Shadows - 50 Golden Greats (50 tracks) +Album Reviews

All the classic instrumentals

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 02/07/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the early sixties, instrumental hits were a regular feature of the pop charts in Britain and America. There were several great instrumental artists around. America had Duane Eddy, Floyd Cramer, B Bumble and the Stingers and the Ventures, to name a few. Britain had the Shadows and the Tornados. While the Tornados were very successful at the time, most notably with Telstar, the Shadows remained successful for the rest of the century.The Shadows were also Cliff Richard's backing band and played on most of his hits in the fifties and sixties. Like Cliff, they made little impact in America but any Americans who enjoy the Ventures and Duane Eddy ought to give the Shadows a listen.This compilation has all their big UK instrumental hits of the sixties and seventies including Apache, Man of mystery, FBI, Wonderful land, Dance on, Foot tapper and Don't cry for me Argentina. They also experimenting by doing a few vocal tracks and some of those are included here, among them being Mary Anne (a UK top ten hit), Don't make my blue, I met a girl, Dreams I dream and Let me be the one (their 1975 Eurovision song - like so many other Brits, they came second). The vocal tracks are good but it is their instrumental skills on which their reputation is built.Most of their big hits came early in their career. In the eighties and nineties, they gave up worrying about hits and contented themselves with making albums of cover versions. A few covers selected from these albums round off this excellent collection. Among them is Albatross, an early Fleetwood Mac tune that always sounded very like a Shadows track, so it was an obvious tune for them to cover.The Shadows, like most pop groups, has had its share of line-up changes. Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch , two of the original members, remained with the group throughout. The other two original members, Jet Harris and Tony Meehan, left early on, They teamed up as a duo and had some UK hits of their own including Diamonds. Of the other members that came and went, John Farrar is perhaps the most famous. He joined in 1970 but eventually had to leave because of other commitments - he became producer and songwriter for Olivia Newton John.If you enjoy guitar instrumental music of the sixties, you'll love the Shadows. This compilation contains all the essentials, though a lot of Shadows music is available on CD for those who wish to explore further."

Brings back great memories

James Bass | 10/07/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In 1962, I was an Air Force brat (actually, we were all pretty well behaved) teen living in Germany and developing my musical tastes. The Ventures were popular in the States and my brother I owned all their albums. What our stateside friends never knew was the Shadows and their clean, cool guitar sound. Instrumental music is never huge, and the British Shadows never made it across the pond. Too bad. Their music is fine. Funny thing is that same year some group calling themselves the Beatles had a song called "Love Me Do" on Armed Forces Radio. I liked it. Two years later, they did make it across the pond. And how.I had forgotten about the Shadows until today, when I read an interview with Peter Frampton in the LA Times. He mentioned his high regard for Hank Marvin of the Shadows, and that sent me to Amazon to see if their music was available on CD. Good news for me. Good news for anyone who likes straight ahead, pure rock guitar.One more tidbit: that year Priscilla (Beaulieu) Presley rode the same school bus as me. And yes, she was as beautiful then, too."

But there's so much more!

David A. Snook | 05/09/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A great compilation...but there's so much more! (that's

why I only gave four stars). Both the original Shadows' stuff and their masterful covers never fail to please. These CDs are a teriffic addition to any collection...even if you've heard most of them before.

(By the way, the cover of Mark Knopfler's marvellous 'Going Home' is in and of itself worth the price of the album. Enjoy.)"

Disc One great, Disk two.....so-so....

Joseph Guzman | Chicago | 06/13/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a two cd set, with the 1st cd containing early tunes of the Shadows. They are all here, Apache, Man of Mystery, Midnight, Kon-tiki etc... Good surf stuff and is The Shadows at their best.

The second cd are mostly remakes of standards, (Riders in the Sky, God only knows, Imagine etc...). I really like their version of "Albatross". The 2nd cd is "ok", but I got the "Shadows are go!" cd and really, all their best original work is on that one cd. They play the cuts well here, but really...some of it almost sounds like elevator musak.

I would not have bought this cd set, knowing that all my favorites of the Shadows were already here from my initial purchase. But there are 50 tunes here and it rounds out the collection.

Joe"

An Institution Outside of the United States

P. Marsh | USA | 11/03/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I grew up in Britain with the Shadows' music and kind of took them for granted. When the Shadows weren't backing Cliff Richard they were making hits of their own. Apache, Wonderful Land and Foot Tapper were played on the radio often enough that it wasn't a crime that I didn't have a record player to actually play the records. The Shadows were on television quite a bit as well. Then in the late seventies the 20 Golden Greats album was issued, the Shadows were on tour. I bought the album played it every day at college. The day I didn't play it, I got complaints. Then I went to see the Shadows in concert. The audience included people of all ages, there was an electric buzz of excitement, we were not disappointed. Hank and the boys put on a wonderful show, with lots of fun and humor, with music made in heaven. After the concert, somebody said to me "You really liked Foot Tapper didn't you?" I wondered why the comment, and was told that I was standing on the seat cheering like a goal had been scored in a soccer game. Frankly, I hadn't realized that I had got so excited, and still have the memory of perhaps the most enjoyable and joyful concert I have ever had the privilege of attending.

I give the album four stars because the covered tracks in the second disc are not the same as the original music that had Britain rocking along before and after the Beatles arrived. As it was, the Beatles were at Shadows concerts as a learning experience. However, in the second disc, as pointed out in another review, the Shadows version of "Going Home" by Mark Knopfler is absolutely sublime. If you buy this album you won't regret it, especially as this music played all over the world, and by all accounts has influenced many household names, is seldom heard in the United States."

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