Guitarist Magazine

[Didier]

Here is what's written in Jim Elyea's book "Vox amplifiers, the JMI years" :
It all started when Hank and the Drifters made a special trip to Manchester to meet Gene Vincent. While there, Hank was able to check out his mate Joe Brown's echo unit (which Joe didn't like), and decided he had to have one. When next in London, Hank checked in with Jennings and picked up a Vox/Meazzi unit.

The Shadows (Drifters) probably bought their very first Vox amps, but when they started to appear often on TV with Cliff Richard (even before Apache), they were always supplied the latest Vox amps by Jennings who was well aware of the promotional effect they had.

Didier

[Arpeggio]

Hmmm. It all begins to get even more intriguing when you start to examine all of the evidence. We all know that not everything that apears in print is necessarily 100% accurate: "It all started when Hank and the Drifters made a special trip to Manchester to meet Gene Vincent." Now.....where, one wonders, did Jim Elyea get this little story from? On the Gene Vincent / Eddie Cochran tour....the only Manchester dates were March 28th - April 2nd 1960. I believe Hank had acquired his echo unit by then. In any event, The Shadows had quite a few TV and EMI recording commitments with Cliff during those few days. Of course...it's possible that they could have gone up to Manchester for one day during that busy spell. But......whatever else we may think about that, Joe Brown has always been adamant that it was in Edmonton that he demonstrated the echo unit's possibilities to Hank Marvin. Plus (as Gene had been brought over from the USA by their old chum & Cliff's mentor Jack Good) Gene Vincent was living in London for several weeks. Surely, if they wanted to meet him - why wait until April, 1960 and go to Manchester?? He had early tour appearances (January) in Harrow, Walthamstow and Kingston for example. No. There's something wrong here. The only time / date / place which fits in with both meeting Gene Vincent and Hank checking out Joe Brown's echo unit and being in Edmonton and being in 1959 is as follows.....before putting Gene Vincent on TV in Boy Meets Girls, Jack Good pulled off a major one - off coup by adding Gene to the bill of a Marty Wilde package (one night only). But.....even this can't be right - because...it was Tooting & not Edmonton and, as it was December 6th - Cliff & the Shadows were in Leicester that night!! Further thoughts / comments most welcome!!!

Rob

[Jiggerz]

Hi Rob, in the article in GM Hank is quoted as saying that the week in question they were doing a week with Cliff at the Liverpool Empire so they drove over from there to meet with Gene Vincent in Manchester where he was appearing on Jack Good's 'Boy Meets Girl' show which was being recorded there.

Hopefully that will clear up that quandary and fill in some gaps

Jayne

[Gary Allen]

I thought Hank had 2 meazzis at the start, A 6 head and a 5 head ?

[Arpeggio]

Thanks Jayne. Gene Vincent appeared on Boy Meets Girls on Saturday December 12th., 1959. I have no documentary evidence that Cliff / Shads were at the Liverpool Empire that week with the Cliff Richard Show. It's possible. Can anyone confirm it? Jim, you seem to know just about everything Liverpool - wise from that era. Any thoughts? They certainly played Leicester on Dec.6th & were at EMI on Dec.20th - then it was off to Stockton for Babes In The Wood. Anyone have any info for Dec. 7th - Dec.19th 1959??

Rob

[dogbender]

When we came back from Germany in April '62, our amps were in a really rough condition soundwise so when we went into Decca's West Hampstead studio 1 for our first recording session, the background hums, sqeaks and whistles had the engineer pulling his hair out.
Down in the basement or possibly studio 2, there were 3 Vox amps which we borrowed to use for the session and after which our manager, Terry King, approached Jennings to see if they would give us new amps. A couple of days later, we went down to Dartford and picked up 2 AC30s with the top boost as an addon in the rear panel plus a Vox bass amp. These all came free along with the chrome stands. Mine was a one off as it had shamfered edges instead of the normal rounded ones. I wonder where that amp is now along with the 61 strat and a Gibson ES335TDC which I sold in 1965 for £75 the lot! Hindsight is a wonderful thing knowing what they all would have been worth today!
Incidentally, the Vox amps were given to us before our first record was released which really gave itself up as the sales made a loss. Several records later, we still had'nt made a dent in the charts but we still had the amps.
Pete Gillies,
Former Rhythm Guitarist,
Wayne Gibson and The Dynamic Sounds.

[timrothwell]

Thanks to all for the info on Joe and Hank and the echo machine. Suffice it to say that whatever the chronological detail, Joe Brown has a major responsibility for the Shadows' sound. And he is still going strong as a wonderful musician. What an underrated player he is, and what an influence too.
Tim

[UlrichS]

Anyone have any info for Dec. 7th - Dec.19th 1959??

Rob

Hi Rob,

Cliff & The Shads played the Liverpool Empire from 7th until 12th December, 1959.
The programme was "Overture – Kay & Kimberley – Alan Field – The Four Playboys – Terry Scott – Jimmy Lloyd – interval – Kay & Kimberley – Barbour & Billy (?) – Terry Scott – Cliff Richard & The Shadows".

Best wishes,

Ulrich

[JimN]

Now.....where, one wonders, did Jim Elyea get this little story from?
Rob

Wherever the story came from, I am certain that Jim will have triple-checked it before including it in the book. He was most fastidious about distinguishing known and provable fact from rumour, half-remembered events or vague assertion...

JN

[JimN]

...Hank and the Drifters made a special trip to Manchester to meet Gene Vincent." ... On the Gene Vincent / Eddie Cochran tour....the only Manchester dates were March 28th - April 2nd 1960.
Rob

I'm sure I remember Hank quoting the Manchester venue as the Didsbury studios of ABC Television for an edition of "Oh Boy!" (or perhaps for one of its two ABC TV successors, "Wham!" or "Boy Meets Girl", if "Oh Boy!" was only ever televised from the Hackney Empire).

JN