Side 2 kicks off with 'Gonzales', a rip roaring track that took 58 takes to get on tape - even though this version has a couple of minor errors it still has great energy, Find me a golden street evokes a street scene from some old late 50's B movie, Theme from a filleted Plaice shows the Shadows having fun with the title wording which they would use throughout their career and on this track, the doubled guitar sounds good (a technique that was also explored on Nivram), 'That's my desire' is a quality ensemble vocal, 'My resistance is low' is a great old track given the echo laden guitar treatment by Hank with the notes becoming almost ethereal in the highest part, 'Sleepwalk' has become a Shadows and Hank Marvin live performance favourite for decades and the album rounds off with 'Big Boy' - likely based on the American Steam locomotive's beat - there was a locomotive called the Big Boy in America.
This album is pure quality, even 60 years later the tracks sound fresh, the playing and the studio sound is superb and this lineup of Marvin, Welch, Harris and Meehan lasted a mere year and a half lasted for one album, before Tony Meehan departed to be replaced by Brian Bennet for 'Out of the Shadows' their second album.
(This next line of Marvin, Welch, Harris and Brian Bennet lasted a short time before Brian 'Licorice' Locking joined for about a year until 1964, when John Rostill became the Shadows Bass player until their split in 1968). The early Shadows lineups (pre John Rostill) were drawn from the old 2I's Club in Old Compton Street players - all those had played in various bands in that famous venue. Out of the Shadows featured some Jet Harris and some Brian Locking tracks.
The treat of the first album's colour cover photo is to see Hank Marvin's original mythical Fender Stratocaster guitar in the famous Fiesta Red colour bought by Cliff Richard, looking a lovely pinky shade here. As with many of their future album covers, they were almost an unnofficial advertising opportunity for Fender instruments! The album was mostly sold in the Mono version as few people had proper true Stereo record players then, so the album pictured a 1961 Stereo version is very rare, more valuable being signed by 3 band members. I have one of these Mono LP's signed by all 4 members which is very rare as they were not long together in this lineup before Tony Meehan left not long after the LP's release.
Indeed, many Fender instruments were sold on the influence and sound the Shadows had. Demand for Fiesta Red Fender guitars was driven across the world by the Shadows without a doubt and demand could not keep pace lithesome being refinished in Britain to keep up with the demand. As George Harrison later said 'No Shadows, no Beatles.'
I came to this album in 1983, I had just purchased a Tokai TST50 Stratocaster as close to Hank's Fender as I could get and ironically copied from the same 1958 era guitar as Hank played on this album!
With a Sound City Valve amplifier and tape echo machine I was well on the way to the Hank Marvin sound. Now I use Vox Valvetronix AD60 or 120 and Tonelab Studio and Stage SE boxes to get that great sound.
I was able to follow the style and technique of Hank Marvin and this has given me a lot of pleasure over the last 40 years! Even today when I hear the tracks on this album, they still sound fresh. I have backing tracks from this album and enjoy playing along to them.
This band was immensely talented back then and remain so. This album is a musical milestone of the early 1960's from a band that helped define the music of the decade that followed.
