.

I've yet to find either of their LPs. (They had two, right?)
Always been curious, tho.

Yeah, one domestic which was produced by Pearlman who also managed them. And an import from a CBS in France. There's some duplication on the the two and the Pearlman production dressed them up a bit more. I have a CD-R burned of the second laying about somewhere. If I find it, do you want a copy?

I thought the thread title said Shakin' Stevens...

The self-titled one (never heard "Vampire Rock") is the first record I listened to after 9/11, for what its worth. I always liked the cover. George gets it pretty much right: this record is pretty much "Suzy Wong" and "No Compromise" and that's it. Most people who I've talked to who have opinions about this prefer the former to the latter, whereas I've always liked "No Compromise" best for some reason.

There ya go.

huh, somehow missed this thread the other day too. miss a little, miss a lot.

anyway, big fan. Have both albums.

"No Time to Lose" is my fave song of theirs.

I feel like revolution!

What Handsome Dan's hit on is that Shakin' Street's second album was a letdown from the first. "Suzie Wong" was there best ST song for two reasons: (1) The melody, singing and lyrics were superb, and; (2) Ross the Boss provided the best possible solo break for the emotional tenor of the number. This was Ross's strength. He was an exceedingly lyrical lead guitar player, not a shredder, and he had great tone. He was born to put the solo in "Suzie Wong." Only Buck Dharma was better at this sort of thing, generally speaking. This is not to belittle Ross. No way Don Roeser could have improved on the guitar parts on the SF-planted Shakin' Street.

Now that we have that stuff out of the way, "Vampire Rock" was a very good record and needed no improvement. The band was -great- without moving to San Francisco, production by Pearlman, and substitution on guitar with Ross. If you have "Vampire Rock," "No Compromise" was on it and an excellent interpretation of the Stones' "Yesterday's Papers."

If you were there, and I was, much was expected upon spying the domestic edition of Shakin' Street. The cover was great. Fabienne Shine in action in leather on a small stage. And when we took the album home and broke the shrinkwrap it was good, but not quite the explosion in progress one wanted upon hearing "Vampire Rock."

That said, it was a good album. I took it next door to my friend who was very middle of the road but open to anything -I- would spend money on (man, the guy would have never bought albums by the Dictators or Moxy but he made me make tapes of both for him which he played in the car incessantly on weekend boozer club runs). Short story long -- Shakin' Street creased his brain, Fabienne Shine gave him an erection, and "Suzie Wong" was the song that rang his bell.

Since he was the driver for the drunk bus on weekends everyone in the local hard rock brigade heard "Suzie Wong." Everyone thought it was awesome in the same manner that "Young, Fast & Scientific" blew them over from "Manifest Destiny." "Fuck! Where did you find this?" was the general reaction. (Pearlman's assessment of the phenom was acute: No one bought "Manifest Destiny." A few did, like me, and everyone else demanded tapes.)

Shakin' Street with "Suzie Wong" as the single would have been a band to push with major money. If it worked in Pine Grove, Pennsylvania, it would have worked anywhere.

Over on the Chrome thread today we find that Fabienne Shine wound up connected to Damon Edge. They moved from SF to Berlin, Fabienne left him, and he died of a broken heart, apparently.