The Shadows

I just love listening to old Shadows tunes. They have the Tiki thing down. I especially love Jet Harris' bass playing. It was so colorful and melodic at a time when electric bass playing was pretty much root-fifth. Anyone who shares this and wants to comment on there own likes please post. I know tweedtones feeling already but do feel free.

And there's this song called "Kon tiki" !!!

Yes Kon Tiki was once on the Vodkanaut's song list {the group I play bass for}, cool tune. However, we haven't played that one in some time. Man of Mystery, Flingle Blunt are a couple of Shadow tunes we cover.

I remember the shadows from Cliff Richard
and.....but not real familiar with their
instrumental stuff...just downloaded Kon
Tiki and love it! I assume the rest of their instrumentals are very similar.

"Kon Tiki" is just scratching the surface of the Shadows. Go to a web link or to anything with the Shadows and you'll discover so much more. Remember these guys were hot before the Beatles. Their instrumental work is truely, for the times, cutting edge. They were big in their native England but not so much in the US. I don't know why, I was way too small or not even born yet. However, groups like Dick Dale, The Ventures, Duane Eddy were popular here. What gives? "Apache" is another of their hits which I think might have made the charts in the US. I am certainly not an authority on this subject. So some others please chime in.

I can certainly confirm that the Shadows were huge in the UK for a while. (Certainly before my time!). The used record bins of most charity shops usually have at least one old Shadows album.

The Cliff Richard connection is probably the reason why they don't get as much kudos from today's hipsters. Cliff is seen as a national joke to anyone who's under 60 and/or male. I guess this stops people from checking out their twangy side.

I'm not sure if they are still performing, but they seemed to do many a tour over the years. I imagine they made a lot more from live shows than record sales in their later days.

Incidentally, Jet Harris (of the Shadows) performed with the Rapiers (who ape the Shadows sound) at the Wild Weekend 3, which I went to. Incredibly talented chap.

Finally, the cockney rhyming slang for I'm starving is 'I'm Hank Marvin'.(lead guitarist of the Shadows).

Trader Woody

On 2004-10-08 05:55, Trader Woody wrote:
I can certainly confirm that the Shadows were huge in the UK for a while. (Certainly before my time!). The used record bins of most charity shops usually have at least one old Shadows album.

The Cliff Richard connection is probably the reason why they don't get as much kudos from today's hipsters. Cliff is seen as a national joke to anyone who's under 60 and/or male. I guess this stops people from checking out their twangy side.

I'm not sure if they are still performing, but they seemed to do many a tour over the years. I imagine they made a lot more from live shows than record sales in their later days.

Incidentally, Jet Harris (of the Shadows) performed with the Rapiers (who ape the Shadows sound) at the Wild Weekend 3, which I went to. Incredibly talented chap.

Finally, the cockney rhyming slang for I'm starving is 'I'm Hank Marvin'.(lead guitarist of the Shadows).

Trader Woody

"slang for I'm starving is "I'm Hank Marvin"

Thanks, great info on the Shadows. I am too a Jet Harris fan. In a book I read he claimed to be the "First person to own a electric bass guitar in the UK" I don't know if we'll ever know if that's true or not . My friends and I have had a discussion on who recorded the first electric bass solo. It might have been Jet, but we agreed that it was "The Who's", John Entwhistle, on "My generation" as being the real first Bona fide electric bass solo. Jet Harris on one tune, I forget the title now, did some bass runs inbetween stops in a tune but we agreed it was close to a solo but not a legitmate one. Opinions may differ on this topic. As for the quote, how did this saying come about?

On 2004-10-09 11:05, st. john the bassist wrote:
As for the quote, how did this saying come about?

Cockney rhyming slang has been around for hundreds of years, with new words being added all the time. It originated in the East End of London (That's where Cockneys come from) but it's used here and there throughout the UK. Most people would probably use just a couple of these phrases. The only one's I use are 'I'm Hank Marvin' - starving, 'Brown bread' - dead, and 'up the Gary Glitter (errrr.......up the arse, as he rhymes with 'shitter'.) The English language is constantly evolving!

Here's a link to some more rhyming slang:

http://www.aldertons.com/english-.htm

Trader Woody

I have liked the Shadow for some time, but I am only familiar with the instro tunes and greatest hits stuff. Some of those tunes are timeless. Some of my favorites are Wonderful land, Peacepipe. Apache is a classic that Hank never got much credit for writing here in the states.

On 2004-10-08 05:55, Trader Woody wrote:

Finally, the cockney rhyming slang for I'm starving is 'I'm Hank Marvin'.(lead guitarist of the Shadows).

Trader Woody

I have heard the Ventures refered to as the Dentures. :lol:

MuSick Recordings released a tribute to the Shadows CD called
"An Evening In Nivram."
(Nivram = marvin spelled backwards) It is a great CD with mostly intro Shadow covers by the likes of surf bands such as The Tiki Tones, The Aquavelvets, The Fathoms, Satan' s Pilgrims, The Huntington Cads, Dave Allan and the Arrows and The Boss Martians and more!! A tasty CD for the both the Shadows fan and Surf connoiseur.

Chongolio

-- I believe that our Heavenly Father invented the monkey because he was disappointed in man."
... Mark Twain

Come explore http://www.lost-isle.com

[ Edited by: Chongolio on 2004-10-18 20:41 ]

That must be the Shadows' "Apache" in the '89 movie Scandle. It was Whalley & Fonda's make-up scene right before "the knocking shop".

I haven't seen Scandle yet. I've never heard of it. Is that the way the movie's title spelled? I'm not big on movies from the 80's. For some reason or another I missed that decade altogether......Ummmm?
:-?

Right you are St. John. The correct spelling is Scandal. It's one of my favorite movies. It's set in pre-mod London. The soundtrack is great. It even has a coupla scenes in a SKA niteclub with Roland Gift from The Fine Young Cannibals playing a rudeboy. Very well done.

Thanks for the clarification. I'll be looking for that flick around town.

On 2004-10-25 19:58, Shipwreckjoey wrote:
Right you are St. John. The correct spelling is Scandal. It's one of my favorite movies. It's set in pre-mod London. The soundtrack is great. It even has a coupla scenes in a SKA niteclub with Roland Gift from The Fine Young Cannibals playing a rudeboy. Very well done.

Thanks for the movie tip fellas. I will have to look a bit harder for Scandal. I checked one of my local vid stores but they didn't have it. I did find out though there are two movies that share that title.

Chongolio

Thanks for this thread. My "Shadows are Go" disk arrived yesterday. It opened my eyes (ears) a bit.

Yeah Raffertiki, that is the disk I started out with. I instantly became a Shadows fan after one listen to "Shadows Are Go."
I don't think there is one bad tune on that one.
Chongolio

On 2004-10-24 23:19, Shipwreckjoey wrote:
That must be the Shadows' "Apache" in the '89 movie Scandle. It was Whalley & Fonda's make-up scene right before "the knocking shop".

Just saw Scandal. Yup, thats the Shadows playing their song "Apache" alright. What a cool movie. I had never heard anything about that incident before. I was talking with a friend who said that Kristine Wheeler had a major influence on British fashion during that time period.
Thanks for the video recomendation Shipwreck,
Cheers,
Chongolio

Chongolio