RayL wrote:JimN wrote: Nivram, which up until then, I regarded - reasonably - as being a mere filler track on their first album and of no particular significance.
Reasonably? a mere filler?
Ah, Jim, while you were buying the album in 1961, I could only afford the EP, and I was really taken with Nivram from the start. To begin with, there's Bruce playing twin lead along with Hank. As Cliff says in the notes on the EP, "I think the most pleasing are the instrumental harmony pieces from Bruce and Hank" - and he's not wrong.
Then there's a bass guitar solo from Jet. How many bass guitar solos had there been on pop records before then? None. That was a first, and it was a solo that had been composed on as well as for a bass guitar, complete with that cheeky quote from the Sailors' Hornpipe at the end. Any Shadows band who plays Nivram expects the bass to play that solo note for note.
That was no filler.
Ray
I had that EP (in 1963) as well. I didn't get a copy of the LP until 1966 (a birthday present).
But consider this: I never heard any mention of Nivram except on that EP and LP. In particular, it was never played at any of the three live performances I saw before 1969. For me, it was literally just an album track. I liked it but not as much as Shadoogie, See You In My Drums or Find Me A Golden Street. What other significance did it have for someone in my position? Not a lot.
