The Boys

[JimN]

the LP version of Foot Tapper is heard playing on the radio on the bus in Summer Holiday

That is certainly the assumption one would make but the version used in the film is actually not the same as on the LP. It has not been released on record either. It’s just another version and was, I guess, recorded directly for ABPC (but I don’t have evidence for that)

That is true. The description of the version released on the "Summer Holiday" LP and the "Foot Tapping With The Shadows" EP as the film version is a mere convenience. It should really be just the album version (or maybe the soundtrack version.

[Iain Purdon]

Album version yes, soundtrack version no.
As (I think) I recall, the album version was really the Shadows’ first stab at the number. Somebody decided it wasn’t quite good enough so they did it again and released the newer version as the single.
The earlier version was then used for the LP. I prefer Brian’s slightly wild drum work on it and the bass guitar is less lost in the mix. But the fade ending is disappointing.
While on the subject, I rate Foot Tapper as the Shadows peak achievement. Not only was it a Number One hit but it was also the only chart topper they wrote themselves.

[iefje]

Album version yes, soundtrack version no.
As (I think) I recall, the album version was really the Shadows’ first stab at the number. Somebody decided it wasn’t quite good enough so they did it again and released the newer version as the single.
The earlier version was then used for the LP. I prefer Brian’s slightly wild drum work on it and the bass guitar is less lost in the mix. But the fade ending is disappointing.
While on the subject, I rate Foot Tapper as the Shadows peak achievement. Not only was it a Number One hit but it was also the only chart topper they wrote themselves.

I also prefer the album version to the single version, because somehow it sounds more exciting. Sometimes less polished turns out better, in my opinion.

[JimN]

Album version yes, soundtrack version no.
As (I think) I recall, the album version was really the Shadows’ first stab at the number. Somebody decided it wasn’t quite good enough so they did it again and released the newer version as the single.
The earlier version was then used for the LP. I prefer Brian’s slightly wild drum work on it and the bass guitar is less lost in the mix. But the fade ending is disappointing.
While on the subject, I rate Foot Tapper as the Shadows peak achievement. Not only was it a Number One hit but it was also the only chart topper they wrote themselves.

By "soundtrack version" I meant the "soundtrack LP version". I should have made that clearer.

Foot Tapper as The Shadows' peak achievement?

That's a bold statement. Especially as it was an effective confirmation of the watering down of the group's sound from the aggressive instrumental approach of the first year or two into what has been described variously as the Sammy Davis Junior years, the vaudeville act era and (by me) as the frilly shirts period (even if that mode of attire came a little later).

The aggressive era was marked by its peak with Kon-Tiki and The Savage and a slight pause for breath with the iconic Wonderful Land. Changes in the group brought forth Guitar Tango, which retained that sharp edge, even on acoustic lead guitar, and is still such a live performance tour-de-force today. But after that, both Dance On! and Foot Tapper mark the start of a different group, perhaps best characterised by their stage staples of the mid-sixties, Chattanooga Choo-Choo, In The Mood and Brazil.

I could say so much more...

[iefje]

During John Rostill's period with the group, they also released many more 'heavy' or 'aggressive' tracks as well as instrumental ballads and other more softer types of tracks. Tracks like "Don't Make My Baby Blue", "The War Lord", "Late Night Set", "Will You Be There", "Benno-San", "Thunderbirds Theme", "My Way", "Tennessee Waltz", "Naughty Nippon Nights" and "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Bath" to name but a few, fall into the 'heavy' category I think. Maybe the clothes the group wore on stage and the tracks they chose to perform on television distracted too much from this fact.

[cockroach]

Album version yes, soundtrack version no.
As (I think) I recall, the album version was really the Shadows’ first stab at the number. Somebody decided it wasn’t quite good enough so they did it again and released the newer version as the single.
The earlier version was then used for the LP. I prefer Brian’s slightly wild drum work on it and the bass guitar is less lost in the mix. But the fade ending is disappointing.
While on the subject, I rate Foot Tapper as the Shadows peak achievement. Not only was it a Number One hit but it was also the only chart topper they wrote themselves.

By "soundtrack version" I meant the "soundtrack LP version". I should have made that clearer.

Foot Tapper as The Shadows' peak achievement?

