Why are The Shadows SO important to you?

[MikeAB]

A familiar story - at age just 13 in 1960 loving the electric sound of Apache on juke boxes without really knowing what it was for quite a while (scary, dark, mysterious teenage music for a young hitherto 'Proms' and classical fan). We hadn't ever really had the record buying habit at home with the very common shortage of funds, and we only owned a record player that plugged into the back of our 'wireless' to play our few 78's like The Dam Busters March and The Deadwood Stage. Then the Mustang EP looked so fantastic (just what was that fabulous red guitar!!) that I had to save up (!) and get it (and the titles were so great for a western fan) - and then I very quickly put two and two together and rapidly backtracked through the Shads stuff that I'd missed, and of course was immediately hooked as a totally loyal fan for ever. So grateful as they also led me later on into many other great bands like the Moody Blues, Genesis etc - but the Shads were the first and the best (if in doubt, you haven't seen the reunited show!). Wonderful Land was the first record I ever purchased without hearing it on the radio or TV first - a major risk when spending precious pocket money - and it needed a 6 mile round trip by bicycle, to get home in time to see them play it on TYL Stars.

The excellent Times review of The Final Tour got it right - multicoloured flashes in a grey landscape - or words to that effect. Apache and Wonderful Land will still sound modern and unique in a hundred years time.

Soundtrack to our lives indeed.

Mike

[glent]

tep, like everyone else, it was the twangy, echoie sound of apache, it sent shivers through me, i was sixteen on holiday with my mates, stood round a jukebox when IT came on ,that was it hooked!! bought their Lp, played it to death, that early sound love it, have learnt to play and now the enjoyment is greater, i will always love the shads music its in the blood!! the pleasure of it is imeasurable over the years, my favourite is FBI CHEERS ALL .....Tony

[BobGreg]

It's quite strange how The Shads have influenced the way our lives have evolved.

As a teenager I use to get the "hobby" magazine and in one of the editions they published a guide to making a guitar. This happened to coincide with The Ventures first record (I think Walk don't Run or was it Perfidia), The Krewcats and Samovar and The Shadows and Apache - I was hooked on playing the guitar!

At about this time I also went to see Cliff and The Shadows at the Sheffield City Hall.

So my interest was really fired up.

I made the guitar, a semi-accoustic and added a simple homemade tremolo, which was totally inadequate. I then decided that I needed to make a solid electrict guitar using some of the basics from the hobby project - styled the guitar on the Burns Artist.

The body was made from mahogany with the pickups made from war surplus air crew throat microphones - with a transformer (all from Bardwell's store in Abbeydale). The tremolo used a Austin 7 valve spring as the tensioner - it worked fine!

I had this guitar for a couple of years before I bought my Burns Artist guitar - which I eventually sold to our DM!

During these early years a group of us got together and tried to mirror our guitar "heroes" - it was a very rewarding experience - the 6 weeks school holidays were always spent intensely learning the new Shads numbers before appearing before our Youth Club on Sunday nights.

So from those early days my interest has always been focussed on The Shads music, mind you my musical tastes have been widened, largely influenced by my wife taking me to see The Halle orchestra, also appearing at the City Hall in Sheffield - not at the same time I might add!

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[Mary]

I have loved The Shads since I was 3 years old in 1962. I don't know why I liked them at that young age but I do know I never stopped. When I started buying records I searched second hand shops and record fairs until I had every single and LP. I first saw them live in 1977 and it was even better than I ever imagined.

However, when my dad died in 1979 and I was looking after my mam who was very ill I didn't have much of a social life. I only went out one night a year and that was to see the Shads in concert. It was the one night when I could just enjoy myself. The Shads and their music were an oasis in my life and I will always be grateful to them for keeping me sane. They were always approachable and I have many happy memories of meeting them and having a chat before or after the concert. When my mam died in 1984 it was the Shads who helped me through the pain of loss. There will never be enough words for me to express my gratitude to The Shads and I will never stop listening to my records and watching my videos and DVDs. The Shads quite simply saved my life and nothing is more important to me than that.

