Definitely NOT re-record Hank's guitar parts from the 2004 live recordings! It sounds fine to me and what's the odd bit of distortion among friends?!!
I LOVE the idea of 1970s and 80s soundboard / mixing desk live recordings being given a good polish and released. There are some absolute classics out there and with a little bit of work they could be made to sound professional enough to be released.
I can't see the BBC recordings EVER seeing the light of day, officially anyway, as I think the time has come and gone and there seem to be multiple rights issues. Also, dare I say that I imagine that both Cliff AND (by association) the Shads will be
persona non grata as far as the Beeb are concerned at the moment!
What I would especially like to see (hear?) would be any completed but unreleased tracks that the Shads might be willing to approve for issue. There MUST be a few more on the shelf that are more or less acceptable or have maybe just been overlooked?
As you know, I did send a very extensive proposal to the BBC at least a year ago for a 'Shadows @ the BBC' programme, but never received a reply. So that more or less tells us the extent to which
that is likely! However, they did a lot of work for ITV (especially ATV) in the 1960s and beyond, so maybe a clips programme from them might be feasible?
As far as reunions/live work goes, I suspect that there is a very good chance that we will see both Brian and Bruce guesting with Cliff when he plays the UK later this year. I also suspect that if the tour is extended to take in Australia, then Hank will get up and do a few songs with him for sure. Otherwise, I doubt that anything will happen.
I think the best we can hope for, realistically, is a programme (on ITV) dedicated to Cliff's 60th anniversary - with some inclusion of the Shadows therein.
And I agree that Brian's book will probably - for us - be the highlight!
