The Shadows
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Shadows | |
|---|---|
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| Origin | England |
| Years active | 1958 – 2005 |
| Genres | Rock 'n' Roll |
The Shadows were an English instrumental rock 'n' roll group active from the 1950s to the 2000s.
Contents |
[edit] 1950s
Formed initially as a backing band for Cliff Richard, they took the name The Drifters until finding out that there was already a thriving American band with that name. The original members were Terry Smart on drums (born 1942), Norman Mitham on guitar (born 1941), Ian Samwell on guitar and Harry Webb (before he became Cliff) on guitar and vocals. The original Drifters had no bass player. Samwell wrote the group's first hit record "Move It" which is often mistakenly attributed to the Shadows.
The name was changed to Cliff Richard and the Drifters shortly after first manager Johnny Foster discovered the group, and they were quickly signed up for an appearance on Jack Good's Oh Boy! television series. Producer Norrie Paramor of EMI signed Cliff, and asked Johnny Foster to recruit a better guitarist, so Foster went back to Soho's 2i's coffee bar (then famed for the strength of musical talent performing there, particularly in skiffle groups) in search of guitarist Tony Sheridan. Sheridan was not there but Foster's attention was caught by another musician, who was tall, good looking, played guitar well and even had Buddy Holly style glasses.
Guitarist and singer Hank Marvin was playing in a skiffle band with his friend Bruce Welch. The pair had travelled from Newcastle to London to become musicians and were at the time surviving on very little money. Foster offered Hank the job and he accepted on condition that his friend Bruce would also be allowed to join. New manager Franklin Boyd could see that the pair worked well together, and they were employed as lead and rhythm guitarists respectively. Ian Samwell was moved to bass until he was replaced by the Most Brothers's bass guitarist Jet Harris. Drummer Terry Smart left shortly after this and was replaced at Harris's suggestion by Tony Meehan. The Drifters' fully professional lineup was now complete, and they became The Shadows in early 1959. Johnny Foster continued for a time as Cliff's personal manager, and Samwell wrote several additional songs for the Drifters and Shadows before moving on to write and produce for other artists. Tony Meehan later recalled that Cliff, backed by Hank, Bruce, Jet and himself had all played together a year beforehand at least once at the 2is coffee bar in Soho, London.
The group started recording and performing with Cliff Richard and released two singles in their own right in 1959. ("Feelin' Fine"/"Don't Be A Fool With Love") and ("Jet Black"/"Driftin'"), The first two tracks were vocal numbers and the second pair were instrumental. Neither disc charted. A further (vocal) disc ("Saturday Dance"/"Lonesome Fella") also failed to chart.
[edit] 1960s
Then, in 1960, the band released "Apache", an instrumental by Jerry Lordan, which was to top the charts for several weeks. Further hit singles followed, notably "Wonderful Land", another Lordan composition with lush orchestral backing showing a very different side to the group and staying at the top of the charts even longer than Apache. This record, and "Kon Tiki" six months earlier also reached number one. The Shadows played on several more chart-toppers as Cliff Richard's band. This group, known to fans as "The Original Shadows", had a raw gutsy appeal and was responsible for 7 hit records.
In October 1961 Tony Meehan was replaced by Brian Bennett and in April 1962 Jet Harris was replaced by Brian Locking, also known as Licorice. Both Brian and Licorice were old friends from the 2I's days and they had all played together in different scratch line-ups. The Marvin-Welch-Bennett-Locking line-up lasted for only 18 months but convinced the fans, diversified the sound and held its own in the face of the rise of Merseybeat, spearheaded by The Beatles. This Shadows line-up produced a further 7 hits, two of which, "Dance On" and "Foot Tapper" topped the charts.
In October 1963 Licorice Locking left to spend more time as a Jehovah's Witness. The band had met John Rostill on tour playing with other bands and had been impressed by his tight punchy playing so they invited him to take over on bass. This final and longest-lasting line-up consolidated into a fine musical combo, innovating in numerous ways as they tried different guitars and developed a wider range of musical styles and a higher level of overall musicanship. They produced some impressive albums but the chart positions of the singles began to ease back. The line-up had 10 hits but the most successful, "The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt", was also the first.
During the 1960s the group appeared with Cliff Richard in the films The Young Ones, Summer Holiday, Wonderful Life, Finders Keepers and as marionettes in the Gerry Anderson film Thunderbirds Are GO. They also appeared on stage in pantomime. Aladdin And His Wonderful Lamp was put on in 1964 at the London Palladium and featured Arthur Askey as Widow Twankey and Cliff as Aladdin, and The Shadows as Wishee, Washee, Noshee and Poshee. Cinderella was staged at the Palladium in 1966 featuring Cliff as Buttons and The Shadows as the Broker's Men, The film and stage roles were more than just performances; they allowed the group to develop their art as songwriters. They wrote only a few songs for the earliest movie, 1961's The Young Ones, but by the time they came to make Finders Keepers in 1966, almost the entire soundtrack was credited to the Marvin-Welch-Bennett-Rostill team.
