Why Is "Evening Comes" So Rare?

[captainhaddock]

I suppose that this is just a rhetorical question, but for me the track "Evening Comes" is one of the best Shadows/Hank Marvin tracks of their entire career. It was originally written as a vocal track for Cliff Richard, but it wasn't until 1969 that Hank recorded his beautiful instrumental version. This track was only released in Australia and New Zealand in 1970 and was not released in Britain until the 1987 release of Hank Marvin, "Would You Believe it ...Plus !" cd on see for miles records. It was later to appear on the CD box set "The early years" in 1991. Having been a Shadows fanatic since I was about 4 years old, I was stunned by the sheer beauty of this track since first hearing it in 1987 and it features in my top 10 of Shads tracks. This just leaves me to ask why is it so rare ? and why has no one come up with a Backing track for it yet ?.

[JimN]

The track Evening Comes is 'rare' only in the sense that it wasn't issued at the time in the UK (then still the main market for Hank & The Shadows).

Some of the more informed cognoscenti (I'm thinking here of people like Rob Bradford and George Geddes - but not me) were aware of it over the years and presumably managed to get hold of import singles from the Antipodes (or cassettes thereof - remember cassettes?). Eventually, though, the recording was issued in the UK on the 1980 See For Miles LP/CD "Would You Believe It?", which re-packaged most of Hank's solo EMI material - his first LP and all the singles and maxi-singles except for two erstwhile 45rpm tracks (London's Not Too Far and Break Another Dawn). SFM also reissued the "Guitar Syndicate" LP in digital format. More recently still, EMI released a reissue with the same contents as the previous SFM album plus the two missing tracks.

The issue, I think, is that Evening Comes suffers from two problems compounded. The first problem is that it comes from an era when Hank and The Shadows simply weren't selling all that much. There are other tracks from the same period which can fairly be characterised as "little-known", including Slaughter On 10th Avenue, Boogatoo, Goodnight Dick and Wahine (that latter being very similar to Evening Comes). Whilst everyone down at the local pub has heard Apache and Wonderful Land, fewer have heard Stingray or Maroc 7 and fewer still (this also applying even to guitar-playing fans) have ever heard Wahine or Evening Comes.

The other problem is the period over which the track wasn't available. I, for instance, had never even heard of it before 1990 (when I got a copy of the SFM CD). This gave the recording even less chance to become established in the minds of fans (never mind getting established with members of the uncommitted masses).

As it happens, there is a BT for Wahine - but Wahine was released in the UK in 1969. The rival BT-makers have to tread a thin line between the fact that the most popular songs have each been issued several times as competing backing tracks, whilst the ones which are "still up for grabs" are getting increasingly difficult to identify as popular enough to be a Unique Selling Proposition. Ian McCutcheon has included quite a few "rarities" on his "Shadows Workout" series (as examples, I cite Friends, Maid Marion's Theme and Poem - and they're just from the first two collections). More recently he has offered Late Night Set and... Wahine).

By the way, I've had the experience of finding that only a few Shads fans can actually recall (let alone name) the more obscure tracks. Renditions of The Lute Number and Maggie's Samba on my Gibson flat-top often lead to puzzled looks (and not, I think, due to my playing...). One ex-Shadow identified the second of those as Alentejo.

So... perhaps someone will do a BT for Evening Comes. As with six-string bass tunes Thunderbirds (provided by Ian) and Main Title Theme (essayed by Phil and Andy McGarrick), you ought to do what I did: make a nuisance of yourself. Start a thread about which tracks you'd like to see on a future BT CD and keep at it. The people who do them are always open to suggestions.

Hope this helps,

JN

[Moderne]

I was aware of Evening Comes around 1985 when it was mentioned in a Record Collector article and shortly afterwards I found an import EP which included EC in "At The Hop" - a secondhand rock 'n' roll record shop in Chelsea run by Rob Finnis. He charged me £4 for it and I was incredibly excited at the time! I assumed that all Shadows fans would be reading Record Collector articles and would be familiar with Hank's solo stuff from 1969-70 (a lot of it had been issued on side 1 of The Shadows Rarities although it said "The Shadows" on the label.) It must have been very disheartening for Hank to have so little reaction to his material around this time in the UK although of course Sacha was a huge hit in Australia).

Clive

[Stan666]

Sorry Jim, but I'm afraid there's not missing tracks on Guitar Syndicate.

Best wishes.

[JimN]

Sorry Jim, but I'm afraid there's not missing tracks on Guitar Syndicate.

Best wishes.

???

I didn't say there were.

JN

[Stan666]

My apologies Jim: I can’t read properly. I thought I’d found some not known stuff from Hank.

Miquel

[Fenderman]

I had never even heard of this track until i bought the Hank Marvin album on CD which had about 10 bonus tracks and Evening Comes was amongst them, i think it's a severly negleted track. Hank's playing is so tender it's one of my fravourite tracks from that era (along with Morning star and Midnight cowboy).