Surprise (Lynsey de Paul album)

Surprise is the first album released by Lynsey de Paul on the MAM record label in 1973.^[1][2] All of the songs were written or co-written by de Paul (half the tracks had been her songwriting demos),^[3] who was accompanied by some of the UK's leading session musicians including Terry Cox, Ralph McTell, Ray Cooper, Jeff Daly, John Gustafson, Chris Rae, Danny Thompson, Gary Boyle, Barry De Souza, Dick Katz, Robert Kirby, Francis Monkman, John Richardson (who would later become the drummer in The Rubettes) and Johnny Van Derrick.^[4][5][6] The album has a gatefold sleeve with illustrations provided by de Paul, a nod to her previous career of designing album sleeves.^[7] It received favourable reviews from the mainstream music press.^[8][9]

Her debut single "Sugar Me" was re-recorded for this album and has a much longer fade out with de Paul being the producer on this version rather than Gordon Mills, who produced the hit single version. This song was covered by many artists over the years, most notably in the USA by Nancy Sinatra and Claudine Longet.^[10][11] Although no other tracks were released as singles in the UK, Europe and US, the track "Water" was released as "Agua" in Chile, with Rockerdile as the B-side.^[12]

Many of the tracks on Surprise were also recorded by other artists, including the jazz tinged "Mama Do" (recorded as "Papa Do" by Barry Green^[13] and also Cardinal Point),^[14] "Ivory Tower" (released as a single by Caroline Hall),^[15] "Crossword Puzzle" (recorded and released as a single by Dana),^[16] plus "Sleeping Blue Nights" recorded by Zig-Zag.^[17] Smoove & Turrell borrowed from the backing track to "Water" on their single "You Don't Know" in 2009, with full permission from de Paul, who also received a writing credit for the song.^[18][19][20]

In 2005, the album was released on CD in Japan on the AIRAC label, and featured the following additional bonus tracks on a second CD: "Storm in a Teacup", "Getting a Drag", "Brandy", "All Night", "Blind Leading the Blind", "Won't Somebody Dance with Me", and "So Good to You" i.e. all four singles and B-sides recorded for the MAM Records label.^[21][22] It also featured the original gatefold sleeve cover.

Track listing

A side

1. "Mama Do"
2. "Ivory Tower"
3. "Doctor Doctor"
4. "Crossword Puzzle"
5. "Water"

B side

1. "Sleeping Blue Nights"
2. "The Way It Goes"
3. "Rockerdile"
4. "Sugar Me"
5. "Just Visiting"

References