Shadows vocals ... and other aspects of their appeal

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Shadows vocals ... and other aspects of their appeal

Postby cockroach » Fri Jan 19, 2018 10:45 am

Apologies if this has been discussed before, but has there ever been a list available of the vocal numbers recorded by The Shadows, together with those Cliff songs in which they sang prominently (harmony) such as Bachelor Boy etc..

There seem to be about 20+ A and B sides from their own released singles, plus vocal tracks on many of their LPs and some EPs...

Incidentally, have any Shadows tribute bands ever featured a set or full show of Shads vocals?
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Re: Shadows vocals

Postby iefje » Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:59 am

cockroach wrote:Apologies if this has been discussed before, but has there ever been a list available of the vocal numbers recorded by The Shadows, together with those Cliff songs in which they sang prominently (harmony) such as Bachelor Boy etc..

There seem to be about 20+ A and B sides from their own released singles, plus vocal tracks on many of their LPs and some EPs...

Incidentally, have any Shadows tribute bands ever featured a set or full show of Shads vocals?


This is the list for The Drifters'/The Shadows' own studio and live recordings, listed in chronological order of release:

1. Feelin’ Fine.
2. Don’t Be A Fool (With Love).
3. Be-Bop-A-Lula. (Live 1959).
4. Saturday Dance.
5. Lonesome Fella.
6. Baby My Heart.
7. All My Sorrows.
8. That’s My Desire.
9. What A Lovely Tune. (narrative).
10. The Bandit.
11. Bo Diddley.
12. Are They All Like You?
13. I Want You To Want Me.
14. This Hammer.
15. That’s The Way It Goes.
16. Don’t It Make You Feel Good.
17. Me Oh My.
18. Mary Anne.
19. A Little Bitty Tear.
20. Five Hundred Miles.
21. Let It Be Me.
22. Don’t Make My Baby Blue.
23. I Met A Girl.
24. I Only Want To Be With You.
25. Stay Around.
26. In The Past.
27. One Way To Love.
28. Will You Be There.
29. The Dreams I Dream.
30. My Way.
31. I Can’t Forget.
32. San Francisco.
33. The Letter.
34. Let Me Take You There.
35. The Day I Met Marie.
36. A Better Man Than I.
37. Running Out Of World.
38. Dear Old Mrs. Bell.
39. Trying To Forget The One You Love.
40. The Average Life Of A Daily Man.
41. Here I Go Again Loving You.
42. Putting On The Style. (Live 1969).
43. Cool Clear Air.
44. This House Runs On Sunshine.
45. No No Nina.
46. Don’t Throw It All Away.
47. Let Me Be The One.
48. Stand Up Like A Man.
49. Run Billy Run.
50. Lady Of The Morning. (Live 1975).
51. Tiny Robin. (Live 1975).
52. Marmaduke. (Live 1975).
53. Medley: a) Lucille b) Rip It Up c) Blue Suede Shoes. (Live 1975).
54. It’ll Be Me Babe.
55. Love Deluxe.
56. Treat Me Nice.
57. You Rescue Me.
58. Runaway. (Live 1982).
59. All I Have To Do Is Dream. (Live 1982).
60. It Doesn’t Matter Anymore. (Live 1982).
61. Johnny B. Goode. (Live 1982).
62. Oh! Boy. (Live 1982).
63. Crying In The Rain. (Live 1982).
64. The Modern Way.
65. Liverpool Days.
66. (I’m Gonna Be Your) Guardian Angel.
67. Can’t Play Your Game.
68. On A Night Like This.
69. True Love Ways. (Live 1989).
70. Faithful. (Live 1975).
71. Lonesome Mole. (Live 1975).
72. Music Makes My Day. (Live 1975).
73. Love Is Falling In Love Again.
74. We’ll Believe In Loving.
75. Girl From Ipanema.
76. Leave My Woman Alone.
77. Quarter To Three. (Live 1962).
78. Please Don’t Tease. (Live 2004).
79. In The Country. (Live 2004).
80. I Could Easily Fall (In Love With You). (Live 2004).
81. Gee Whiz It’s You. (Live 2004).
82. Summer Holiday. (Live 2004).
83. Bachelor Boy. (Live 2004).
84. Do You Wanna Dance. (Live 1962).
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Re: Shadows vocals

Postby cockroach » Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:06 pm

Thank you very much Ivo!! :D
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Re: Shadows vocals

Postby strongbow » Fri Jan 19, 2018 4:18 pm

I did an article on Shadows vocals for the UK magazine The Beat in 2016. Here it is:

Shining lights from the Shadows

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that when the Shadows first started recording in their own right, two of their first three A-sides were vocals. It was only the huge success of Apache that set the template for the subsequent string of instrumental hits that now constitute their memorable musical legacy.