The line-up split in December 1968, after recording the 10th anniversary album Established 1958 with Cliff Richard, featuring a mixture of tracks with Cliff Richard, and instrumental tracks featuring just the Shadows. All tracks were written by the group. By this time they seemed to have done everything and Bruce Welch decided to leave. This was almost the end of the band, although an album (Shades of Rock) and a tour of Japan followed without Bruce, and with Alan Hawkshaw on keyboards; in Hank's words, they did it 'for the Yen'. The tour was not considered artistically successful, and the resulting live LP is not held in high regard, even though it does feature an unusually long version of "Slaughter On Tenth Avenue" in which Hank plays both acoustic and electric guitar.
[edit] 1970s
During the early 'Seventies, Hank and Bruce had a second career as vocal group Marvin Welch & Farrar with Australian John Farrar as third vocalist. Farrar provided a magnificent high voice and terrific skill as an arranger. They recorded two critically acclaimed albums and several singles and, without Bruce, a third album Marvin and Farrar, which Hank described as 'Frankenstein meets The Beach Boys'. This group's live performances were hampered by the fact that everyone who saw Hank in his distinctive spectacles expected a performance of the Shadows' greatest hits. As Hank says (interviewed in Guitar Greats by John Tobler), 'In the Batley Variety Club we walked off stage to the sound of our own footsteps!'
The Shadows as a group reformed in 1973 with Welch back on rhythm guitar but also with John Farrar on guitar and vocals. Following the earlier death of John Rostill, the group decided not to replace him permanently but instead to book top session bassists for recordings and tours. Dave Richmond and Alan Tarney, who had each provided bass support for Marvin Welch & Farrar, both continued in this role for the reformed Shadows. An album, Rocking With Curly Leads featured Hank using vocoder to modify his distinctive sound. Some tracks used Farrar as a second lead guitarist, making this album sound fresh and different.
The group were chosen by BBC Boss Bill Cotton to perform the Song for Europe in the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest. The Shadows recorded a number of alternatives and played a song each week on a six week television show. The public then voted on the best song and eventually, "Let Me Be The One" by Paul Curtis was chosen. The group didn't win, coming second to Teach In's "Ding-A-Dong", but the Shadows were re-established as a chart act. Other records soon followed, featuring Farrar's strong vocal and writing talents as well as his instrumental skills.
The packaging of the group's greatest hits in Twenty Golden Greats by EMI in 1977 prompted the group to reform yet again for a tour featuring Francis Monkman from Sky on keyboards, leading to a number one album and a top ten hit single "Don't Cry For Me Argentina". Francis left after that tour and the line-up settled as the Big Three, Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch and Brian Bennett, supplemented on records and gigs by Cliff Hall (keyboards) and Alan Jones (bass).
[edit] 1980s
The group then performed and recorded frequently until 1990, with most of their 1980s albums performing well in the charts. With the exception of Guardian Angel which was an album of new material, most of their 1980s albums featured cover versions of then current or classic pop songs, with little original material. The group changed record labels in 1980, switching from EMI to Polydor with the aptly titled Change of Address. The change was necessitated because EMI would not agree to a tape leasing scheme, whereby the group would retain copyright of their recordings, but the company would be licensed to publish them for individual albums. This resulted in the group re-recording much of its back catalogue of EMI hits for the Polydor label. The recordings were made using modern techniques (although primarily on analogue equipment, but digitally mastered), but with instruments, amplifiers, and arrangements as close as possible to the originals making it difficult for the casual listener to tell the difference. This has allowed the group to package and market their own compilation albums, apparently featuring old hits as well as new. Other albums, such as Diamonds feature no new material, being compiled from recent albums. The line-up remained solid until Alan Jones had a bad car accident and Mark Griffiths of the Cliff Richard band and originally from Matthews Southern Comfort was brought in on bass. He and Alan then shared bass duties until 1990 when the band stopped touring and Hank went solo again.
[edit] 2000s
The group re-formed in 2004 for a 'farewell tour', and recorded a new track "Life Story" (written by Jerry Lordan) to accompany a new greatest hits package of the same name which featured 1980s re-recordings of all their 1960s and 1970s hits. This opportunity to see Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch and Brian Bennett, joined on keyboards by Cliff Hall and bass by Mark Griffiths, "one last time" was so successful (and enjoyed by all members) that they decided to embark on an extension to the tour in 2005, this time of Europe. The line-up was almost the same, but Warren Bennett, son of Brian, came in on keyboards instead of Hall. Notwithstanding that this was to be a tour of other countries, they played a final date back in the UK in Birmingham.