That's a bold statement. Especially as it was an effective confirmation of the watering down of the group's sound from the aggressive instrumental approach of the first year or two into what has been described variously as the Sammy Davis Junior years, the vaudeville act era and (by me) as the frilly shirts period (even if that mode of attire came a little later).

The aggressive era was marked by its peak with Kon-Tiki and The Savage and a slight pause for breath with the iconic Wonderful Land. Changes in the group brought forth Guitar Tango, which retained that sharp edge, even on acoustic lead guitar, and is still such a live performance tour-de-force today. But after that, both Dance On! and Foot Tapper mark the start of a different group, perhaps best characterised by their stage staples of the mid-sixties, Chattanooga Choo-Choo, In The Mood and Brazil.

I could say so much more...

Go on Jim! ..I'm with you so far...although some folks may be getting hot under the collar at this point!

Personally, I started to get a bit uncomfortable about the time the Dance With The Shadows LP appeared...good tunes like Perfidia...but corny old fashioned arrangement as a cha-cha... Definitely frilly shirt and dickie bow stuff...

They redeemed themselves somewhat with stuff like Flingel Bunt and even Rhythm and Greens IMHO...more in the modern idiot as Benny Hill used to say...

[Graham S]

Hi Everybody,
I've just watched "The Boys" again on Talking Pictures and the full uncut version of course, also its the first EP that my parents bought me and its in stereo so quite unusual for the time because as mentioned in other threads most people bought it in mono as the release dates were usually a few weeks apart (we couldn't wait for the stereo version to be released), I still have the EP and all the other EP's bought soon after all in great condition, I don't have anything to play them on but I would never part with them, one thing I did notice when the end titles were rolling was that Stan Coulter's father was named as Wensley Athey, his name is Wensley Pithey sorry to be perdantic.
Cheers Graham.

[iefje]

The Shadows' EP "Theme Music From 'The Boys'" is one of only five UK EP's which was released in stereo as well as mono. The five EP's are:
- "The Shadows"
- "Theme Music From 'The Boys'"
- "Out Of The Shadows"
- "Out Of The Shadows No.2"
- "Rhythm & Greens"

Just about one or two years ago, my father bought a copy of the stereo issue of the EP "The Shadows" for about €30,- at a record fair. It's still in quite good condition for its 57 years of age. Fortunately, he still has two functioning record players, both from the German Dual brand. The oldest one has an inbuilt stereo amplifier, which he bought in about 1972 and the other one in 1980. I also have a record player, from the German Thorens brand, which I bought in 2014.

But back on topic, the track "The Boys" is slightly longer in stereo (2:35) than in mono (2:30).

[Iain Purdon]

Would critics of the “watered down” sound put The Boys into that category?

[JimN]

Would critics of the “watered down” sound put The Boys into that category?

No.

The Boys was often described as an FBI clone. In fact, it was a fair bit more aggressive than FBI (and better for that reason, in my opinion).

I remember FBI being played on the radio and (sometimes on) TV at the time of its currency as a single, and I heard The Shadows close their live show with it in April 1962 (with Licorice and Peter Carter). I clearly recall regarding FBI as a pretty wild track. But your memory plays tricks on you, because, in mid-1963, when I bought a copy at NEMS in Liverpool (Whitechapel branch), and complying with the purchasing ritual, I asked for it to be played in one of those very kiosks so often seen on newsreel footage. I was 12 years old and knew nothing about music, but I remember being stunned by how tame FBI sounded by comparison with The Frightened City, Kon-Tiki and The Savage - or even Apache. Yes, Hank cut loose on the improvised solo, but the rest of the track wasn't like that. It wasn't how I'd remembered it in my imagination.

The Boys, on the other hand, was played by the whole group with more gusto and bravura and it shows. As well as that, and whilst I can take or leave The Girls, the Bill McGuffie composition Sweet Dreams is the best thing the group recorded in 1962 - bar none.

At this stage though (late summer / early autumn 1962), neither Dance On! nor Foot Tapper had been released. In the months after they were released, and then in the autumn of 1963 when Shindig was released, letters started appearing in the weekly musical press bemoaning the dropping of the early Shadows sound. It was undeniable. There were a few tracks here and there which retained and reflected it (the solo from South Of The Border, the whole arrangement of The Rumble and the Wonderful Land-like memento of Spring Is Nearly Here), but by and large, it had gone and it wasn't coming back.

There was no doubt good commercial justification for that. But it still happened.