The Shadows – The Shadows (1961) 24-bit/96kHz (new rip)
Rock, Pop | 1961 UK stereo LP | Columbia SCX 3414 | plus bonus EP
Having already scored three major U.K. smashes, the Shadows confirmed their independence from singer Cliff Richard with an eponymous album which rates among the most accomplished British LPs of the pre-Beatles era, and one of the most influential rock instrumental sets ever. An entire generation of would-be guitar heroes learned their licks from Hank Marvin and the Shadows…
…an accolade which a star-studded, mid-1990s tribute album certainly affirms. But the bespectacled guitarist was not the band's sole star. Drummer Tony Meehan's "See You in My Drums," like bassist Jet Harris' "Jet Black" single of two years previous, is a gripping showcase for his own remarkable talents, while "Baby My Heart" unveils vocal talents which, again, the group's earliest singles alone had illustrated. Modern listeners, schooled in the axeman excesses of more recent years, will doubtlessly find The Shadows impossibly well-mannered and implausibly sedentary. Low-key instrumentals like "Blue Star," "Sleepwalk," and "Nivram" (the inspiration behind Peter Frampton's "Theme From Nivram") scarcely begin to speak of the frenetic abuses which the likes of Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton would one day wring from their instruments. What they did do, however, was illustrate the untapped possibilities of the guitar, a lesson which Marvin might have taken his time in teaching, but which was vivid all the same. Dave Thompson, Allmusic.
Note: These discs were beautifully recorded by Norrie Paramor at Abbey Road in wonderful, spacey, echo drenched stereo. As with all early EMI stereo LPs & EPs, the sound quality here is excellent. The difficult thing was finding a clean copy that hadn’t been damaged by the atrocious playing equipment mostly in use at the time. This record fair find, bought in 1985, is in pretty clean condition and this new rip is a considerable improvement over the old one. Having not heard this since I did the old rip I was struck by just how influential The Shadows were: ‘Sleepwalk’ could almost be Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac. I do hope you enjoy this piece of rock history!
More Shadows coming soon!
Track listing:
01. Shadoogie
02. Blue Star
03. Nivram
04. Baby My Heart
05. See You In My Drums
06. All My Sorrows
07. Stand Up And Say That
08. Gonzales
09. Find Me A Golden Street
10. Theme From A Filleted Place
11. That’s My Desire
12. My Resistance Is Low
13. Sleepwalk
14. Big Boy
Bonus Tracks:
From UK stereo EP Columbia ESG 7834 (1961)
15. Mustang
16. Theme From Shane
17. Shotgun
18. Theme From Giant
Personnel:
Hank Marvin – Lead Guitar, Piano
Bruce Welch – Rhythm Guitar
Jet Harris – Bass Guitar
Tony Meehan – Drums
Recorded at Abbey Road, Studio 2, London
Engineer Malcolm Addey
Produced by Norrie Paramor
Technicals:
Knosti RCM.
Michell GyroDec full version.
Funk Firm FXR II Tonearm.
Audio Technica AT33PTG/II MC Cartridge.
Harman Kardon HK990 Integrated Amplifier.
Gold Interconnects. E-MU 0204 Audio Interface.
Recording, split and manual de-click with Adobe Audition 3.0.1
Click Repair 3.9.1
Vinyl transfer by son-of-albion, July 2014.