Each time I hear a recording of Helen Shapiro I am taken back to when I heard it 50 or so years ago. It is like a time warp. I remember distinct details of where I was, who I was with, and what I was doing at the time as if I was there at that moment. This recording is a brilliant nostalgia trip for me.
Helen's phenomenal rise was also her downfall as her audience grew up. Everything about her was iconic, her beehive hairdo, crinoline dresses with cinched waists. Although very age appropriate, like leg warmers and blossom hats, within a year she was "so last year". In my opinion she was also a victim of very bad management and arrangements. Unable to make her own career decisions due to her youth, she was exploited and milked for all they could get by people who did not seem to understand her phenomenal and unique talent and could not see further than the current pop scene. Rather than being carefully nurtured for a lifetime as a sultry torch, blues and ballad singer, she was recording virtually identical bouncy pop rock with a strong beat and yea, yea, yea, backing group. Fortunately her crystal clear diction overrode the backing because you could hear and still remember every word.
Many of her cover versions were better than the hits with which other long gone singers enjoyed success. Just listen to "Will You Still Love me Tomorrow?" and "The End of the World." I would have preferred her version of "Beyond the Sea (La Mer)" if it had been sung more slowly, evoking waves breaking on the shore as the singer wistfully remembers a love beyond the sea, rather than paced with a rat-a-tat beat like a marching band. Even more so if it had been sung in French. Just because Bobby Darin sang it to a strong beat doesn't mean everyone has to. Listen to Charles Trenet's original recording for comparison. One of the loveliest songs ever and one that brings tears to the eyes; although; I doubt that Bobby Darin's version made anyone weep other than with despair.
Helen would have been wonderful with the types of songs popularized by Patsy Cline, Tom Jones and Englebert Humperdink: the slow heartbreaking torch numbers, but this was not to be. She never caught on in the US because she was given the same pop drivel to belt out as hundreds of other singers were doing, rather than focusing on her unique sound. Her brief fall from top of the charts may have been an advantage in the end as she diversified into theatre and had a 50 year career. We should be thankful that we now have this recording to cherish.