Search - Jackie Deshannon :: What the World Needs Now

Best compilation of her sixties music

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 03/17/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This compilation may be difficult to find but it remains the strongest compilation of her sixties music although it does not include anything that Jackie recorded after the sixties. It actually begins with a 1958 tribute to Buddy Holly. There have been many tributes to him but this is the only one I know of that was recorded while he was still alive.Jackie was more successful as a songwriter than as a singer although one of her two most famous recordings, What the world needs now, comes from the Bacharach-David songbook. Jackie's other famous recordings, Put a little love in your heart, is one of her own songs.This compilation includes Jackie's versions of some songs that became famous after other singers and groups had hits with them. Many people think that Jackie wrote Needles and pins - she didn't, but it was her version that the Searchers covered. It became a major international hit for them and this encouraged them to record some of Jackie's own songs, most notably When you walk in the room. Marianne Faithfull had her biggest UK hit with Jackie's song, Come and stay with me. Irma Thomas recorded Breakaway. In the eighties, singer-comedienne Tracey Ullman covered the song and had a huge UK hit with it.Aside from the famous songs, this collection contains many excellent songs that demonstrate Jackie's brilliance and versatility - some up-tempo rockers, some romantic ballads and some songs that veer towards folk. I particularly like Brighton Hill, a single that didn't chart. I lived for many years in a suburb of that name and it's definitely not that place that Jackie sings about. The contrast between Jackie's Brighton Hill and the one I know is the kind of contrast that appeals to me.Jackie recorded plenty of other people's songs as well as her own. Apart from Needles and pins and What the world needs now, these include more Bacharach-David songs (A lifetime of loneliness, Come and get me, Windows and doors) as well as Reason to believe (Tim Hardin's oft-covered classic), The weight (The Band) and 500 miles from Yesterday (Warren Zevon). Yes, Jackie discovered Warren's talents when Linda Ronstadt was just beginning her career.Jackie has been poorly served by CD releases but It seems that she does not have enough fans to make it worth the effort of record companies to do any more than release the occasional compilation. If your interest in sixties pop music extends beyond the hits, you will enjoy this and the insightful liner notes that come with it."

Famous songwriter, underappreciated performer

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 03/13/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"American songwriter Jackie DeShannon had two monumental top-10 hits as a performer, her own "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" and an indelible cover of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "What the World Needs Now." But even with major chart success, she's been more commercially successful writing songs others brought to fame, including The Searchers' "When You Walk in the Room," Marianne Faithfull's "Come and Stay With Me," and Tracey Ullman's "Breakaway." Many of he compositions are perennial cover bait, returning to the charts in new versions by artists ranging from Dolly Parton to Al Green to Tom Petty to Pam Tillis.



As her own albums and hits collections show, however, her immense talent as a songwriter was matched by her work as a singer. Her original versions of "When You Walk in the Room" and "Breakaway" aren't merely songwriter demos - they're templates of the angst and joy that would mark every subsequent version. Her early version of "Needles and Pins," written by Sonny Bono and Jack Nitzsche, has all the hooks that made the Searchers' subsequent cover a hit, and her original take of "Till You Say You'll Be Mine" showed a young Olivia Newton John just how the song should sound (the Searchers' string-lined cover pales in comparison to both the ladies' versions).



This 28-track collection spans 1958 to 1980, but focuses most heavily on DeShannon's output for Liberty between 1959 and 1970. Both of her hit singles are here, along with singles the flopped and originals of songs that became hits for others. DeShannon proves herself to be much more than a songwriter trying to cut their own tunes, she's a talented vocalist equally comfortable with chirpy rockabilly, pop, soul, girl group harmony, and especially chiming folk-rock. DeShannon's later ballads (those recorded after the success of "What the World Needs Now is Love") often suffered from mundane orchestrations, but this collection keeps such tracks to a minimum.



This 1994 set was nominally replaced in the EMI catalog by the cover-laden and less satisfying Ultimate Jackie DeShannon. Better is Raven's Come and Get Me and its recent companion, High Coinage. Of the four, this Definitive collection still provides the most balanced portrait of DeShannon's key years and the best starting point into DeShannon's catalog. All four collections feature tracks not on the other three, so you might pick up more than one, or use any of the four as a map to the recent original album reissues. Finally, the Ace volume Break-A-Way: The Songs of Jackie DeShannon provides a good helping of others' covers of her writing. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]"