The Shadows at the Colosseum: 60 years ago

[iefje]

Exactly 60 years ago, The Shadows played the four tracks live at the Colosseum in Johannesburg which made up the highly popular and energetic EP. Hank has spoken warmly about these performances.

[Gatwick1946]

It was the 1980's before I got to hear these tracks, on a large format, vinyl, re-issue EP.

Great live sound and I like that intro to Shadoogie - and Shazam sounds fast compared to the later version (1963?).

I have read that they could not take the VOX amps to South Africa, so had to use another make (poss. Gibson?). To my ears, I cannot detect much, if any, change to their 1961 sound.

Kindest regards,
Christopher

[iefje]

It was the 1980's before I got to hear these tracks, on a large format, vinyl, re-issue EP.

That's very interesting. I didn't know the EP van reissued on a 12" EP. I know about the original 1961 South African and Southern Rhodesia 7" EP issues and a 1979 UK limited edition 7" EP issue by John Friesen. All four tracks were also reissued on the 1990 UK compilation LP (and CD) "The EP Collection Volume Two" on the See For Miles Records label. The tracks have also appeared on various compilation CDs.
By the way, I first heard two of the tracks ("Shazam" and "Guitar Boogie") on a 1991 radio broadcast of a two-hour special of Cliff Richard & The Shadows. I later discovered my father's copy of the original 1961 EP.

[tolo]

Hello all - after this post I took a trip to the site this famous old Cinema / Theatre - and thought I would share a few photographs of what a magnificent building it was... I can see why Hank remembers those concerts fondly.

Sadly demolished now - of another age - quite sad... the first picture is the site as it is today... the rest - as they say - is history...

[Stuart]

I remember the original EP very well as I was in Southern Rhodesia in the 1960s.The EP Live at the Colosseum was very popular at our school.At that time The Shadows reigned supreme.Their unique sound meant that we all wanted to play their tunes and sound like them.So here we all are sixty years on, still trying to perfect that sound!

[Fenderman]

I first heard the tracks on the SFM cassette 'The EP collection volume 2'. I remember a sticker on the back that said the live tracks had been dubbed from disc as the master tapes had been destroyed by fire so i guess they weren't stored at Abbey Road.

[Pinner Fan]

There was a full page article on this EP in a recent edition of Record Collector.
.

[JimN]

I first heard the tracks on the SFM cassette 'The EP collection volume 2'. I remember a sticker on the back that said the live tracks had been dubbed from disc as the master tapes had been destroyed by fire so i guess they weren't stored at Abbey Road.

Correct. The tapes for this were not stored at the EMI UK archive (which is, or was, in Hayes, Middlesex).

Although an audibly scratchy copy of the original EP was used by See For Miles for the LP / CD / MC "The EP Collection vol 2", some of the tracks do exist in a form derived from the master tapes without having been through a vinyl stage.

Better quality copies of FBI and Shazam! were used on the South African EMI CD "Gold - Greatest Hits Collection" (1994) [CDGOLD (WB) 9] and it is possible that one or other of Sleepwalk and Guitar Boogie were similarly copied to the master tape reel for another South African compilation, whether on CD or LP.

However... better vinyl copies do exist. I have a mint copy of the EP (kindly sent to me by Nigel Fort of Pietermaritzberg) and could easily use that as a superior source.

[Alan Taylor]

Guitar Boogie was included on the mid-'60s German LP "Cliff Richard & The Shadows Forever" - a strange find in a Brighton record shop in 1966!

[drakula63]

It's a fantastic EP. I've got it courtesy of the 2001 Magic Records CD entitled 'Dance with the Shadows'. Interestingly, the perf/rec date given on this is 23rd May 1961.