Natasha England - Back from the Mists of Time

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 23 / 8 / 2008

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Review

From the press release it seems I am not alone in recalling seeing Natasha England on Top Of The Pops in 1982. Every young (or not so young maybe) man’s dream ? Quite possibly. The song Natasha was promoting at that time was her version of ‘Iko Iko’. Now I was just old enough to remember the Dixie Cups version from the 60's and, although theirs will always be the definitive version for me, they certainly didn’t have the visual look that Natasha did ! If a fading memory serves me well then the Belle Stars also had a version of the same song out at the same time but that didn’t go as far up the charts as Natasha’s admittedly better take. Like many others I was smitten enough by the cover of the album Natasha released that year, her debut, ‘Captured’ to splash out and buy it helping to take it to about the halfway mark in the album top 100 chart. Considering the amount of dross around at that time which had a higher chart placing re-listening to ‘Captured’ now as part of this double CD compilation it really did deserve to rise much higher then. This collection takes in that entire debut on disc one and adds remixes, extended versions and the various A and B sides Natasha released between 1981 and 1983. Disc two opens with her second album from 1985, ‘Don’t Walk Away’ with some unreleased songs and early singles issued under the banner of Natasha and the Delites and an even earlier single from 1979 issued as the Flirts. In short a complete anthology of the work of Natasha from 1979 until 1985 all neatly wrapped up in another appealing package. Time, it would appear, has done nothing to diminish the visual appeal of Natasha! With a CD of new recordings imminent we will then hopefully be able to say that Natasha still cuts it vocally as well. Listening to the debut album, which is presented in the original running order, it has, with a few exceptions, stood the test of time remarkably well. Okay, so the production of ‘Tease’, for example, just screams 80's but in some ways that has only added to its appeal through the years. The covers of the Kinks' ‘All Day And All Of The Night’ and Sam Cooke’s ‘Bring It On Home’ still sound as good today as they did 26 years ago, the latter really showcases what a powerful voice Natasha had and how she could take in pop, soul and funk all with relative ease. Her arrangements were always interesting when it came to covers too. With producers like Tom Newman Dave Bascombe and Richard Hartley and musicians of the calibre of Graham Broad on drums (who seemed to be a regular fixture in the drum seat for a number of chart bands back in the 80's), Phil Rambow and Snowy White on guitars and Mel Collins on saxophone just to name a few it maybe wasn’t so surprising that she sounded so good. Add in backing vocals from the likes of Bette Bright and Rita Ray and you have an A-list of 80's artists helping out on these songs. For her second album Natasha ditched the covers and the whole album was made up of original compositions by Natasha and Geoff Sharkey. The 10 songs which comprised ‘Don’t Walk Away’ open the second disc. It shows that Natasha’s song writing had improved in the 3 years between her albums and her vocals were more assured too. ‘Hold On’ is a prime example of this; mature both in her writing and vocals it’s a considerable leap from some of the songs on ‘Captured’. ‘Stay With Me’ which was also released as a single at the time again proves that Natasha had a powerful set of lungs and could belt out a ballad like few others. Both ‘The Band Played On’ and ‘Living In My Dream’ which closed the original album were favourites then and rediscovering them now brings back some warm memories and they both sound as good now as they did then. The 1980 single, ‘Breaking Down The Walls Of Heartache’, isn’t a patch on Johnny Johnson and The Bandwagon’s original from 1968 but Natasha makes an excellent job with the Shangri-Las ‘Give Him A Great Big Kiss’ which she recorded as the Flirts in 1979 and which is also included on the second disc. This is an excellent double CD and the only way to get all of Natasha’s recordings to date in one place. It’s worth the price of admission for the two albums alone but all the extra singles and remixes, some of which are really hard to find now, make this an essential purchase.

Track Listing:-

1 Iko Iko
2 Don't Touch Me
3 I Can't Hold On
4 Sally Go Round the Roses
5 Strangest Feeling
6 Bring It On Home
7 The Boom Boom Room
8 All Day and All of the Night
9 Magnificent Obsession
10 I Casually Strolled By
11 Tease
12 I Still Love You
13 Maybe
14 I Should Have Known
15 The Beat Goes
16 Captured
17 Pata Pata
18 I Can't Hold On (12" Extended Version)
19 Tonight
20 I Want You to Be My Baby
21 I Don't Want to Know
22 The Boom Boom Room (2007 Remix)
23 Don't Walk Away
24 Hold On
25 Julie's Hero
26 Running
27 Stay With Me
28 Homeland
29 Tell Me What You Want
30 Young Girl
31 Living In My Dream
32 The Band Played On
33 Two of a Kind
34 No Mistaking Love
35 Homeland (12" Extended Version)
36 Don't Walk Away (2007 Extended Remix)
37 Breakin' Down the Walls of Heartache
38 Please Come Home
39 He's the Kind of Boy You Can't Forget
40 11,12,13
41 Give Him a Great Big Kiss
42 TV King

Band Links:-

http://www.thenatashaengland.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/Natasha-Engla

Label Links:-

http://www.platformrecords.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/PlatformRecor
https://twitter.com/platformsongs
http://www.last.fm/label/Platform+Reco