Shadows mentioned in music documentaries
Posted: 18 Mar 2013, 17:54Last Friday night I sat totally engrossed in two documentaries shown on BBC Four.
The first one was called ‘Graham Parker: Don’t Ask Me Questions’ and looked at the career of singer-songwriter Graham Parker and his band The Rumour. Wasn’t really familiar with him before, ignorant of me I know, but I was mightily impressed. I had heard Hank once speak highly of Brinsley Schwarz, who turned out to have been one of the guitarists in the band. I was pleased to hear both Mr Schwarz and his fellow axe-man Martin Belmont (both of whom were great players, by the way!) cite The Shadows as having been their prime influences. I was particularly amused to hear Belmont speak of how he used to insert a pen between the strings of a tennis racquet, as a kid, to act as a ‘tremolo arm’ whilst miming to Shadows tunes in front of the mirror!!
Even better, if possible, was the documentary that followed – ‘Oil City Confidential: The Dr. Feelgood Story’. It began with some fascinating stories and archive footage of life on Canvey Island in the 1950s and, I’ll admit that I was quite surprised when guitarist Wilko Johnson again referred to The Shadows as a prime influence. This was accompanied by a clip of the Shads from about 1963 live on stage. Wilko then played a little bit of, I think, Apache, in his own inimitable style. Dr. Feelgood were a fantastic band, but never in a million years had I suspected a Shads influence. But given the ages of the band members, I guess it should not have been surprising. Tragic that lead singer Lee Brilleaux is dead and that Wilko is suffering from terminal cancer. He came across as a very nice, extremely eloquent and well-educated man.
Both documentaries are feature length and I can recommend them both. I suspect that they will be available on the BBC iPlayer for the remainder of the week. As I say, I sat totally engrossed without moving from my chair for the entire duration of both. Something that very rarely if ever has happened before! Amazing stuff.
The first one was called ‘Graham Parker: Don’t Ask Me Questions’ and looked at the career of singer-songwriter Graham Parker and his band The Rumour. Wasn’t really familiar with him before, ignorant of me I know, but I was mightily impressed. I had heard Hank once speak highly of Brinsley Schwarz, who turned out to have been one of the guitarists in the band. I was pleased to hear both Mr Schwarz and his fellow axe-man Martin Belmont (both of whom were great players, by the way!) cite The Shadows as having been their prime influences. I was particularly amused to hear Belmont speak of how he used to insert a pen between the strings of a tennis racquet, as a kid, to act as a ‘tremolo arm’ whilst miming to Shadows tunes in front of the mirror!!
Even better, if possible, was the documentary that followed – ‘Oil City Confidential: The Dr. Feelgood Story’. It began with some fascinating stories and archive footage of life on Canvey Island in the 1950s and, I’ll admit that I was quite surprised when guitarist Wilko Johnson again referred to The Shadows as a prime influence. This was accompanied by a clip of the Shads from about 1963 live on stage. Wilko then played a little bit of, I think, Apache, in his own inimitable style. Dr. Feelgood were a fantastic band, but never in a million years had I suspected a Shads influence. But given the ages of the band members, I guess it should not have been surprising. Tragic that lead singer Lee Brilleaux is dead and that Wilko is suffering from terminal cancer. He came across as a very nice, extremely eloquent and well-educated man.
Both documentaries are feature length and I can recommend them both. I suspect that they will be available on the BBC iPlayer for the remainder of the week. As I say, I sat totally engrossed without moving from my chair for the entire duration of both. Something that very rarely if ever has happened before! Amazing stuff.