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...which is pretty much what I said, but in fewer words!

It's certainly true that, as far as offices go, the right hand often does not know what the left hand is doing. Whoever wrote the letter probably just looked at some initial contract or something and yes, you're right, they would probably never have known who turned up at the studio or not, or if they had known, they would probably have forgotten. If John turned up 'unofficially' at Hank and Brian's request, and there are no credits on the album itself, it's not altogether surprising that his involvement was not widely known about by those outside of the actual band. There is no doubt at all that John is heard on the album. It's just a shame he wasn't on all of it, with the utmost respect to the other brilliant bassists involved.

iefje wrote:

bgohara wrote:I wonder is Rostill on it at all?

Yes, according to Hank, Bruce and Brian he is on a few tracks. See also the earlier posts on this thread.

Ivo - I saw the other posts on the thread - but still had my doubts. However - having seen Rob’s post quoting earlier interviews, I’d say it is pretty likely he is on a couple of tracks. Still seems a little bizarre to me that they would record an album with three or four different bassists and, given that they were using three or four session men, that they would use Rostill at all, given that he was only in the UK for a limited time

bgohara wrote:Ivo - I saw the other posts on the thread - but still had my doubts. However - having seen Rob’s post quoting earlier interviews, I’d say it is pretty likely he is on a couple of tracks. Still seems a little bizarre to me that they would record an album with three or four different bassists and, given that they were using three or four session men, that they would use Rostill at all, given that he was only in the UK for a limited time

Maybe there was only very limited studio time and so whoever was available, played bass guitar on a specific track.

Come to think of it, there are seven albums on which more than one bass guitarist appears:
- "Out Of The Shadows": about half of the album features Jet Harris and about the other half features Brian Locking.
- "Dance With The Shadows": three tracks feature Brian Locking, the other eleven feature John Rostill.
- "Shades Of Rock": see this thread.
- "Specs Appeal": the six instrumental tracks feature Dave Richmond, while the six vocals feature Alan Tarney.
- "Tasty": four tracks feature Dave Richmond (recorded during the sessions for "Specs Appeal"), while the remaining seven feature Alan Tarney.
- "Moonlight Shadows": four previously released tracks feature Alan Jones, while the twelve new ones feature Paul Westwood.
- "Simply...Shadows": one track features Mark Griffiths, while the other fifteen feature Alan Jones.

I think most of the items in the previous post reflect the different timing of sessions combined with changeover of regular Shadows bass player duties (where that is involved).

However the Shades of Rock recordings are curious - you would also have thought that the different playing styles could be discerned anyway - I had a go at listening to it from this angle but gave up after three tracks!! I'm sure if I had more staying power I could give this method a go! Has anyone else done this? After all if it was the lead playing I'm sure some of you would have been giving a view.

Also, this was around 50 yrs ago - although I wouldn't doubt group members saying John Rostill was around at the time of the sessions and even that he played a little in the studio - would they necessarily know what ended up on the record and are we really suggesting that the record company would hire and pay session musicians who didn't even appear? I would have thought they'd have been as accountancy minded and tight fisted as could be imagined in that period!!

That said the bass parts I listened to were quite interesting - could certainly have been Rostill (he's great on the contemporary Tom Jones Vegas stuff) but there again the likes of Herbie Flowers did Space Oddity (a wierd and somewhat experimental sounding bass part - thoroughly in keeping with the subject) and Walk on the Wild Side - probably one of the most well known bass parts of all time and equally inventive - so it doesn't follow that sessions men only played bland background stuff by any means.

It ought to be possible to discern different players, especially with isolated bass tracks - anyone got the software?

Mark Daniels wrote:letter from Gormley management regarding who played on the Lp

It's worth noting, that no other musicians were listed for the rhythm guitar parts, so I think it's save to conclude that Hank played all guitar parts: electric lead, electric rhythm, acoustic lead and acoustic rhythm.