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I have just been watching the 1975 Shadows line up, with John Farrar, on you-tube. They were performing the six Eurovision songs and it set me thinking, "What if John Farrar had stayed with The Shadows".
His arrival in 1970 and the formation of "Marvin Welch and Farrar" or later "Marvin and Farrar" gave us three vastly under-rated albums that sound great after 40 years +. In my opinion, (Tin hat time), John's contribution to "Rocking With Curly Leads"and "Specs Appeal" raises the quality of the albums above all of the post break-up albums. John's guitar playing seemed to awaken Hank and stretched his abilities, maybe it took some of the responsibilty of leading the group from Hank's shoulders ?. Farrar 's wonderful vocal abilities were to give them a totally different sound that made them a true vocal/instrumental group that should have had prolonged success.
If John Farrar had stayed and the late great John Rostill survived and rejoined the line up it could have given a whole new impetus and life to the band and may have prevented the drift into the bland covers band that was to follow .

As talented as he was,he was never a shadow. A great voice but never really made it as a vocalist either, They deserved more success but it wasnt to be, 20 golden greats came along gave them another 35yrs in showbiz. John Farrar did alright too........................

Gary Allen wrote:As talented as he was,he was never a shadow.

Never a Shadow? In addition to being a gratuitous cheap shot your comment is also completely inaccurate. What a disappointing lack of respect for a great guy and an outstanding musician.

Andrew

Gary Allen wrote:As talented as he was,he was never a shadow. A great voice but never really made it as a vocalist either, They deserved more success but it wasnt to be, 20 golden greats came along gave them another 35yrs in showbiz. John Farrar did alright too........................

Which John are you referring to as not being a Shadow? If you regard John Rostill as 'not a Shadow', then Brian Bennett wasn't a Shadow till 1977 either, as Hank and Bruce owned The Shadows name till that time after Jet and Tony had left.

While I still have a lot to learn about The Shadows, I would say that as a fan I don't put too much emphasis on whether someone (like John Farrar for example) was considered a session player or a Shadow. I've only been a Shadows fan since the time Mark G. joined the group, so everything I've learned so far has been after-the-fact. But I do agree with Captainhaddock. I think John Farrar's presence had a similar effect on The Shadows as you might see in professional sports. Sometimes a new player joins the team and they bring a certain energy with them and it lifts the team. The same could be said about the Shadows who came before John and after John, but he certainly did have a lot to offer.

When I bought John's solo album (which I really like), it came with a booklet -- possibly written by a member of this Forum. I'll post an image of only the front cover so as not to violate any copyright, but it is a fascinating read. I only wish that the name John Farrar was a well-known name here in the US. People here know his work, but they don't know it's his. He wrote a lot of the songs in Grease and Xanadu and many of Olivia Newton-John's solo hits, all of which were quite popular. If John's Australian group, The Strangers, had ever gotten a big break in the US, I think they could have given the Beach Boys a serious run for their money. John can sing exactly like Mike Love, if not better. But if that had happened, I guess he wouldn't have joined The Shadows or MWF.

Thanks for listening.

Kind regards,
Donna

Hi Donna

It was I who published that John Farrar booklet you have and it is still available for any site members who fancy a copy.
Only £1.50 plus postage. PM me if interested.

Hank & Bruce are The Shadows in legal terms but I have always associated all musicians who played under the name 'The Shadows' as proper members, i.e John Farrar, Alan Hawkshaw and all the others.

Hoffs

I think if John Farrar had stayed beyond 1975 they would have moved towards a more heavy sound, you can hear glimpses of what might have been on 'Rocking....'
Who knows, they might even have became a heavy metal band (but i doubt it).
Does anyone know if John keeps in touch with any of his old bandmates?

It was like a different band when they were Marvin, Welch & Farrar, even when he was still there when they became The Shadows again, around Eurovision time. Good music but it wasn't The Shadows, The Shadows are an instrumental band first with just a few vocal numbers.
It was a similar thing with The Beach Boys in the early 70s when they had Blondie Chapman & Ricky Fataar with them, it changed the sound and it wasn't them with things like Sail On Sailor.
When John Farrar left The Shadows gained popularity again with Don't Cry for Me Argentina, Theme From The Deer Hunter & Riders In The Sky which made the charts plus another detail, they came back with Fenders instead of Burns to give them the old sound they had in the early days.

According to reports, John still keeps in touch with Bruce (and probably Hank). There was a report (from Bruce) a few years ago of his visiting John and Pat Farrar at their home in Malibu and his taking copies of the See For Miles MWF CDs for John as a present.

JN

Paul Childs wrote:It was like a different band when they were Marvin, Welch & Farrar, even when he was still there when they became The Shadows again, around Eurovision time. Good music but it wasn't The Shadows, The Shadows are an instrumental band first with just a few vocal numbers.
It was a similar thing with The Beach Boys in the early 70s when they had Blondie Chapman & Ricky Fataar with them, it changed the sound and it wasn't them with things like Sail On Sailor.
When John Farrar left The Shadows gained popularity again with Don't Cry for Me Argentina, Theme From The Deer Hunter & Riders In The Sky which made the charts plus another detail, they came back with Fenders instead of Burns to give them the old sound they had in the early days.

To me, everything The Shadows recorded and released is 'that sound'. Some people just consider the sound of the first two or three years of the group as 'that sound', but as musicians you cannot and should not keep everything the same. In the longer term it would have become boring to still record music with the exact same setup, equipment and musical style. I'm therefor glad The Shadows have evolved as time passed. The group would have sounded quite old-fashioned in the 1970's if they would still sound like they used to in the 1960's. On the other hand, while they evolved, they still managed to have a very own unique sound, which is also important.