But to be honest about it, those initial vocal efforts were mediocre at best. Both Feeling Fine and Saturday Dance lacked anything resembling originality or finesse, sounding instead like a novice act aping some combination of the Everlys, Buddy Holly and other Americans.

And things didn’t get much better with the vocal tracks included on the first two albums. Although those albums were immensely successful, that success didn’t come on the strength of the three vocals included on each.

On the first album – 1961’s The Shadows – Baby My Heart was pallid, All My Sorrows was dreary, and aficionados have described That’s My Desire as “shaky, to put it charitably.”

And the following year’s Out of the Shadows was more of the same vocally. The Bandit sounded like something from a dated 40s/50s musical revue, Bo Diddley was rough, and Are They All Like You can be most accurately characterised as twee.

Fortunately, though, all wasn’t lost. From 1963 onwards, the Shadows produced some very listenable vocal tracks. Here are six of them.

I Want You to Want Me (B-side to Atlantis, 1963)

I had no idea who this was when I first heard it on a chip shop jukebox while en route home from a dance in the summer of 1963. But as it seemed like an exuberant little belter, I assumed that it must be from one of the new beat groups then mushrooming everywhere. And indeed, it did have a wee touch of the Beatles to it.

Written by Hank Marvin, the song was recorded in Barcelona during the sessions that produced the Los Shadows EP and Cliff’s When in Spain album. And derivativeness notwithstanding, it was, I thought, the best Shadows vocal performance to that point in time. I still like it today.

That’s the Way It Goes (Dance with the Shadows album, 1964)

A Hank Marvin-Bruce Welch composition, this was done as early as 1961 by both Frank Ifield and the Brook Brothers, which gives it the distinction of being the first Shadows song to be recorded by anyone outside the immediate musical family. Ifield’s version appeared as the A-side of his fourth UK single and the Brooks put it on their one and only album.

Listening again to the three renderings, it’s interesting to note that the Shadows effort comfortably holds its own. Given Ifield’s undoubted vocal chops, that’s not grudging praise.

Mary Anne (A-side, 1965)

I suppose it was inevitable that vocals would eventually work their way back into the group’s A-side repertoire. After all, instrumentals had become generally less popular by the mid-60s and the guitar-drum line-up had natural instrumental limitations, especially if the distinct Shadows sound was to be maintained.

However, when that inevitable happened, it wasn’t a particularly contemporary effort. Written by Jerry Lordan of Apache/Wonderful Land/Atlantis fame, Mary Anne was a slow, gentle ballad set to an essentially acoustic arrangement. It was very pleasant and I liked it, but it was never going to be more than a minor hit.

Little Bitty Tear (Sound of the Shadows album, 1965)

This was a Shadows performance favourite, being first featured during a Sunday Night at the London Palladium spot in early March 1964 and still in the act in 1966. When I first saw them live, it was a real audience pleaser with all four gathered around the microphone for the chorus and Brian Bennett gently tapping his tambourine.

The song, of course, was already familiar. Written by country singer-songwriter Hank Cochran, it had produced a trans-Atlantic Top 10 entry for Burl Ives in early 1962, and it was his styling – half-country, half-folk – that the Shadows emulated.

To be sure, some people found it all a tad mawkish and it didn’t win the group any kudos for edginess. Again, though, I liked it. And still do.

Don’t Make My Baby Blue (A-side, 1965)

It would be hard to beat the pedigree of this one, coming as it did from the Barry Mann-Cynthia Weil writing team. Originally done by Frankie Laine in 1963, it gave him his first sniff of American Hot 100 action in over six years, peaking at Number 51 during a seven week run.

The Shadows version – with Hank taking the vocal lead and Norrie Paramor contributing some very effective piano – is first-rate, perhaps even the best of all their singing efforts. Gritty and direct, it easily deserved its Top 10 placing. Indeed, it wouldn’t have been flattered by something several rungs higher.




Will You Be There? (B-side to A Place in the Sun, 1966)

With a driving beat, a catchy tune and very solid harmonies to carry it along, it’s a pity that this Marvin-Welch composition was confined to a B-side. It really does move in a fashion that makes you think it could easily have been a Top 20 hit in its own right.

