(4 / 5)
Elton John, and his then manager and business partner John Reid, signed UK singer songwriter Judie Tzuke to their record label Rocket Records in 1977.
Soon after, Judie had big success with her 1979 hit single, the gorgeous and timeless “Stay With Me Till Dawn” and the album which spawned that track, “Welcome To The Cruise”.
“Stay With Me Till Dawn” was sampled by Mylo in the song “Need You Tonite”, taken from his 2004 album “Destroy Rock & Roll”.
Judie’s second album “Sportscar”, made it to number seven in the UK chart in 1980, and Judie was selling out big venues across the country.
But in 1982 she left Rocket and signed to major label Chrysalis, where she made two studio albums and a live album.
This three-disc set collected together all of her tracks from all three albums from those Chrysalis years of 1982 and ‘83: “Shoot The Moon” and “Ritmo”, plus live album “Road Noise: The Official Bootleg”.
The 11 cuts from “Shoot The Moon”, released in April 1982, kick this set off on the first CD, plus four bonus tracks. Tzuke’s fourth studio album, and here it includes the b/sides “Sold A Rose” and “Run On Luck”, plus demos of two singles “I’m Not A Loser” and “How Do I Feel”.
The album was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales, produced by long-time collaborator Paul Muggleton, who played in Judie’s band and later became her husband. They have two daughters together, Bailey and Tallula.
Three singles were released from the album: “Love On The Border”, “I’m Not A Loser” and “Late Again”. The album peaked at #19 in the charts and was critically well received.
CD # 2 of this set features “Road Noise: The Official Bootleg”, a live album recorded during her 57 date UK tour. The recordings featured are from performances at Hammersmith Odeon, London and Glastonbury Festival. It was originally released in October 1982.
Her super tight band included drummer Jeff Rich and bassist John “Rhino” Edwards, who both went on to become long-time members of Status Quo. John is still with Quo. Mike Paxman was on guitar in the band, and he was Judie’s former duo partner, Tzuke and Paxo, who cut a single produced by Tony Visconti.
“Road Noise: The Official Bootleg” peaked at #39 in the UK album chart. The live performances include tracks from her first four albums, including top 20 hit “Stay With Me Till Dawn”.
The third disc of this set features Tzuke’s second studio album for Chrysalis, “Ritmo”, released in September 1983. Her fifth studio album, it peaked at #26, her fifth consecutive top 30 album. Here we get bonus tracks of the 7” and 12” versions of the single “Jeannie No”, which appear on CD for the first time.
This 3 CD collection is available in a capacity wallet option, which uses the original front cover artwork for each CD wallet, plus a 20-page booklet which includes extensive sleeve notes and a comprehensive UK discography.
Judie, aka Judie Myers who reverted back to her family’s original Polish name of Tzuke for her music career, has enjoyed a lengthy and successful career since Elton John spotted her potential and signed her to his own label in the 1970’s.
21 solo studio albums and five live albums later, Judie, now 64, is still writing and releasing albums through her own label, Big Moon Records. She battled cancer around seven years ago, and has suffered crippling stage fright too.
Judie has been performing and recording with Julia Fordham and Beverley Craven, and their album “Woman To Woman” came out in 2018. She has also co-written with, and written for, many artists. A new Judie Tzuke album is in the works, for release later this year.
Judie Tzuke is one of the UK’s most talented singer-songwriters, often overlooked when the accolades are being dished out.
Performing in folk clubs since she was 15, forming the duo with Mike Paxman in 1975 and signing to Rocket Records in 1977, Judie’s career keeps on going and she is still a huge talent.
Very much looking forward to her next solo album of new material….
By Graham Fox
(1 / 5) ‘Dull Zone’
(2 / 5) ‘OK Zone’
(3 / 5) ‘Decent Zone’ (4 / 5) ‘Super Zone’
(5 / 5) ‘Awesome Zone’
