The Shadows' first single: which one's the A-side?

[iefje]

The very first single under The Shadows' name was "Saturday Dance"/"Lonesome Fella". I just saw a demonstration copy for sale on eBay and was surprised to find that the matrix number for "Saturday Dance" is one higher than "Lonesome Fella". I checked the Discogs website to see if the regular release also has this and it's the same. Does this mean that "Lonesome Fella" is the official A-side of the record?

[UlrichS]

I think I've read somewhere that in EMI's catalog the record was listed "Lonesome Fella" b/w "Saturday Dance". With the US release the matrix numbers also have LF as A-side.

[Moderne]

I don't think the 'earlier matrix no. denotes the A-side' rule is always true; I'm sure Saturday Dance was the A-side of that disc. Talking of A-side/B-sides and listening to the Shadows on TV CDs, I notice that they performed Bombay Duck and Somewhere a few times but not Maroc 7 or Tomorrow's Cancelled. Anyone know why this was? Maybe Somewhere and Bombay Duck were easier to perform live...not relying on strings or 'female voices and vibes'. Have I answered my own question?!

[JimN]

I can confirm that the A-side, listed in the EMI catalogue of the day, was definitely Lonesome Fella.

In 1963, at the age of 12, I had been buying Shadows singles at the larger NEMS store in Liverpool for a few weeks and one of the sales assistants remarked that I was always buying their older records. She asked if I wanted to see the catalogue and produced it from the departmental office, letting me in to sit down and read it. The only 45-DB release listed before Apache was Lonesome Fella / Saturday Dance. I asked if the shop could order it for me, but she went over to the famous indexed stock shelves and pulled out a brand new repressing with the then-new black Columbia label. Luckily, I hadn't bought anything else and still had my 6s 8d and was able to buy it. I still have it.

Of course, had I known enough about it, I could have looked under "Drifters" and found Feelin' Fine and Jet Black.

[iefje]

I find it very strange that "Lonesome Fella" was listed that way. I'm sure "Saturday Dance" was the track the group and Norrie Paramor considered a potential hit, so that must have been the A-side. With "Man Of Mystery"/"The Stranger" it's also the case that the matrix number for "Man Of Mystery" is one higher than "The Stranger".

[JimN]

Man Of Mystery / The Stranger was specifically released as a double A-side.

It is definitely the case that Lonesome Fella was the A-side. It wasn't merely an error with matrix numbers.

I'd say that LF was actually the more commercial side in December 1959 and early 1960.

The EMI catalogue also listed The Stranger as the nominal A-side; not Man of Mystery.

[iefje]

"Lonesome Fella" in style is a bit like "Travellin' Light" from the same year. Again, it really is news to me that that one was the A-side and "Saturday Dance" the B-side, but I keep learning.

[GoldenStreet]

According to the 1961 book, The Shadows By Themselves, Saturday Dance is certainly the side they had such high hopes for as their breakthrough recording, expressing major disappointment when it just failed to make the charts. Apparently, Jet hated listening to Lonesome Fella, disliking hearing himself as lead singer.

https://www.45cat.com/record/db4387

Bill

[Iain Purdon]

There was disagreement too, as we all know, between the Shadows wish for Apache and Norrie Paramor’s belief in Quatermasster’s Stores

Surely, though, these details are of clerical/administrative interest only. We all know the decisions made and the outcome!

[JimN]

According to the 1961 book, The Shadows By Themselves, Saturday Dance is certainly the side they had such high hopes for as their breakthrough recording, expressing major disappointment when it just failed to make the charts. Apparently, Jet hated listening to Lonesome Fella, disliking hearing himself as lead singer.

https://www.45cat.com/record/db4387

Bill

For all of that, Lonesome Fella was the A-side!

It isn't surprising. Things had moved on from the doo-wop style in which Saturday Dance was arranged and Lonesome Fella was more obviously in the mainstream of what was happening in pop music at the turn of 1960.