Surprise (Lynsey de Paul album)

Surprise is the first album released by Lynsey de Paul on the MAM record label in 1973. All of the songs were written or co-written by de Paul (half the tracks had been her songwriting demos), who was accompanied by some of the UK's leading session musicians including Terry Cox, Ralph McTell, Ray Cooper, Jeff Daly, John Gustafson, Chris Rae, Danny Thompson, Barry De Souza, Dick Katz, Robert Kirby, Francis Monkman, John Richardson and Johnny Van Derrick. The album has a gatefold sleeve with illustrations provided by de Paul, a nod to her previous career of designing album sleeves. It received favourable reviews from the mainstream music press.

Her debut single "Sugar Me" was re-recorded for this album. The song was covered by many artists over the years, most notably by Nancy Sinatra and Claudine Longet. Many of the tracks on Surprise were also recorded by other artists, including "Mama Do" (recorded as "Papa Do" by Barry Green and also Cardinal Point), "Ivory Tower" (released as a single by Caroline Hall), "Crossword Puzzle" (recorded and released as a single by Dana), plus "Sleeping Blue Nights" recorded by Zig-Zag. Smoove & Turrell borrowed from the backing track to "Water" on their single "You Don't Know" in 2009.

In 2005, the album was released on CD in Japan on the AIRAC label, and featured the following additional bonus tracks: "Storm in a Teacup", "Getting a Drag", "Brandy", "All Night", "Blind Leading the Blind", "Won't Somebody Dance with Me", and "So Good to You" i.e. all four singles and B-sides recorded for the MAM Records label. It also featured the original gatefold sleeve cover.

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