Re: "Morning Star".

[captainhaddock]

Since the release of Ian McCutcheon's "Workout 14+" CD, I have been wondering about one of the tracks featured upon it.
The track "Morning Star" has been a favourite of mine since I first heard it on the "Rarities" LP in 1977. I know that it was composed by Lordan /Cook/Greenaway and on the LP has a production year of 1970 but wondered if it was written for a follow up to Hank's original solo LP or maybe was intended for the first LP but rejected. It does not sound as though it was written for "Shades Of Rock" which came out in 1970 I believe. Was the tracks appearance on "Rarities" its debut or did it appear elsewhere?. Some of the other tracks on "Rarities", "Wahine", "Break Another Dawn", "Midnight Cowboy","Sunday For Seven Days" plus my favourite "Evening Comes", seem just to good to have not been intended for another Hank Marvin LP, maybe an abandonned project or was the original solo LP meant to have been a Double LP.

[UlrichS]

Hi Philip,

"Morning Star" was first issued as the flip side of Hank's single "Break Another Dawn" (Columbia DB 8693, 17.7.1970).
First promo copies of this single feature "Would You Believe It" as the B side and have the same catalog number but a release date of 4.7.1970. This promo single was immediately withdrawn and replace with the single above and released two weeks later. The reasons for this exchange are unknown to me.

Hope this is of help.

Best wishes,

Ulrich

[JimN]

Hank had several UK single (45rpm) releases (on the EMI black Columbia label) spread over the period 1968 - 1971.

One was in the three-track "maxi-single" format. Some were attributed exclusively to Hank (ie, his name appeared on both sides of the disc) and some were partly-attributed. For example, some had one side credited to The Shadows and one to Hank, and one was partly-attributed to Cliff Richard or "Cliff and Hank". The maxi-single - The Joy Of Living - is probably more usually thought of as a Cliff Richard single, but it was also the release premiere for Boogitoo.

Here's the list:

1968: London's Not Too Far (HBM) // Running Out Of World (The Shadows) [mono]
1969: Goodnight Dick (HBM) // Wahine (HBM) - Columbia DB 8552 [mono]
1969: Slaughter On 10th Avenue (The Shadows) // Midnight Cowboy (HBM) - Columbia DB 8628 [stereo]
1970: The Joy Of Living (Cliff & Hank) // Leave My Woman Alone (CR) / Boogitoo (HBM) - Columbia DB 8657 [stereo]
1970: Morning Star (HBM) // Break Another Dawn (HBM) - Columbia DB 8693 [stereo]

I have heard it rumoured that Slaughter On 10th Avenue was not recorded as a Shadows release (perhaps being part of a projected Hank Marvin film music album) but was released effectively as a promo item in connection with the Marvin/Bennett/Rostill/Hawkshaw tours of Japan and the UK in 1969. That would make sense, as Midnight Cowboy (credited to Hank as the B-side of that Shadows single) would also have fitted into the same category.

Incidentally, Slaughter On 10th Avenue was the first stereo single by Hank or The Shadows. I still remember my own sense of disbelief on getting the record home and playing it for the first time on my home system. Previously, I had heard it only on the mono record-player of a friend. Back then, stereo was indelibly associated with the EP and LP formats (more the LP), although there was occasional mention of stereo 45rpm releases in the USA (and some jukeboxes were allegedly capable of stereo reproduction).

To be fair, with the exception of London's Not Too Far, Goodnight Dick and Slaughter..., the above list were linked by an almost total lack of promotion. Even as a keen fan, I wasn't aware of any of those other releases at the time - I found them for sale secondhand a year or two later!

Hope this helps,

JN

[captainhaddock]

Many thanks to Ulrich and Jim for taking the time to reply to my question. Do you think that it would be fair to say that Hank was moving towards a solo career upon the demise of "The Shadows" and that the ShadesOf Rock project and Marvin Welch and Farrar distracted him from this path ?.

[StuartD]

Hi Jim

I think Slaughter was intended as a Shadows release. I spoke with Hank backstage at the Palladium on the day that Bruce left -Dec 68- and he told me that was to be the next single and he also mentioned Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang. When I spoke to him in Dec 69 - it has been released by then - he told he was disappointed at how long it had taken to come out. "I thought it was all right when we recorded it but by the time it came out it was another year out of date", is exactly what he said to me.

Regards

Stuart

[JimN]

Hi, Stuart,

Interesting stuff!

Does that mean that Slaughter On 10th Avenue was recorded before Bruce's December 1968 departure from The Shadows?

(You can guess the next question...!)

JN

[StuartD]

HI Jim

I'm not too sure about that. The discussion was that they were going to release it as a single but were not sure that it would fit on one side of a 45 so it may have had to be on both. We now know, of course, that it did fit on one side. Malcolm Campbell will probably know for definite when it was recorded but we definitely discussed it on that day.

Regards

Stuart

[Arpeggio]

"Slaughter On Tenth Avenue" was recorded on December 13th, 1968 - shortly after Bruce departed. The original plan was to continue as the Shadows and to record tracks for an LP of film themes - hence "Slaughter..." and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" as mentioned. Obviously (as Stuart reports) - it was then decided to release "S.O. 10th Avenue" as a single but the release was then shelved for a while. Following an extended Christmas break Hank and Brian began to realise just how exhausted and jaded they really felt (both Brian and Hank have discussed this with me at some length in the past) and so decided to call it a day insofar as the Shads were concerned....much to John Rostill's dismay and annoyance.

Hank had no plans for a solo career until it was suggested to him by Peter Gormley. I would suspect that some on the tracks on his brilliant debut solo LP were probably lined up as ideas for the aborted Shadows LP of film themes - viz: "Windmills Of Your Mind", "Lara's Theme", "Born Free" and "The Big Country". Hank had also released "Midnight Cowboy" as a solo single. He also told me many years ago that he was deliberately trying to get away from his normal Shadows' sound with tracks such as "Goodnight Dick" and "Sunday For Seven Days". Hank didn't tour to promote his 1969 album. The 1970 "Shades Of Rock" (preceded by 1969's "Live At The Sankei Hall") was never meant to represent any long - term Shadows' reunion at the time. In 1970 Hank was very popular when appearing on Cliff Richard's TV shows as well as recording with Cliff. There was a plan to offer him his own TV series. Scripted by Sid green and Dick Hills (of Morecambe and Wise fame) - it was to be a mixture of chat, comedy and music from Hank plus invited guests each week. It didn't happen because Marvin, Welch & Farrar evolved instead. "I could have become", mused Hank, "a sort of Victor Borge of the guitar!"

Best wishes,

Rob B

[StuartD]

Thanks Rob

Regards

Stuart

[captainhaddock]

Once again, many thanks to all of you who have taken the time and trouble to reply. Ever since I joined this site, I have been astounded by the knowledge and personal insight of "The Members", can't you get together and write a definitive history of the band?