Shazam or Shazam?

[Twang46]

Shazam! belongs of course to Duane Eddy & is THE definitive version

Written & produced with Lee Hazelwood in 1960, I don't think there is a legitimate live recorded performance from the early days, which is a shame

Dick.

[RayL]

Duane played Shazam! on his UK tour in the spring of 1960 before it had been released over here. It was a completely 'new word' as far as we in this country were concerned and I couldn't make head nor tail of it when he said the name on stage at the Finsbury Park Empire (I was scribbling down the set list on my programme).

Incidentally, I've done a little article for Pipeline Magazine about that concert (set list included), which should be in the next issue (No.97)
Ray

[Paul Childs]

On the studio version, seeing it was around the time when John replaced Licorice, who played bass?

[Iain Purdon]

The studio version is a different proposition. It's not trying to whip up a live frenzy, it's doing a pro job on someone else's tune. I think it's as tight as a drum and it's my favourite version. Do I hear the Paramor piano in there?

On the studio version, seeing it was around the time when John replaced Licorice, who played bass?

This was the Licorice line-up.

[Pierre TEODORI]

Hello,

I like very much the live versions of Shazam at the Colosseum or ABC Kingston but for me the best is the studio version: perfect tempo, sound and playing.
Moreover, each time I'm listening to this version it makes me think, particularly Hank's phrases from 1.16 to 1.32, to Jimi Hendrix sound and playing on "Hey Joe".


I think the same regarding "The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt": there are great live versions for example at The Paris Olympia in June 1975 or by Marvin & Farrar in Japan 1972, or Hank and his son but the studio version is top class and the bass part by John Rostill is fantastic. Naturally I'm aware it was impossible in the 60s to get the same sound in live that at the recording studio.

Best regards

Pierre

[Billyboygretsch]

Duane has the Twang with the Gretsch.

[Billyboygretsch]

Although I really enjoy the Shads stuff I think there have been some great covers of their music. TWANG is a great album. I prefer FBI probably because it is more varied than the original. The original is still great

[JimN]

Duane played Shazam! on his UK tour in the spring of 1960 [i]before it had been released over here. It was a completely 'new word' as far as we in this country were concerned and I couldn't make head nor tail of it when he said the name on stage at the Finsbury Park Empire (I was scribbling down the set list on my programme).

Incidentally, I've done a little article for Pipeline Magazine about that concert (set list included), which should be in the next issue (No.97)
Ra[/i]y

Subject to whatever will eventually be in your article, Ray, I have to say that "Shazam!" was not a new word for some of us in 1960.

The word first came to our attention in an American DC Comics title, that is, one of the 10c imported titles which were popular in the UK from the 1950s onward. The character Captain Marvel, similar in some ways to Superman, was an "ordinary" person (Billy something or other) who could transform into his super alter-ego (Captain Marvel) when he exclaimed the word "Shazam!", in a similar way to how the ordinary guy in another comic changed into the Incredible Hulk by getting angry.

Magic transformation words were common devices in super-hero comics of the day. A different super-hero called "Marvelman" effected his change from man-in-the-street to Marvelman by exclaiming "Kimota!". The more observant reader will already have noticed an instrumental music analogy in that "Kimota" is the word "Atomic" spelled backwards (á la Marvin/Nivram), albeit with the hard C sound firmed up by being swapped for a K in order to obviate any possibility of the word being accidentally pronounced "Simota".

Even in the comics relating to the supreme super-hero, the "name spelled backwards" had a part to play. The Superman series, around 1959/1960, featured a character called Mr Mxyzptlk (pronounced "Mizyezzpittlick") who was from the Fifth Dimension. He wasn't an evil character, but a prankster who plagued Superman with jokes and stunts. The "McGuffin" was that anyone who had come from the Fifth Dimension could be forced to return there by being tricked into reciting their own name backwards. And the same was true in The Fifth Dimension for people from our dimension. A story featuring Superman in the Fifth Dimension had Mr Mxyszptlk trying to get the hero back to his own dimension by tricking him into reciting the names of the first three dogs in a race: "Nam", "Rep" and "Us". It didn't work, mainly because Superman's name wasn't really Superman. It was only when he was tricked into saying "Le-lak" that the trick worked and Superman was returned to Earth.

I'll... er... get me coat.

[Twang46]

Hello,

Naturally I'm aware it was impossible in the 60s to get the same sound in live that at the recording studio.

Best regards

Pierre

Your wrong there Piere

Duane toured (in the early 60's especially) during the 60's with the same people in his band that he recorded with.
His "live" sound on stage was for me better than the recorded sound, I saw the 1960 show & witnessed the beginning of Bobby Darin's set being interrupted by people still cheering & shouting for Duane.
The running order was changed after the first few shows to Duane closing the first part of the show.

The Shads have some good live recordings as well that are easily the equal of the recorded versions they played.

Live music always wins for me ....warts & all

Dick.

ps.................we must have read the same comics Jim

[noelford]

Jim beat me to it! Captain Marvel fans (I was one) were completely au fait with 'Shazam' back in the fifties and knew exactly where Duane got his title from when the record was released in the UK

Billy Batson was the boy, Jim.