Nearly five decades ago in Vienna, May 1967 to be exact, Sandie Shaw scored The UK’s first victory at the Eurovision Song Contest with a barefoot performance of her platinum-selling number one single, “Puppet On A String“.
She then went on to become one of the UK’s best-selling act of the sixties and the seventies, and dropped recordings in Spanish, Italian, French and German. Fast forward 35 years later, and she is breaking out of retirement for the biggest comeback of her career. Even the Daily Telegraph are celebrating!
Her first single “Riot Pictures” is written by Neil Davidge and Robert del Naja — the same team that wrote and produced some of Massive Attack’s biggest hits. The single pays homage to their sound, ushering Shaw in a new direction. At 67, she has aged gracefully. The accompanying video shows scenes of UK riots (almost makes you want to play Dilara’s “Start a Fire”.) The visual grit works well.
It is a welcome addition to Shaw’s catalogue—an impressive one spanning five decades.
Rating: 3/5
From a puppet on a string … to a Barbie in a whore house? Nothing today can be surprisingly shocking anymore … we’ve heard and seen it all … but good luck with that riot anyway!