What sort of guitar do you think Bruce used on Cavatina?

[bgohara]

Here’s an interesting one. I heard the Shads’ 1979 version of Cavatina on Pick of the Pops recently. It was their last top ten hit. It’s a different animal from the John William’s version and I know it’s one of Hank’s favourites. He plays it beautifully. But I’ve also always loved the rhythm guitar on it - the arpeggios are fantastic - as is the sound. I’ve heard it many times but only thought today that Bruce could be using a nylon strung acoustic. Any thoughts?

[JimN]

Here’s an interesting one. I heard the Shads’ 1979 version of Cavatina on Pick of the Pops recently. It was their last top ten hit. It’s a different animal from the John William’s version and I know it’s one of Hank’s favourites. He plays it beautifully. But I’ve also always loved the rhythm guitar on it - the arpeggios are fantastic - as is the sound. I’ve heard it many times but only thought today that Bruce could be using a nylon strung acoustic. Any thoughts?

Was Bruce on it? He isn't always on late EMI Shadows tracks.

[Iain Purdon]

I don’t know but I thought Bruce wasn’t on it.

[Moderne]

I thought that Bruce wasn't on Argentina (I believe that was Clive Hicks...?) but assumed he was on everything else. What other songs from the EMI period did Bruce not play on?

[Unsospero]

The Shadows recording catalogue (Victor Rust) shows Bruce as playing rhythm guitar on both recordings with Brian Hicks playing 'guitar 'on Argentina.
Abbey Road (6th 10th 12th & 3th October 1978). Applause and guitar overdubs 23rd October.

Cavatina 17th March 79, text says "A perfect introduction by Bruce Welch on the acoustic guitar (replete with the squeaks on the strings as he changes chord, which was a feature of John Williams version)....

[bgohara]

I suspected that someone would suggest that Bruce wasn’t on it. Obviously I wasn’t there - so can’t be sure - but my understanding was that he wasn’t on Argentina and that would have been recorded some time earlier - so no reason to believe it wasn’t Bruce.

Yes - I agree - the intro is pretty much perfect.

The key part of the question though was whether it is a nylon strung classical guitar - any thoughts?

[iefje]

The Shadows recording catalogue (Victor Rust) shows Bruce as playing rhythm guitar on both recordings with Brian Hicks playing 'guitar 'on Argentina.
Abbey Road (6th 10th 12th & 3th October 1978). Applause and guitar overdubs 23rd October.

Cavatina 17th March 79, text says "A perfect introduction by Bruce Welch on the acoustic guitar (replete with the squeaks on the strings as he changes chord, which was a feature of John Williams version)....

That's Clive Hicks on the opening bars of "Don't Cry For Me Argentina". The rest of the track is Bruce on rhythm guitar. As far as I know, Bruce plays rhythm guitar on "Theme From The Deer Hunter (Cavatina)".

[bgohara]

The Shadows recording catalogue (Victor Rust) shows Bruce as playing rhythm guitar on both recordings with Brian Hicks playing 'guitar 'on Argentina.
Abbey Road (6th 10th 12th & 3th October 1978). Applause and guitar overdubs 23rd October.

Cavatina 17th March 79, text says "A perfect introduction by Bruce Welch on the acoustic guitar (replete with the squeaks on the strings as he changes chord, which was a feature of John Williams version)....

That's Clive Hicks on the opening bars of "Don't Cry For Me Argentina". The rest of the track is Bruce on rhythm guitar. As far as I know, Bruce plays rhythm guitar on "Theme From The Deer Hunter (Cavatina)".

Ivo - Re Argentina - I didn't think that Bruce was on the released recording at all. Of course he would have been on the 1989 re-recording. Strangely for me, the 1989 re-recording of Cavatina doesn't have the same impact as the original - though I guess you could say that for most of the re-recordings on that record.

[dave robinson]

I have just spoken to Dick Plant who engineered the session on which Cavatina was recorded.
It was Bruce and he used his little Martin - Dick’s words - and it was steel strung.

[iefje]

The Shadows recording catalogue (Victor Rust) shows Bruce as playing rhythm guitar on both recordings with Brian Hicks playing 'guitar 'on Argentina.
Abbey Road (6th 10th 12th & 3th October 1978). Applause and guitar overdubs 23rd October.

Cavatina 17th March 79, text says "A perfect introduction by Bruce Welch on the acoustic guitar (replete with the squeaks on the strings as he changes chord, which was a feature of John Williams version)....

That's Clive Hicks on the opening bars of "Don't Cry For Me Argentina". The rest of the track is Bruce on rhythm guitar. As far as I know, Bruce plays rhythm guitar on "Theme From The Deer Hunter (Cavatina)".

Ivo - Re Argentina - I didn't think that Bruce was on the released recording at all. Of course he would have been on the 1989 re-recording. Strangely for me, the 1989 re-recording of Cavatina doesn't have the same impact as the original - though I guess you could say that for most of the re-recordings on that record.

What I posted earlier, is information I got from Malcolm Campbell's book "A Pocket Guide To Shadow Music". What is for sure though I think, is that Bruce plays electric rhythm guitar on the full studio version (4:45), which was released on the CD "The Shadows At Abbey Road" in 1997.