BRIAN BENNETT'S NEW CD

[George Geddes]

Ooops! Didn't scroll down the photo!

I still have a pic. somewhere of you replication the RR pose at Pipeline, but with (I think) a Marquee...

George

[Fenderman]

My favourite so far is the Ipcress file, you can't really fault the album, the production and playing is faultless and it's good to have the Shads back for one last time.

[drakula63]

I’ll admit that I approached this album with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation. Why so? I hear you ask. Well, as a huge fan of the Bond movies, an admirer of both John Barry and Brian Bennett and having grown up listening to Geoff Love’s (now rather scratched) ‘Big Bond Movie Themes’ LP, I knew that this could go either of two ways… Fortunately I discovered that ‘Shadowing John Barry’ is an absolute blockbuster from start to finish!

Approaching John Barry’s pantheon of work (especially his Bond themes) is no mean feat and I’m happy to report that Brian Bennett and friends have risen to the challenge spectacularly; matching the originals and in some cases surpassing them. The version herein of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, John Barry’s alternative Bond theme, is, dare I say it, not only the best cover version I have ever heard but quite possibly better than the original. Brian has cleverly matched the guitar sounds to each track so that they both represent the tune and the era from which they come, whilst allowing the player to express himself and the piece to sound somehow contemporary. The blunt rawness of the guitar sound here sounds a bit like a Burns six string bass (think the Shads’ Stingray) and the powerful drums push the tune along. The heaviest and most exciting track on the album, with frenetic keyboards playing the original bass parts and the guitars forming a powerful wall of sound, I’ve played this one again and again! I love the way there seems to be a brief snatch of the Goldfinger coda (‘He loves only Gold’) during the outro; sort of referencing the film as it was referenced visually in the opening title sequence of OHMSS. Awesome! I love the way that Brian has now settled upon a solid, woody, authoritative drum sound, although the trademark Bennett touch is still there; The Man With The Golden Gun swings a bit more than the original, for instance. Of the guest musicians, Peter Frampton is possibly the most well-used; imbuing the opening track, Thunderball, with the kind of testosterone bombast that you need if you are standing in for Tom Jones! The best possible start to the album. The non-Bond tunes are perhaps less familiar to me, but here they are equal to the better known tunes and I am nothing less than blown away by the epic scale of the production; making half a dozen violins and a couple of cellos sound like a full orchestra! The album isn’t just about Bond themes, after all, and I am sure that John Barry (were he still around to hear this album) would be nodding with approval.

Which brings us nicely to The Shadows!

I’ll admit that this was the first tune I played upon inserting the CD into the player! Of course it was! The first new Shadows-only recording since 2004… I could hardly wait! What can I say? There are several tunes on this album that the lads could have played, but this was a less than obvious choice. And it’s all the more remarkable for it. The strings and Bruce’s acoustic rhythm guitar create a sort of shimmering bed upon which the melody rests. I listened to the original tune a few weeks ago thanks to youtube and I’ll admit that I was unsure as to whether it was going to work. It does! What is it about Hank? What is it? As soon as he plays just one note, you know it’s him. And you know that, to quote a non-John Barry Bond theme, nobody does it better. The emotion, the dexterity, the feel, the subtlety, the little touches that only Hank seems able to give. And Brian’s unexpected and well-judged drum fills. Without a doubt this is the best Shadows recording in a very, very long time. Better than Life Story and as good as - no; better than - anything they did during the 1980s. It just reinforces my yearning for one final Shadows album. As it is, with a roll-call that includes several former members, and long time associates, this album is probably the closest we’ll get.

In short, Brian Bennett has done it again! Not only has he pulled off the epic task of covering and reinterpreting some of the best known (and best!) movies themes of all time, but he’s also given us an album that, in its own right, can stand up against anything that he has previously produced. He’s had some help, of course, Warren Bennett, Mark Griffiths, Kevin Townend and Dick Plant, to name but four, have all contributed to bring this project to fruition, after quite a lengthy gestation period. And boy was it worth the wait!

So, congratulations and thanks to Brian Bennett and everyone else involved.

John Barry would have been proud.

The End.

[John Boyd]

Amen. You have summed it up succinctly Chris.
Cheers,
JB

[Fenderman]

Who knows? All the praise for the Shad's track might spur them into one last 'hurrah'. I wont hold my breath but it's something to cling to in the dark nights.

[Geoff_W]

Ray Russell replaced Vic Flick in the JB7, and played a Black Bison if I am not mistaken...

George

Burns Jazz (the same one as in the photo above, and also pictured on the front of the "Turn Circle" album). Ray still has that guitar, he told me.

Ray does indeed still have the guitar although it's actually a Split Sound. He's recently had it refurbished.

[JimN]

Ray Russell replaced Vic Flick in the JB7, and played a Black Bison if I am not mistaken...

George

Burns Jazz (the same one as in the photo above, and also pictured on the front of the "Turn Circle" album). Ray still has that guitar, he told me.

Ray does indeed still have the guitar although it's actually a Split Sound. He's recently had it refurbished.

I seem to remember that the model was indeed called the "Split Sound Jazz", though it is also sometimes referred to in the literature as the "Jazz Split Sound".



Later, the model was equipped with the generic Burns (Baldwin) scroll head and was the last of the really classic pre-Marvin era guitars left in the catalogue.



There was also a two pickup version (non-split sound) usually known as the "Short Scale Jazz". Burns made much of their shorter scale guitars during the beat boom - presumably because it was easier to play the Chuck Berry riff / Ranka Chank type rhythm with the frets closer together.

[Geoff_W]

Jim, if you check out Ray's photos on Facebook, there's a couple of good pics of Ray with the renovated guitar.

[iefje]

I must say, a truly great album! Does anyone know when all these recordings were made? I seem to remember, that Hank and Bruce were in the Honeyhill and/or Sunflower studios (last year?) to record their parts for The Shadows' track. There isn't mention in the booklet of Hank recording his part in Australia.

[Fenderman]

Not sure Hank would travel all the way from Oz to record one track.
Was listening again the Brian's album and my favourite at the moment is Midnight Cowboy, it's almost as good as Hank's 1969 version!