''The Bop Won't Stop'' is an album by Welsh

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

singer

Shakin' Stevens Michael Barratt (born 4 March 1948), known professionally as Shakin' Stevens, is a Welsh singer and songwriter. He was the UK's biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s. His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, although ...

, released in November 1983 by

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

. Compared to his previous albums, this album was not as successful, only peaking at number 21 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

despite the success of its singles.

Release

The album spawned three UK Top-5 singles: "

Cry Just a Little Bit "Cry Just a Little Bit" (also billed as "I Cry Just a Little Bit") is a song and a 1983 hit single for British singer Shakin' Stevens, from his studio album ''The Bop Won't Stop''. It reached #3 in the UK charts and #67 on the ''Billboard'' Hot ...

", " A Rockin' Good Way" (a duet with

Bonnie Tyler Gaynor Sullivan (née Hopkins; born 8 June 1951), known professionally as Bonnie Tyler, is a Welsh singer. Known for her distinctive husky voice, Tyler came to prominence with the release of her 1977 album '' The World Starts Tonight'' and its ...

) and "

A Love Worth Waiting For "A Love Worth Waiting For" is a song by Welsh singer Shakin' Stevens, released in March 1984 as the fourth single from his album ''The'' ''Bop Won't Stop''. It peaked at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks and was certified silver in ...

". A cover of Ricky Nelson's " It's Late" was also released, peaking at number 11 in the UK. In Mexico, a cover of Jerry Williams & Roadwork's "Diddle I" was released as a single in 1983, with the B-side "Love Me Tonight". In the US and Canada, like with Stevens' previous album '' Give Me Your Heart Tonight'', ''The Bop Won't Stop'' was released with only 10 tracks, omitting "Livin' Lovin' Wreck" and "It's Late". The album became Stevens' first CD release in 1984. In 2009, it was re-released on CD as part of ''

The Epic Masters ''The Epic Masters'' is a box set compilation comprising ten remastered albums by Shakin' Stevens. Released on 16 November 2009, the set contains nine albums originally released by Epic Records between 1980 and 1990, plus an exclusive CD of 12" ...

'' box set, which included bonus tracks. The bonus tracks were two B-sides and two singles: a cover of " Your Ma Said You Cried in Your Sleep Last Night", which was only released in Europe, and also a cover of " A Letter to You" which was released as a single from Stevens' ''

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

'' album.

Reception

Reviewing the album for '' Number One'', James McGregor gave the album a four out of five and wrote "Honour where honours due. Somehow Shaky's put all the pieces together and turned rockabilly and '50s crooning into an '80s mix that anybody can enjoy. His latest offering is a perfect lightweight performance, undoctored, urgent, and just the right side of tongue in cheek." Reviewing for ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'', Linda Duff gave the album four out of ten, describing it as "Nothing new or even remotely startling. Shaky rattles out the same old song – ''literally'', even his self-penned tracks are ripped off from his own previous hits."

Track listing

2009 bonus tracks:

Personnel

Shaky's musicians *

– vocals * Les Davidson –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

* Roger McKew – lead and

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

* Dick Bland – bass guitar * Gavin Povey – piano, synthesiser * Chris Wyles – drums * The Rumour Brass: ** Ray Beavis –

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

** John "Irish" Earle –

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

and tenor saxophones ** Chris Gower –

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

** Dick Hanson –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

Technical * Neill King – engineer * Simon Hurrell – engineer *

Christopher Neil Christopher Neil (born 1948) is a British record producer, songwriter, singer, and actor. Neil has produced records for A-ha, Amazulu, Bonnie Tyler, Celine Dion, Cher, Dollar, Edyta Górniak, Gerry Rafferty, Jennifer Rush, José Carreras, Le ...

– producer (all except 3, 7, 10) *

Richard Anthony Hewson Richard Anthony Hewson (born 17 November 1943) is an English producer, arranger, conductor and multi-instrumentalist, who created the studio group RAH Band. Career Hewson began in the late 1960s as an arranger, and worked with musicians such ...

– producer (10) * Shakin' Stevens – producer (3, 7, 10) * Simon Cantwell – art direction * Alan Ballard – photography

Charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bop Won't Stop, The 1983 albums Shakin' Stevens albums albums produced by Christopher Neil Epic Records albums