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I was reminded by a recent up-load to you-tube of "Breakthru' " that the track was written by a"Shadows fan " from Manchester called Geoffrey Taggart. Does anyone know whether Mr Taggart ever wrote anything else or indeed whether he ever existed or is he another alias in the Robyn McGlynn/Jon Allen manner.

captainhaddock wrote:I was reminded by a recent up-load to you-tube of "Breakthru' " that the track was written by a"Shadows fan " from Manchester called Geoffrey Taggart. Does anyone know whether Mr Taggart ever wrote anything else or indeed whether he ever existed or is he another alias in the Robyn McGlynn/Jon Allen manner.

<grrr!>

"Manchester"?

Geoff really does exist (he's a Pipeline subscriber for a start) and he is from .... Liverpool !!

JN

JimN wrote:

captainhaddock wrote:I was reminded by a recent up-load to you-tube of "Breakthru' " that the track was written by a"Shadows fan " from Manchester called Geoffrey Taggart. Does anyone know whether Mr Taggart ever wrote anything else or indeed whether he ever existed or is he another alias in the Robyn McGlynn/Jon Allen manner.

<grrr!>

"Manchester"?

Geoff really does exist (he's a Pipeline subscriber for a start) and he is from .... Liverpool !!

JN

Don't blame me, blame Malcolm Campbell's "A Pocket guide to Shadow music".!!!!!! . So did he write anything else? and was he the only fan to contribute a composition to the band?

Tsk! Tsk! I certainly knew that Geoff Taggart was from Liverpool. I seem to recall that he wrorked in a bottling plant of some kind. Malcolm, Les & myself all 'proof read' each other's contributions to our little book as well as having people like Stuart Duffy and George Geddes cast a critical eye over things too. Sorry - between us we missed that one (viz: Geoff Taggart - Manchester (not!!!). Geoff may have written other pieces of music but none were recorded by the Shadows. Off the 'top of my head' I can't immediately recall any other examples of the Shads recording songs purely from 'anonymous' fans.

Bests....Rob

Arpeggio wrote:Tsk! Tsk! I certainly knew that Geoff Taggart was from Liverpool. I seem to recall that he wrorked in a bottling plant of some kind.

Garston Bottle Works, Window Lane, Liverpool 19 - second half of the 1960s.

How do I know?

Because a friend of mine (a big Shads fan) also worked there, on and off whilst doing his A-levels. He told me about Geoff being the person who'd written Breakthru.

Arpeggio wrote:Malcolm, Les & myself all 'proof read' each other's contributions to our little book as well as having people like Stuart Duffy and George Geddes cast a critical eye over things too. Sorry - between us we missed that one (viz: Geoff Taggart - Manchester (not!!!). Geoff may have written other pieces of music but none were recorded by the Shadows. Off the 'top of my head' I can't immediately recall any other examples of the Shads recording songs purely from 'anonymous' fans.

You might include the two by Pierre Teodori in the later 1980s...

JN

PS: I have a half-recollection that the late Tommy Moore (the first drummer the Beatles had) also worked at the infamous Garston Bottle Works.

Ah....but Pierre Teodori was / is also a professional musician....but I hear what you're saying Jim. Garston Bottle Works...yes..that was the place. You see...we can find out virtually anything on this site!!!

Bests....Rob

The best thing to come out of Manchester is the road to Liverpool!

J

MM obviously your not a "Hollies" fan Justin!

Hi

I thought he was from Manchester. I remember being back stage at the Apollo in Manchester - it was the Silver Tour -I think -, when Hank had the French Strat and the Tony Hicks one - and someone came and said Geoff Taggart was asking for the Shadows at the Stage Door. Bruce immediately said 'Breakthru'' and Geoff came into the Dressing Room. Hank was talking to him about some compositions he had sent in and talking about parts of the tunes. He was with someone who I knew was from Manchester, so I assumed he too was from there. But it shows he was still submitting stuff at that time.

Regards

Stuart