BOMBAY DUCK
(Toshio Honda)
Shadows: April 1967 B-Single (MAROC 7/ UK No.24)
Ventures: April 1968 LP (Japan) Pops In Japan No. 2
The arrangements are essentially similar. No doubt our two groups were drawing upon an identical demo, very possibly sent by the President of Toshiba EMI to America as well as to the UK (see A Pocket Guide To Shadow Music p.186, and on [27] above). The Ventures’ wah-wah infused rendition is light and frothy, a fun piece really (“a chirpy jog” Dave Burke, Pipeline 44 [1999] 43), whereas the British version (a B-side, but an A-side in Japan), despite the reference in the title to a piece of dried fish securely laid to rest, has all the power and grunt of a charging rhino with its lashings of rasping fuzz guitar and driving percussion. You pays your money …