Don_Krider's Full Review: Greatest Hits by Shaun Cassidy
Have you watched ABC-TV's Top 10 hit "Invasion" recently and seen a familiar name in Shaun Cassidy Productions? Shaun Cassidy is the show's creator, one of the writers and the executive producer of the series.
Well, folks, teen idol Shaun Cassidy continues to produce hits on television, and his "Greatest Hits" collection remembers what a great music performer he can be.
Teen idol
Shaun Cassidy turned 47 years of age on September 27, 2005 (he was born way back in 1958 folks in Hollywood, California, at least according to most sources; I did find a couple of sources that listed his birth year as 1959), but there was a time when he was an 18-year-old teen idol in early 1977 scoring the first of three million-selling Top 10 Billboard chart hits that year.
In 1977-78, Cassidy scored six Gold Record Awards (three singles and three albums) and three Platinum Record Awards (three albums). He also received a "Best New Artist" Grammy nomination. Amazing achievements for such a young artist.
Vastly under-rated by rock fans and critics, but loved by millions of teen-aged girls (mostly, though a guy buddy of mine in college worshipped him, too), Cassidy scored hits with producers such as Michael Lloyd and Todd Rundgren while recording songs by Eric Carmen, Pete Townshend, Brian Wilson and Ian Hunter during his brief pop stardom.
Starring in TV's "The Hardy Boys" didn't hurt since he got to perform his songs in segments of the show in those pre-MTV music video years. It also didn't hurt to be David Cassidy's ("The Partridge Family") younger half-brother or to have actress Shirley Jones and actor Jack Cassidy as his parents.
Tagged a "teenybopper" by music snobs, Cassidy told Newsweek in 1977, "I'm not teeny-bop, I'm power pop."
In 1976, he had his initial chart impact in Europe and Australia with Top 20 single hits with "Morning Girl" and a cover of Eric Carmen's "That's Rock 'N' Roll". That success led to a U. S. record deal.
Hit singles in the U. S.
In 1977-78 Cassidy scored five Hot 100 singles in the U. S.: "Da Doo Ron Ron" (a remake of The Crystals' # 3 hit from 1963, Cassidy's version went to # 1 in 1977, sold a million copies and earned a Gold Record Award), "That's Rock 'N' Roll" (written by Eric Carmen of The Raspberries, Cassidy's cover went to # 3 and earned a Gold Record Award in 1977), "Hey Deanie" (also written by Carmen, the tune reached # 7 on the charts and earned Cassidy his third straight gold single), "Do You Believe In Magic" (Cassidy's remake of The Lovin' Spoonful's # 9 hit from 1965, Cassidy's decent version of the John Sebastian-written song peaked at # 31 in 1978) and "Our Night" (which inched to # 80 in 1978).
Hit albums
On the album charts, Cassidy scored three Top 40 albums in Billboard's Top 200, all of which sold more than a million copies each to earn Platinum Record Awards.
His debut album in 1977, simply called "Shaun Cassidy", reached # 3 and spent 57 weeks on the charts.
His second LP, "Born Late", reached # 6 in 1977, spending 37 weeks on the charts. In 1978, his third studio album, "Under Wraps", reached # 33 with 13 weeks on the Billboard charts.
The success fades
Then Cassidy's bright star went dim for some reason. The 1979 long players, "That's Rock 'N' Roll --- Shaun Cassidy Live" and "Room Service" both failed to chart.
Even the one album the critics raved about, the Todd Rundgren-produced "Wasp" in 1980 (featuring members of Rundgren's band Utopia as backup musicians, with Cassidy covering songs by Townshend, David Byrne and David Bowie, and Cassidy even co-writing "Cool Fire" with Rundgren), failed to chart. Like many a 1970's rocker caught in the New Wave headlights of the 1980s, Cassidy found himself off the charts and without a recording contract.
What this CD, "Greatest Hits", shows very well is that Cassidy deserved a better musical fate than he has received because there's some great performances to be enjoyed here.
