M, W & F Dusted off.

[Geoff Alderton LH]

Hi all.
Over the past few days I have been listening to some off my LP’s which haven’t seen the light of day for a long time. Four of the LP’s were, Marvin, Welch& Farrar. M,W & F Second Opinion. Hank Marvin& John Farrah and finally a Marvin, Welch & Farrar, Step From The Shadows, LP.
Played at a decent volume on decent equipment in a good listening environment these tracks let us know just how good M W & F were at their trade. Superb vocals, superb guitar playing. Any new comers to the site who are not familiar with the M W & F era should take a listen to stuff they turned out, there are some real jems. Lady Of The Morning, Music Makes My Day, Skin Deep are just three of my favourites there are lot’s more. If you haven’t given M, W & F a spin recently, like me, give them a dust off and play them loud. As our Mr Geddes points out, on the sleeve notes on Step From The Shadows, The Marvin Welch and Farrar period is perhaps a neglected one in the story of the Shadows. Hopefully this compilation will show that such neglect is unjustified.
Well said George.
Regards Geoff.

[flingelbunt]

Spot on Geoff! The MW&F period was sadly largely neglected, and of course, Hank & Bruce's long running Shads history sadly clouded this tremendously innovative stage in their career. Bruce told me that John's attention to the harmony detail was a big part of the recordings. I have MWF in my car stereo system, and on long journeys I still thrill to the songs- they still sound fresh now.

I had the fortune to see them a couple of times in concert- they were excellent, but even by then they were having to include mainstream Shads numbers into their show to cover that demand.

Maurice

[Didier]

The is no doubt that Marvin, Welch & Farrar did some good vocal recordings, but Crosby, Stills, Nash & Yound did better before in the same style. The only trouble is that I have never been fan of this style...

Didier

[Paul Creasey]

Couldn't agree more, Geoff & Maurice.

M, W, & F..............WONDERFUL stuff!!

Got John Farrar's eponymous solo CD, too........very nice!

Even sounds good to my elderly & partially deaf ears, on slightly dodgy equipment, AND in a less-than perfect listening environment!

Highly recommended to anyone not familiar with their work.

Sorry, Didier, I never DID get into Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, so not sure about your "in the same style" comment.

Regards
Paul

PS. My LP collection went missing six years ago, so all my listening is now to CD.

[donna plasky]

Got John Farrar's eponymous solo CD, too........very nice!
Regards
Paul

I agree with Paul...John Farrar's solo album is great! I was playing it this afternoon, actually. There are still a few copies for sale on both the UK and US version of Amazon.com. YouTube has several videos (with audio only) of songs from John's album, including Reckless, Recovery, Can't Hold Back, and here's "Gettin' Loose":



Best wishes,
Donna

[Didier]

Sorry, Didier, I never DID get into Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, so not sure about your "in the same style" comment.

The Marvin Welch & Farrar style was based on vocal harmonies and acoustic guitars, just like Crosby Stills Nash & Young did before. Of course they were not identical !
As an instrumental group, the Shadows were leaders, as a vocal group MW&F were followers. I guess it was an attempt at doing something new, after the decline of instrumental music, but records sales were never big, and at concerts audiences kept asking them to play Shadows' tunes...
So after a few years, they did the logical move : they went back to Shadows' music !

I have a copy of the quadraphonic version of the "Second Opinion" album on a DTS CD-R, but never listened to it in full...

Didier

[cockroach]

I wonder if they were really disappointed that the MWF group never really caught on?

They would have put a lot of work into the songwriting , arrangements and recordings too.

And as has been said, that 'West Coast USA' acoustic/vocal harmony group style was certainly a popular going thing at that time...even the similar sounding Air Supply, and the Little River Band (both from Australia) had success in the USA and elsewhere during the '70's....as well others such as America, CSNY, Eagles etc etc..

Maybe they should have grown their hair, beards etc, worn denims, and called themselves by a different group name rather than seeking to rely on their own names for some credibility.
(You can bet that a punter checking them out back then, and who had seen the name 'MARVIN' up front on the billboard may have thought...'oh, must be Hank playing in this new group, we might hear some Shadows tunes...')

[StuartD]

Hi

They were good but I think, probably for the only time in their career, they were let down by their management. The shouldn't have been playing at Batley Variety Club and such, they should have been doing festivals but their management didn't really have those contacts. I saw them every night in their first ever week in cabaret at Batley and remember discussing with them whether or not they should have a Drummer and a Bass Player. They weren't that keen, up till then they had just used the three of them but they eventually decided to get Jamie Byrne on bass and Craig Collinge on Drums. The died on the backsides the first two nights and by Tuesday they had included Dance on and Apache in the set. It was a real shame because they were superb, both on record and live. they could have achieved so much more.

Regards

Stuart

[bob t]

And don't forget the excellent live tracks on Cliff Goes East 17=972 featuring Marvin & Farrar and Brian Bennett Band

Backscratcher / Flingel Bunt / Mr Sun / Apache / Lonesome Mole / Tiny Robin / A Thousand Conversations / Bye Bye Love / Something / Keep The Customers Satisfied

Never released officially on CD although Cliff's part of the concert has been which does have Backscratcher on it


Bob T

[drakula63]

The Marvin, Welch and Farrar period was one of the most creative and outstanding, both musically and vocally, of their career. In all honesty, I don't think the Bee Gees, The Beach Boys or Crosby, Stills and Nash could have sounded any better. The vocal harmonies were faultless. Listen to Thank Heavens I've Got You for proof of this. Second Opinion, in particular, is an album that I never get tired of listening to - it sounds better than most albums could hope to sound these days. I think I've got two or three copies on CD, plus a couple on vinyl, including the Quad version. In my opinion, it is one of the two or three best albums they (Marvin, Welch, Bennett, Farrar, etc...) ever recorded.

I listen to some so-called vocal groups and I have to laugh. The Shadows were known mainly as instrumentalists, but as singers (under whatever name), they could knock spots off most of them.

What a shame this period of their career was not as successful as it should have been. I for one would have bought their records in the early Seventies, had I have been aware of them and of a record-buying age at that time.

Long live Marvin, Welch and Farrar. And how about a reunion tour...?