by Arpeggio » 13 Jul 2018, 14:39
Clearly John was unavailable to commit to the project 'officially' in full, because of his contract with Tom Jones and being in the USA. Thus, the Shads decided to employ Herbie Flowers / Brian Odgers as required. However, it has been established that there was a short spell when John Rostill was back in the UK. He remained particularly close to Bruce Welch and Brian Bennett. So, he could easily have played on 2 or 3 tracks in that time. The pertinent fact is that Hank, Bruce and Brian ALL told me in different interviews, at different times that John Rostill definitely played on at least two tracks on "Shades Of Rock".
The letter does not prove that John did not play on "S of R". As it emanates from the Gormley offices, it does prove what Bruce, Brian and Hank all told me. Namely; as John was not going to be generally available...the services of Herbie Flowers and Brian Odgers were required. The fact that John subsequently turned up and played on 2 (or 3) tracks may not even have been mentioned to Gormley's office staff. Hank, Bruce and Brian could invite John to play on a session with no difficulty whatsoever.
Those of you who have been involved with researching the Shadows' history will attest that there are errors in both the BBC and EMI archives / documentation as to who played on certain sessions.