The CD
Shaun Cassidy's "Greatest Hits" features 12 songs (the back cover of the CD indicates 12, and there are 12 tunes on the CD, though the CD booklet only lists 11 songs for some reason). Included are all four of Cassidy's Top 40 hits (his "Our Night" missed the Top 40 in the U. S. and isn't included; the European/Australian hit "Morning Girl" is also missing).
The CD booklet is four pages long: the front page is a a picture of Cassidy and a 12-song listing; the interior two pages are a listing of the first 11 songs (with songwriter and producer info, but no band personnel lists); and the fourth page is a nice biography written by Don Ovens and Judy Hopkins that is typed in extremely small print.
The 12 tracks
"Da Doo Ron Ron", "That's Rock 'N' Roll", "Teen Dream" (written by Cassidy), "Do You Believe In Magic", "Hey Deanie", "It's Like Heaven" (written by Brian Wilson, Ruston Pamphlin and Diane Rovell), "Hard Love" (written by Cassidy), "She's Right" (written by Cassidy), "Break For The Street" (written by Cassidy), "So Sad About Us", "Cool Fire" and "Once Bitten Twice Shy"
The best tunes
"Da Doo Ron Ron":
"Da Doo Ron Ron" (written by Jeff Berry, Ellie Greenwich and Phil Spector) rose to # 1 for Cassidy in the summer of 1977 during a 22-week Billboard magazine chart run that began in May of that year. Eventually Cassidy sold a million copies of the single, earning the first of three straight Gold Record Awards for his singles.
Originally a # 3 hit for The Crystals in 1963, Cassidy's version rocks harder than the original version, with more emphasis on a throbbing bass line and some prime lead guitar work in this performance. Cassidy's voice is a dead ringer for his idol Eric Carmen of The Raspberries (in a Rolling Stone magazine interview in 1977 Cassidy raved about Carmen, saying, among other things, "He hears drums just the way I do!").
Come on, you know the tune:
"I met her on a Monday and my heart stood still / da doo ron ron da doo ron ron / somebody told me that her name was Jill / da doo ron ron da doo ron ron / yes my heart stood still / yes her name was Jill / and when I walked her home / da doo ron ron..."
"That's Rock 'N' Roll":
Eric Carmen wrote "That's Rock 'N' Roll" and it appeared in 1975 on his self-titled solo album after leaving The Raspberries ("Go All The Way"). It's an ode to the happiness of being a rock star. Though never a U. S. single for Carmen, the tune was a failed 1976 single for Carmen in England (where The New Musical Express newspaper said Carmen/s version "may cause a Slade revival" in a review).
Cassidy is pretty faithful to the tune as written by Carmen at first, but then producer Michael Lloyd (of Mike Curb Productions) adds sax and keyboard work that fairly bubblegum the tune, but that's okay.
It is Cassidy's lead vocal that makes this version of the tune work, the primary reason Cassidy scored a # 3 hit with the song and it remained on the Hot 100 in Billboard magazine for 23 weeks.
Singing Carmen's outstanding lyrics, Cassidy (who started the 1970s as a member of The Longfellows (a glitter rock band, whose name I love, even if one source says the group was simply called "Longfellow") is that singer with stars in his eyes singing on some postage stamp-sized stage in a smoky bar and dreaming of a hit record.
Opening with the lead vocal over drums, the lead guitar sneaks in, followed by a throbbing bass, sax, keyboards and more percussion as Cassidy sings:
"Well I was sixteen / and sick of school / I didn't know what I wanted to do / I bought a guitar / I got the fever / that's rock 'n' roll / I played at parties / I played in bars / I spent my money buying new guitars / I screamed my heart out / but how I loved it / that's rock 'n' roll / well, come on everybody / get down and get with it / come on everybody / get down and get with it / come on everybody / get down, that's rock 'n' roll..."
"Hey Deanie":
Cassidy's version of Eric Carmen's "Hey Deanie" (which was never a hit single for Carmen) is better than the original --- where Carmen sang acapella on the song's opening and then went ape screaming the song's ending for some bizarre reason on his version, Cassidy performs the tune as a Raspberries-style rocker with a clean, polished, rocking production.