Best Wishes
Mary

[SELEDA284]

My reasons are simple.......like Drakula63 I have also had the good fortune to have met many fine people at the concerts, some of whom have become much valued friends over the years, purely as a result of our shared interest & love of The Shads..........
&.....? ...oh yes...... how could I ever forget that their music brought me 2 guitar-playing/Shadows barmy husbands...........

[ernie1958]

how could I ever forget that their music brought me 2 guitar-playing/Shadows barmy husbands

[Keith Bateman]

Well, I hate to be repetitve but mine is the same Apache story. That thrilling sound just struck a chord (pun intended) and I knew I wanted to play guitar. I was in my first year at grammar school at the time and managed to buy an Egmond acoustic (very much like George Harrison's first guitar) from our music teacher for £5. I later progressed (?!) to a Rosetti Solid 7 funded from my paper round and thence to a Futurama 111 and onward. I remember eagerly looking forward to the new Shadows releases and still get a thrill from looking at the old 45s of FBI and Frightened City, etc which hang on my wall today imagining them spinning round on the old Dansette whilst I struggled to learn them. I had a kindred spirit at school in those days of '60, '61 and '62 in John Cochrane (who posts on here as Cockroach). Many's the time we would be on the hockey field with our sticks held up like Stratocasters and doing the Shadows walk!

Like others I found the images on the first eps and lp were magical and mysterious as I learned about the different guitars seen on them. I remember getting the first lp through my Mum's Kays catalogue when you could buy singles and albums from it in those days.

Each member of the early group were outstanding instrumentalists for their age and the Hank, Bruce, Jet and Tony line up is still my favourite as it was such an influential format. I'm very lucky to have met and spoken to all of them, albeit briefly.

In short, The Shadows have always been heroes for me in their many incarnations and, as someone else has pointed out, nice guys as well. They formed my musical education and my appreciation of the guitar which led to listening to other heroes like Chet Atkins whom I regard as the greatest.

It was marvellous to see them still enjoying themselves so much at Cardiff last month - a true supergroup.

Keith

[cockroach]

Yes Keith- it was very impressive - you had all the Shads records - and a guitar too!

So it was you who really got me into it!

Thanks pal!

[captainhaddock]

Hello fellow Shadows fanatics ! This is my first posting and it seems only right that it should be on this subject. I am 46 and I have been a Shadows fan since my earliest memories were formed. I seem to remember that "Foot Tapper" was always on the Radio when I was tiny and it has gone on from there, I remember being fascinated by Hank performing "Sacha" on Cliffs TV show in 1969. Hank used two guitars and would swop mid stream from acoustic to electric, I wonder if anyone still has footage from the show ? Later that same year, I came across the single of Apache and played it to death. This was the year that I was given my first guitar and I have tried to emulate the band ever since, but to no great effect. I bought my first Shadows LP, Mustang, for 75p in 1972 and once again played it to death, the sheer variety of music contained within made it a perfect introduction to Shadows music . From "The Flyder and the Spy" to "Autumn" and "Little Princess". My Shadows record collecting followed no chronological order as the next album I bought was the much under rated "Rockin' With Curly Leads" with the wonderful variety of tracks being a favourite still. Later the same year I remember the death of the superb John Rostill being announced. Oddly I felt his death personally despite the fact that I didn't know him, following a Band can do that to you, or is it just me ?. Over the years I bought every Shadows LP that I could find in the shops. Each fresh purchase being another piece of a Jigsaw and each one again being played and memorised. In the mid 70's, I kept my obcession to myself, this was the era of New Wave/ Punk and to be a Shadows fan would have meant ridicule from my school mates. However I still went out and bought " 20 Golden Greats" where I found my 3 favourite Shadows tracks; Maroc 7, The Warlord and Place In The Sun. Thirty odd years on and I love the Shadows more than ever, they represent Craftsmen to me and their music will live forever, a slice of quality in a world that idolises total dross. Thank-you for the music.