Jackie Trent: The Beat Singles Vol. 1 (1996) ... plus

A British singer/songwriter of the '60s whose voice was far better suited for reaching the back row of Broadway auditoriums than soul or rock, Jackie Trent nonetheless operated on the fringe of the UK pop scene in the manner of other femme belters like Dusty Springfield, Petula Clark, Sandie Shaw, Lulu and Cilla Black. Trent's first stage appearance was as a ten-year-old ingenue in the pantomime Babes in the Wood, but her primary interest was a career in pop music. Her first single, ‘Pick Up the Pieces,’ was released in 1962, but it was not until two record labels and three years later that she scored her first hit, ‘Where Are You Now’ written by Tony Hatch. The single had the honor of bumping the Beatles' ‘Ticket to Ride’ from the top position in mid-1965. But that would be her only Top 20 entry. If she can often sound like Petula Clark crossed with Shirley Bassey, there's a good reason for that; she shared Clark's producer, Tony Hatch, who would become her songwriting partner and husband. Trent and Hatch, in fact, penned several of Clark's hits - as well as for other artists, like Frank Sinatra, Nancy Wilson, Des O'Connor, Shirley Bassey, Vikki Carr, and Dean Martin. However, they weren't nearly as successful when applying their songwriting/production talents to Jackie's discs. Trent recorded quite prolifically for Pye in the 1960s (including some duets with husband Tony), but it's as a songwriter that she'll be primarily remembered. This compilation - which was meant to be the first of two volumes, although the second was never released - is a celebration of the early years in Jackie's recording career. It contains every A-side and B-side from 1963 to 1967 recorded for the Picadilly and Pye labels, a dynamic and stylistically varied selection of recordings which include 'Where Are You Now', 'There Goes My Love, There Goes My Life', 'You Baby', 'If You Ever Leave Me', 'Send Her Away', and five duets with Tony Hatch from 1968 to 1969. As a bonus I included 4 extra tracks at the end of the set: 'For Peace and Love', 'Time Is', 'We Need You' and 'Corner of the Sky'. A total of 33 tracks in all. http://www.allmusic.com/, http://en.wikipedia.org/

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