1965 Sandie Shaw: Long Live Love

From the opening bars it's evident that 'Long Live Love' shares chromosomes with 'It's Not Unusual'; both were written by Chris Andrews and Sandie was in fact given first dibs on the latter song but offered it to Tom after hearing his original demo. 'Long Live Love' is the less hyperactive of the two and its more muted horn parps emphasise jaunt rather than raunch, making it more akin to the continental Europop output of Francois Hardy or France Gall (which probably explains why Shaw was able to record successful French and German language versions of it). And again it's Sandie's voice that's the star turn here - the song itself is throwaway enough with a curiously downturning anti-climax of a chorus but Sandie's sharp and confident diction carves out every syllable with a razor and carries it over the hurdles with aplomb, in the process adding a sheen of class to ensure that what is in fact one of my least favourite Sandie Shaw singles is never less than listenable.