Shads on TOTP: 1980

[JimN]

Don,

The version with the synth drum was the one released as a 45rpm single (and used since then on compilation albums). The original version, no synth drums, had been released on the 1979 LP "String Of Hits".

[Gary Allen]

How did something like Captain Beaky get on TOTP in 1980,

[MMStingray54]

Don,

The version with the synth drum was the one released as a 45rpm single (and used since then on compilation albums). The original version, no synth drums, had been released on the 1979 LP "String Of Hits".

Thanks Jim. On TOTP BB had a rack of four tuned to different pitches (though I'm sure it was possibly not played live) he was clearly quite taken with the new (and very transient) technology - lasted from about 78 (eg Rose Royce - Love Don't Live Here Anymore) to the early 80s.

I still can't get over that bass sound and the tightness of the playing on Riders - fabulous!!

[Iain Purdon]

Yes, Don, a great bass sound. That's George Ford gyrating with a bass guitar round his neck but what you're hearing is Alan Jones on the record (to which they're miming and which is faded early!!)

Drossophobes can jump straight to the Shads 20 minutes in but I recommend you start at 15'58". Do you think it might have given Hank, Bruce and Brian an idea??

[drakula63]

Can't believe the amount of sheer dross I had to sit through just to see 3 minutes of the Shads!

I did warn you!

[MMStingray54]

Yes, Don, a great bass sound. That's George Ford gyrating with a bass guitar round his neck but what you're hearing is Alan Jones on the record (to which they're miming and which is faded early!!)

Drossophobes?

Hi Iain,

I think Alan Jones is a fabulous bass player my absolute favourite Shadows bassist followed by Rostill (as well as being a Brummie which gives him a boost in my book......) his playing on Flingel Bunt is almost Jack Bruce esque - fantastic. I suppose the others were a bit more in the idiom of dance band into rock and roll/pop but that may be the influence also of Mr Paramour. Whatever, the bass playing on Riders is fabulous.

Now, drossophobes ........ Yes there was some dross but you're sounding a bit like my dad when watching TOTP in the late 60s - objecting to the Stones and particularly Hendrix!! No doubt he though it was dross and longed for the appearance of Julie Andrews and Nana Mouskouri!! Or maybe the Singing Nun......

I quite like seeing the Undertones and even Adam Ant etc again. Indeed I've transplanted the bass part from Black Box Right on Time into one of my current band songs as a direct result of watching these 80s TOTPs!!!

[Iain Purdon]

Ha ha - it was guidance for the person who mentioned dross so he could get straight to the Shads in future!

I'm with you on the other acts, including Captain Beaky which I'm sure did well thanks to Noel Edmonds' repeated airplay on Radio 1.

I watched the whole show and the number before the Shads was Dave Edmunds doing Singing The Blues, an arrangement which Cliff and the Shads virtually copied for their release 3 decades later.

As to dads, mine too was a Singing Nun fan. I forgave him that because he liked Geronimo and had even bought Apache.

Talking of lifting bass lines, try playing Jon Entwistle's solo bits from My Generation in Shazam!

Works a treat ... have a listen

Shazam-Who.mp3

(224.77 KiB) Downloaded 464 times

[George Geddes]

I am sure I read somewhere that BB had the controls of the Syndrums glued in place so that they only made 'that' sound...

Don't try this at home, kids!

George

[drakula63]

I THINK that this Thursday's edition features the Shadows third and final appearance on Top of the Pops with Riders in the Sky. I also think that this is the VERY LAST appearance by them on the show.

IF I'm right, then it'll be worth watching. Hopefully it'll be third time lucky, as their previous two appearances were edited out of the 7.30 showing (although included in the late night repeats).

Fingers crossed...

[Moderne]

Thank you, Chris, for alerting us to The Shadows on Top of The Pops. I remember a lot of their appearances from the time when I was in the 4th/5th form at school, trying in vain to convince my friends (who would walk around school with Armed Forces by Elvis Costello or Lynyrd Skynyrd or Led Zep LPs under their arms) that The Shadows were a great group!! It's funny but the prevailing feeling at the time seemed to be, "What are these ageing has-beens doing, trying to have another bit of chart glory" whereas now they don't look much older than their late 70s chart contemporaries!

I probably wouldn't have noticed their ToTP appearances on BBC4 if it weren't for you! (I agree, there seems to be an anti-Shads bias amongst the programmers of these repeats...)

Cheers,

Clive