posted by davidt on Friday January 19 2001, @11:30AM
TrblLuvsMe sends:

The Independent (London), January 19, 2001
POP: IT'S IN THE MIX: THE INDEPENDENT'S GUIDE TO POP'S UNLIKELIEST COLLABORATIONS; THE SMITHS AND SANDIE SHAW HAND IN GLOVE
Robert Webb

THE SMITHS' celebrated collaboration with the shoe-shy chanteuse almost never happened. In 1983, Morrissey sent a demo tape to his childhood heroine. "It was with a fan letter," explained Sandie. "I really don't know why I listened to more than two bars of it - it was awful... really awful." Disappointed by an earlier, unsatisfactory career revival with the synth popsters BEF, Sandie was in no hurry to repeat the experience: "The more they nagged me, the less I actually wanted to do it." Morrissey persisted, however, and during an epiphanic meeting with the band, Sandie came around to the idea of working with these charming men. "I still didn't even like the stuff until I got in the studio and started singing it. I then realised that I'd wanted these songs for ages," she recalled. After its poor performance as the Smiths' debut release a year earlier, "Hand in Glove" was given a more sprightly production with Sandie on vocals and was duly earmarked as the single. For Top of the Pops in April 1984, in a wry tribute to her Sixties appearances on the show, Sandie kept her shoes on, while the band (minus Morrissey) strummed and drummed in bare feet. Morrissey had mixed feelings about the partnership. "From a recording point of view it was a tremendous success," he said. "From a sales point of view it wasn't." The song was a moderate hit none the less. "I still adore the record and I still play it endlessly," said Morrissey at the time. "So that, I suppose, is the only success that we really need to care about."
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