Carmen, for you trivia buffs out there, wrote the tune as a tribute to Deanie, the character portrayed by the late Natalie Wood in the film "Splendor In The Grass."
Opening with an irresistible guitar intro over some honky tonk-styled keyboard work, followed by throbbing bass and some prime drum work, Cassidy is the perfect lead singer here, at once believeable and always charismatic.
Cassidy sings Carmen's marvelous lyrics with a particular zeal and makes them his own as he sings:
"Hey Deanie / won't you come out tonight / the stars are dancin' / like diamonds in the moonlight / and we could never find a better time to be in love / ... / I stand accused / I'm in league with the forces of darkness / an incurable believer / in the magic of a midnight sky / and the love that I found today / oh, I can't let it slip away / oh darlin', can't you read between the lines / ... / Deanie, love is all there is / I don't wanna lose it / don't wanna let the evenin' go / if it's here within our reach / I think we should use it / now while we're young enough / to still let it show / hey Deanie / won't you come out tonight..."
"Teen Dream":
In a review of the Cassidy-penned "Teen Dream" in Rolling Stone magazine, music writer Ken Tucker described "Teen Dream" as "brave and touching: an admission of perplexity and doubt from someone who's negotiated a burgeoning career on his cocky American boyishness."
Cassidy is all that and more here. "Teen Dream" is his Raspberries' tribute song (complete with a reference to The Raspberries' Top 20 hit from 1974, "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)", in his lyrics).
Cassidy proves that he could be a fine rock songwriter on "Teen Dream" --- it's a shame he wasn't allowed by his early record producers to show more of his songwriting ability (his first four Top 40 singles were all written by others, which didn't help his overall image).
"Teen Dream" should have been a hit single, but it wasn't. Still, it remains a standout album track, with strong rock instrumentation propelling its gorgeous power pop melody, with sweet harmonies singing some strong lyrics that are years beyond Cassidy's age (was he really 19 when he wrote this tune about "a generation younger than rock 'n' roll"?).
"So Sad About Us":
It takes guts to try to perform The Who's classic power pop anthem, "So Sad About Us", and Cassidy, produced by Todd Rundgren and backed by members of Todd's Utopia band, succeeds well here (although sounding more like Utopia than The Who on the Pete Townshend-written composition that first appeared on "The Who Sell Out").
When Cassidy sings of the end of a love affair in "So Sad About Us" his voice is angst-filled emotion:
"...so sad about us / so sad about us / sad, that the news is out now / sad, suppose we can't turn back now / sad about us / so bad about us / so bad about us / bad, never meant to break up / bad, suppose we'll never make up / bad about us / aplogies mean nothing / when the damage is done / but I can't switch off my loving / like you can't switch off the sun..."
"Once Bitten Twice Shy":
Ian Hunter wrote "Once Bitten Twice Shy" for his first self-titled solo album in 1975 after leaving Mott The Hoople ("All The Young Dudes") and years before his solo fame with "Cleveland Rocks" (which became the theme song of "The Drew Carey Show"). In 1980, a decade before the rock band Great White scored a Top 10 single with the tune, Shaun Cassidy cut his version of "Once Bitten Twice Shy".
Again produced by Todd Rundgren with backing from the Utopia rock group, Cassidy comes across sounding like Rundgren but remains true to the aggressive tone of Hunter's original version.
This is a more mature Cassidy, pushing 22 years of age and wanting to escape the teen dream image prison of his early albums. The vocal is more harsh, more traditional rock 'n' roll here as he sings this hard rocker:
"Well the times gettin' hard for you little girl / I'm hummin' and strummin' all over God's world / you don't remember when you got your last meal / and you forgot just how a woman feels / you didn't know what rock 'n' roll was / until you met a drummer on a Greyhound bus / I got there in the nick of time / before he got his hands across your state line / ... / once bitten twice shy, babe..."
