Like Mud before him, Alvin Stardust had his fingers stuck in both the Glam Rock and fifties rock & roll pies, though moreso the latter than the former; Alvin already had prior history in the form of minor hits as Shane Fenton & The Fentones in the early sixties, though there was never a sniff of a number one. To take the Mud comparisons a step further, while it was a convenient bandwagon to jump, Stardust never seemed wholly comfortable with the whole Glam thang and though his name may have been hijacked shamelessly from Bowie's alter ego, there wasn't so much a light dusting of stars on the image he presented.Glaring moodily from under a huge black quiff and mutton chops sideboards, Stardust's all black leather jumpsuit outfit made him less of a Starman and more Gene Vincent's bitter and twisted father. Maybe he was still living his Shane Fenton 'I'm A Moody Guy' image, but it made him more scarily predatory then than Gary Glitter does now (people who wear gloves indoors always have something to hide I think).
And the discomfort doesn't stop at the image. Although 'Jealous Mind' has some Glam Rock tracks and traces shoehorned into it wherever they fitted (and a main riff that always reminds me of 'All The Young Dudes'), at heart it's the sort of mid-tempo rocker cum ballad that could have featured in one of Presley's more forgettable films from the sixties. Indeed Stardust himself sounds like he'd be far happier touring a fifties revival review around Northern workingmen's clubs and doing his Elvis and Buddy Holly impressions than trying to cut Gary Glitter shapes on Top Of The Pops.
His only number one and only one week at the top - seems about fair enough on balance.
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