Yes, it’s derivative in the sense of sounding like a typical mid-60s beat group performance. But it’s a high-end performance, delivered with verve, punch and polish. And it still sounds good a half-century later.

Bottom Line

So should the Shadows have concentrated more heavily on vocals, perhaps even keeping some of their own compositions – like I Could Easily Fall and In the Country – for themselves?

I don’t think so.

For one thing, although they became very proficient singers and made a fair number of good vocal tracks, they never evolved a really distinctive singing style. There was no special stamp about them, nothing that set them apart from the crowd.

And then there’s the matter of what the marketing folks call brand dilution. The thing that made the Shadows really special was their trademark instrumental style. Mess with something that fundamental and you risk blurring your identity, which is never a smart thing to do.

A native of Ireland, Pat Murphy now lives in Toronto, Canada.
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Re: Shadows vocals

Postby artyman » Fri Jan 19, 2018 6:09 pm

Not specifically a Shadows Tribute (there's just two of us and mainly vocals) but apart from a couple of instrumentals we've included these
All My Sorrows
Mary Anne
Let It Be Me
Don’t Make My Baby Blue
Marmaduke
All I Have To Do Is Dream
True Love Ways
I Could Easily Fall In Love With You
Gee Whiz It’s You
Do You Wanna Dance
Bachelor Boy
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Re: Shadows vocals

Postby Moderne » Fri Jan 19, 2018 6:44 pm

Here (off the top of my head) is a list of Cliff songs which feature good Shadows backing vocals:

45s
Don't Be Mad At Me *
Fall In Love With You
Willie and the Hand Jive (of course!)
I Love You
Now's The Time To Fall In Love
We Say Yeah
Do You Want To Dance
Bachelor Boy
Dancing Shoes
Lucky Lips
Your Eyes Tell On You *
Don't Talk To Him
True True Lovin'
On The Beach
A Matter of Moments
I Could Easily Fall...
Just A Little Bit Too Late *
Watch What You Do With My Baby *
The Time In Between
Look Before You Love *
The Night
Blue Turns to Grey *
Somebody Loses *
What Would I Do *
Time Drags By *
In the Country
Finders Keepers
Why Wasn't I Born Rich

It's Only Me You've Left Behind * )
You're The One * ) produced by MW&F...sounds like it could be them singing
Wouldn't You Know It * )

LP tracks
Tell Me (mono Me and My Shadows only) *
I Love You So
Forty Days *
The Night Is So Lonely
Without You *
Shame On You *
So I've Been Told
What've I Gotta Do
Washerwoman
Oh Senorita
This Day
You Gotta Tell Me
Somewhere By The Sea
Ooh La La

EPs

Boum
Solitary Man *
Never Knew What Love Can Do * (not credited but sounds like them to me!)

Live on TV
Feeling Groovy (with Hank)
Bird Dog (with Hank)
Proud Mary (with Hank)
Love the One You're With (with MW&F)
When I'm Dead and Gone (with MW&F)
Down on the Corner (with MW&F)
Do You Wanna Dance (with MW&F)
Paperback Writer (with MW&F)

* = I particularly like these ones!

Wow, that was fun. I might have missed a couple (I'm sure there are loads more 'Live on TV' songs)...and likewise a couple of these might NOT feature The Shadows singing...but I think this is a pretty good list; there are some great performances from the 60s here - many of which seem to be largely forgotten now.
Last edited by Moderne on Sat Jan 20, 2018 4:15 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Shadows vocals

Postby ribiers » Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:17 pm

.."I want you to want me " is the one I like most..I'd see it sung and played by Keith Richards...
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Re: Shadows vocals

Postby Fenderman » Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:18 pm

Stay Around (from Shadow Music) is one of my favourite Shadows vocals i believe this would have been a hit if released as a single. If i were in charge i would have released Stay Around as a single and put I met a girl on the album in it's place, it wasn't really the best choice for a single for 1966.
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Re: Shadows vocals

Postby cockroach » Sat Jan 20, 2018 3:21 am

Thanks all for the info!!

Always looking for more possible material for my band, as we all like Cliff and the Shads, and already feature a number of Cliff's songs as well as Shadows and other instrumentals..
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Re: Shadows vocals

Postby Uncle Fiesta » Sat Jan 20, 2018 1:37 pm

I once performed Let Me Be The One solo at a buskers' event! All the vocal harmonies were on the backing track but it was still me singing them.

It's always been one of my favourite Shads vocal performances. And don't forget that even though Bruce forgot the first line, they were still only beaten by one of the other teams.
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