Shakin' Stevens' first album following his solo shift to Epic Records,
Take One finds him still taking tentative steps towards the pop mainstream, seemingly uncertain just how far away from his roots he was willing to journey in pursuit of his first major hits. But a rollicking cover of
Buck Owens' "Hot Dog" squeaked him into the U.K. Top 30 in February 1980;
Take One followed a month later; and the decision was made for him. It's a vibrant album, still oozing the rockabilly licks that set
Stevens shaking in the first place, and blessed with some of his best ever major-label performances: "Shame Shame Shame," "Shotgun Boogie," and the closing "Do What You Did" are all vintage Shaky classics, and if the super clean production doesn't exactly line
Take One up alongside his earlier Sunsets-era recordings, still it's one of the finest rock & roll revival albums of the 1980s.