After many successful solo albums, Hank Marvin duets on a new version of the famous Shadows' jazzy standard "Nivram", on "Guitar Connection Volume 2", the new album of French guitarist Jean Pierre Danel, to be released in March 2007.
[edit] Selected discography
From British Hit Singles & Albums, 17th Edition (Except Life Story)
[edit] Albums
- 1961 The Shadows (UK #1)
- 1962 Out of The Shadows (UK #1)
- 1963 Greatest Hits (UK #2) [compilation]
- 1964 Dance With The Shadows (UK #2)
- 1965 The Sound of The Shadows (UK #4)
- 1965 More Hits! [compilation]
- 1966 Shadow Music (UK #5)
- 1967 Jigsaw (UK #8)
- 1967 From Hank Bruce Brian and John
- 1968 Established 1958 [with Cliff Richard]
- 1970 Shades of Rock (UK #30)
- 1974 Rockin' With Curly Leads (UK #45)
- 1975 Specs Appeal (UK #30)
- 1975 Live at the Paris Olympia
- 1977 20 Golden Greats (UK #1) [compilation]
- 1977 Tasty
- 1979 String of Hits (UK #1)
- 1980 Another String of Hot Hits (UK #16) [compilation]
- 1980 Change of Address (UK #17)
- 1981 Hits Right Up Your Street (UK #15)
- 1982 Life In The Jungle/Live at Abbey Road (UK #24)
- 1983 XXV (UK #34)
- 1984 Guardian Angel (UK #98)
- 1986 Moonlight Shadows (UK #6)
- 1987 Simply Shadows (UK #11)
- 1989 Steppin' To The Shadows (UK #11)
- 1989 At Their Very Best (UK #12)
- 1990 Reflection (UK #5)
- 1993 Shadows In The Night - 16 Classic Tracks (UK #22) [compilation]
- 1994 The Best of Hank Marvin and The Shadows (UK #19) [compilation]
- 1997 The Shadows play Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice (UK #41)
- 1997 The Very Best of The Shadows - The First 40 Years (UK #56) [compilation]
- 1998 50 Golden Greats (UK #35) [compilation]
- 2004 Life Story (UK #7) [compilation]
- 2004 The Final Tour
[edit] Singles
- 1959 Feelin' Fine (as The Drifters) Did Not Chart
- 1959 Jet Black (as The Drifters) Did Not Chart
- 1959 Saturday Dance Did Not Chart
- 1960 Apache (#1)
- 1960 Man of Mystery (#5)
- 1961 F.B.I. (#6)
- 1961 The Frightened City (#3)
- 1961 Kon Tiki (#1)
- 1961 The Savage (#10)
- 1962 Wonderful Land (#1)
- 1962 Guitar Tango (#4)
- 1962 Dance On (#1)
- 1963 Foot Tapper (#1)
- 1963 Atlantis (#2)
- 1963 Shindig (#6)
- 1963 Geronimo (#11)
- 1964 Theme For Young Lovers (#12)
- 1964 The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt (#5)
- 1964 Rhythm And Greens (#22)
- 1964 Genie With The Light Brown Lamp (#17)
- 1965 Mary Anne (#17)
- 1965 Stingray (#19)
- 1965 Don't Make My Baby Blue (#10)
- 1965 The War Lord (#18)
- 1966 I Met A Girl (#22)
- 1966 A Place In The Sun (#24)
- 1966 The Dreams I Dream Did Not Chart
- 1967 Maroc 7 (#24)
- 1975 Let Me Be The One (#12)
- 1978 Don't Cry For Me Argentina (#5)
- 1979 Theme From 'The Deer Hunter' (#9)
- 1980 Riders In The Sky (#12)
- 1980 Equinoxe Part V (#45)
- 1981 The Third Man Did Not Chart
Chart Source:[1]
This does not include collaborations with Cliff Richard, solo recordings or those made under the name "Marvin, Welch & Farrar"
[edit] See also
[edit] External Links
- The Apaches Shadows Tribute Band Shadows tribute band from Yorkshire specialising in the original Shadows sound vocal and instrumental]
- The Shadows' Web Site
- Brian Bennett's Web Site
- Independent Shadows Web Site
- The Sound of The Shadows
- Hank B. Marvin on the Internet Movie Database
- Ian Samwell's Web Site
- The Shadows Official Pictures Sleeves UK Discography
- http://www.shadows.ie/ "Simply Shadows" are Irelands no.1 Cliff and The Shadows tribute band, playing the live sound of "The Shadows", and "Cliff's Hits".
| The Shadows |
|---|
| Hank Marvin | Bruce Welch | Brian Bennett Jet Harris | Tony Meehan | Brian Locking | John Rostill | Ian Samwell | Terry Smart |
| Production |
| Norrie Paramor | Peter Vince | Warren Bennett | Abbey Road Studios |
| Related articles |
| Cliff Richard | 1960s |
