Lynsey de Paul - 'Surprise'

Sometimes it's the little things in life that make me happy, like seeing a puppy frisking and discovering he has a tail to chase, a beautiful blue sky or sometimes a new record. Or in this case, an old record rediscovered.

Do you remember the summer of 1972? Of course you don't, you're too young (or lying). Well, I do. Early that summer we had T.Rex with 'Metal Guru' in the charts, David Bowie's 'Starman' and SLADE's 'Take Me Bak 'Ome'. Then in deeper summer we had Alice Cooper's 'School's Out'. What a great summer that was, a great time to be young and discovering music. There's one other memory and that's Lynsey de Paul's 'Sugar Me', her first (and biggest) hit single. I remember being on holiday with my family at Scarborough or Bridlington or somewhere like that and 'Sugar Me' being played endlessly on the radio along with Alice's 'School's Out'.

I bought 'Sugar Me' and the follow-up single, 'Getting A Drag', and then I bought Lynsey's first album, 'Surprise', when it was released in 1973. As far as I know 'Surprise' has never been released on CD or digitally for some reason, maybe because it was on the long-vanished MAM record label and no-one can be bothered to sort out the rights? It's not even available through Lynsey's webstore (that I just discovered yesterday).

For some reason I went a-hunting yesterday for Lynsey songs. I have six of the ten songs from 'Surprise' on Lynsey's 'Greatest Hits' but I want the whole album. In the most obvious place you can imagine - iTunes - I found the four missing songs on a collection issued in 2009 called 'Sugar Me'. One of the reviews claimed loudly that they were re-recorded versions but other reviews said they weren't so I took a listen to the samples. And downloaded the four songs. And rejoiced because they're just as I remember them in the far recesses of my memory. I now have all the songs from 'Surprise', in the right sequence, and can listen again to a record I haven't heard in (probably) three decades. All things come to those that wait.

If all you know about Lynsey is 'Sugar Me' or 'Rock Bottom' (her Eurovision song) then you'll probably be surprised (ahem) with the songs on this album. Not quite singer-songwriter songs since Lynsey always had a good ear for a great commercial hook, but not far off. Opening with 'Mama Do', all swampy with an everglades sound and then the introspective 'Ivory Tower' instantly says there's more to Lynsey than the hit singles. Listening to the songs again made me wonder whether I saved 'Surprise' when I cleared my stuff from my Dad's house and guess what? I did! For some reason, Lynsey's was one of the records I've kept despite not having a record player. I've just hunted it out and remembered it had a gatefold cover and look what's inside:


I'm not sure why I kept Lynsey's record but I'm delighted that I finally have all the songs from 'Surprise'. I probably won't listen to them very often but every now and then it'll be nice to go down memory lane and visit the past again. Well, I did say I'm pleased by the little things in life.