The Shadows - The Shadows (Columbia 1961) 24-bit/96kHz Vinyl Rip

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 sounds great. I do hope you enjoy this piece of rock history!

Track listing:

A1. Shadoogie
A2. Blue Star
A3. Nivram
A4. Baby My Heart
A5. See You In My Drums
A6. All My Sorrows
A7. Stand Up And Say That

B1. Gonzales
B2. Find Me A Golden Street
B3. Theme From A Filleted Place
B4. That’s My Desire
B5. My Resistance Is Low
B6. Sleepwalk
B7. Big Boy

Bonus Tracks:

From 1961 UK stereo EP Columbia ESG 7834
C1. Mustang
C2. Theme From Shane
D1. Shotgun
D2. 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