MALCOLM CAMPBELL'S SHADOWS WEBSITE

By the time The Shadows had their first LP in the shops in 1961, they had already made a major contribution to four LPs from Cliff Richard, enjoying their share of chart success in the process (these reached 4, 2, 2, and 2 respectively). But The Shadows soared right to the top of the Album charts, as did its follow-up, Out Of The Shadows, in 1962. Their next four original Albums were also high achievers, despite the fact that from 1964 through to 1967 the group’s hold on the Singles market was not nearly as strong as it had been in the years 1960-1963: Dance With The Shadows¹ (1964) climbed to 2, The Sound Of The Shadows (1965) to 4, Shadow Music (1966) to 5, Jigsaw (1967) to 8. The ensuing six originals, issued between late 1967 and mid-1977, performed disappointingly, with a couple just making the Top Thirty and three not charting at all. With String Of Hits in 1979 they were back at the top, with the follow-up Another String ... (almost but not quite a compilation Album!) penetrating the Top Twenty in 1980.

Various collections of previously released material were marketed in the UK in our period, most of them to no effect. There were two notable exceptions: The Shadows Greatest Hits (1963, reaching 2), and the spectacularly successful 20 Golden Greats (1977, a chart-topper).

The Shadows, once established, were first and foremost instrumentalists, but a number of their major LPs found room for vocal tracks: there were three on The Shadows, three on Out Of The Shadows, two on Dance With The Shadows, three on The Sound Of The Shadows, four on Shadow Music, four (plus one part-vocal) on From Hank, Bruce, Brian And John, six ("Eurovision" material) on Specs Appeal; there were none on Jigsaw, Shades Of Rock, Rockin’ With Curly Leads, Tasty, String Of Hits.

Nearly all The Shadows’ LPs, whether original or compilation, were widely distributed, as a glance at the main entries under the various titles will show. Here are just a few facts and figures, based on the data available for the listings in this book, relating to the twelve major studio Albums²: the UK releases were shared by 32 different countries in all, with a maximum of 18 countries (for Out Of The Shadows) and a minimum of 11 (Rockin’ With Curly Leads). All twelve were released at one time or another in Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand and South Africa.

The Shadows also appeared in their own right on Cliff Albums, which will be considered next.

Collaboration for LP releases was quite extensive from 1959 through to 1968³ (the live production Thank You Very Much was the next fresh offering, over a decade later): there were seventeen original joint releases over this ten-year period, though the extent of the group’s input varied from one issue to another, as it did with the compilations put out in 1963 (Cliff’s Hit Album), 1965 (More Hits By Cliff), 1969 (The Best Of Cliff), and 1977 (40 Golden Greats).

Of the 267 tracks on the eighteen "originals", The Shadows joined Cliff for 132 and part of a further track, and contributed 29 and part of a thirtieth in their own right, as follows:

¹ All the original Albums were issued in both Mono and Stereo, or (latterly) in Stereo alone. Two tracks on Dance With The Shadows were (and still are) available in Mono only: BLUE SHADOWS and FRENCH DRESSING.
² Many were issued later than the UK parent Albums, and many had different covers/ artwork; some adopted native-language titles.
³ Sure signs of a very pronounced change of direction (already apparent in 1965, with the group making minimal contributions to When In Rome and Love Is Forever) came in 1966, with the issue of the "Shadowless" Kinda Latin; the next year likewise saw the release of Don’t Stop Me Now! and Good News, with Cliff In Japan and Two A Penny appearing in 1968.