"Cool Fire":
Produced by Todd Rundgren, again with musical backing from Utopia, Shaun Cassidy again shows his songwriting ability by co-writing with Rundgren and Utopia band members John Wilcox and Roger Powell on "Cool Fire".
The song comes across as a typical Utopia rocker with David Bowie overtones. Cassidy does an uncanny Todd Rundgren impersonation on the lead vocal (so good, in fact, that one wonders if Shaun hasn't become Todd's clone here).
Swirling synthesizers that bring to mind Rod Argent's work with The Zombies ("Time Of The Season") drive the tune, with some solid percussion work and lovely vocal harmonies. Cassidy sings a warning about a would be lover in lyrics that seem to be a throwback to 1960's psychedelia:
"I remember, but I don't remember / I was captured, I was hypnotized / look away from the cool fire / look away, you could burn your eyes / take it easy, because it's much too easy / to surrender, to be drawn inside / look away from the cool fire..."
Recommendation
The 12 songs on the album were personally chosen by Shaun Cassidy for this "Greatest Hits" collection. The tunes are good to great and bring back some of the fun of 1970's AM Top 40 radio, especially on the hits --- can you really go wrong with a collection of tunes that include Eric Carmen, Todd Rundgren, Brian Wilson, John Sebastian, Pete Townshend and Ian Hunter among the songwriters?
Well, yes you could, but not here --- Cassidy was/is a fine singer with a good rock vocal range and the musicians surrounding those vocal performances are all top notch resulting in some fine rock tunes (Cassidy's own "Teen Dream" is worth the price of admission, and the million-selling hits are just icing on this tasty cake).
Cassidy today
After "The Hardy Boys" television run of 1977-79, Cassidy starred with Linda Purl in an acclaimed TV movie, "Like Normal People", a true story about a mentally retarded couple who wanted to live "like normal people" on their own and not in an institution. Cassidy earned good reviews for his performance.
Cassidy then starred in the short-lived "Breaking Away" TV series in 1980-81. In the years since, he has done additional television and film appearances, including "Matlock", "Murder She Wrote" and "Roots". He also has done considerable work in stage productions (even some with step-brother David).
Shaun's more recent success has been as a television producer, writer and/or creator of such shows as "American Gothic", "Roar" and, of course, "Invasion".
On the web
Video of Shaun Cassidy performing Eric Carmen's "That's Rock 'n' Roll": http://youtube.com/watch?v=tbog0CxPWsE
No official Shaun Cassidy sites, but the official David Cassidy site has links to unofficial (and some official) websites of his mother and brothers: http://www.davidcassidy.com/daviddirectory/davidbody.html
Live On Sunset Strip (Deluxe Edition of 2 CDs and a DVD recorded during the 2005 reunion tour) By Raspberries, a 2007 Rykodisc release with liner notes byBruce Springsteen and a photo of John Lennon in a Raspberries sweatshirt in the CD booklet, produced by Mark Linett and Eric Carmen: http://www.epinions.com/content_393207123588
One of Shaun's competitors for the crown of teen idol was Rick Springfield. Released in 2005, "Written In Rock: Rick Springfield Anthology", is a 2-CD, 153-minute collection of Rick Springfield's hits beginning with the band Zoot in 1970 and through his most recent solo recordings, is well-worth checking out: http://www.epinions.com/content_213153648260
Capitol/EMI's 24-bit digitally remastered CD "Greatest" by Raspberries (the original lineup --- Eric Carmen, Wally Bryson, Dave Smalley and Jim Bonfanti --- who sang the million-seller "Go All The Way" reunited in 2004-2005) was released in May of 2005 in the U. S. and Europe. It features all 7 of Raspberries Hot 100 singles, has 20 tracks and runs 78:53 minutes: http://www.epinions.com/content_186044681860
Ian Hunter, composer of Shaun's "Once Bitten Twice Shy" track, still makes great albums and the proof is on his recent "Rant" CD: http://www.epinions.com/content_36254092932
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