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Does anyone know if the Shadows at the Olympia in 1975 was considered as a farewell album? I know that at that point John Farrar was due to leave and i wonder if the band were deciding to wrap things up as there was no album in 1976.
It's not really been mentioned but i'm sure i heard somewhere they were going to split up at the end of 1975.

I'd say they weren't exactly together anyway. The 70s saw a succession of projects for the individuals in the group and the reforming of the Shadows was primarily for Eurovision. I don't think they saw it as restarting the business as such, although there was some spin-off activity.

As far as I can recall, there was no announcement of disbandment at that time.

Since 1968 (and its properly-announced split), there had been several intermittent periods of operation of "The Shadows", interspersed with "Marvin, Welch & Farrar* and "Marvin & Farrar", mainly:

(a) 1969 - the UK and Japan tours with Alan Hawkshaw (with a live LP being recorded)

(b) 1970 - the "Shades of Rock" LP

(c) 1973 / 1974 - the recording of "Rockin' With Curly Leads" and some subsequent promotion

(d) 1975 - Eurovision and the somewhat Euro-connected "Specs Appeal" LP.

An interview with Hank (published January 1976 but clearly conducted a few months earlier) gave no hint of any decision to disband The Shadows again, though there was no clear view of how things might progress.

The group issued only one track during 1976 and it was "20 Golden Greats" which changed the landscape for them. Had that not happened...

Thanks for uploading that interview with Hank, Jim...really interesting!

In 'The Story of The Shadows' by Mike Read, Brian Goode says of that Paris Olympia concert, "We took Abbey Road producer Tony Clarke and the RAK mobile studio over to record what we all thought was going to be the group's very last performance....theoretically that was the end." At the time, I guess they thought that Eurovision was just a flash in the pan and that they'd all go back to their own projects. I'm not sure when John announced that he was going to live in the States - clearly by the time of Hank's interview (in Jim's post).

Obviously the Shadows had no precise plans about what to do after Farrar left, but the success of the "20 Golden Greats" album gave them the needed push to go on...

Didier

Thanks for posting that interview JIm- very interesting comments by Hank on his guitars, pickups etc..

It sounds a little as if he never liked the Burns as much as the Strats..and preferred the single coil sounds to the humbuckers.

Is it true that the Burns guitars are too heavy?

My Burns Marvin isn't particularly heavy. It's one of the recent reissues, so I guess may not compare exactly to the original models. I would say it's around the same weight as your average Strat, & they can very quite a bit.

Tony.

The weight of original 1960s Burns Marvins varies considerably.

It seems to depend on the body wood.

Obeche bodies are light (obeche is more closely related to balsa than other varieties of mahogany), whilst the more usual Honduras-type mahogany bodies (they do exist) are noticeably heavier.

AFAIK Obeche bodies came about because of the weight issues with mahogany. My original '64 Marvin serial #50XX has a mahogny body and the total weight is 4.7 kilos!
My Strats are between 3.2 - 3.6 kilos.

Erik