Sankei Hall (live in Japan)

[Steve Parish]

What is the general assessment of this album? I love it personally because of BB's playing... and there are gems such as Exodus, A Little Bitty Tear, Putting On The Style, Don't Make My Baby Blue, Slaughter On 10th Avenue etc... not as bad as they make out? What do you think?

[StuartD]

Hi Steve

I like it too.

It's not the best recording quality but like you say it has some gems on there.

For me the Bass playing of John Rostill is what's important. It's the only real opportunity to see what he did with the original hits. His playing is superb and I still prefer his version of Nivram to all the others.

Regards

Stuart

[drakula63]

I'll admit that I have always been a little baffled by the general opinion of this album. I first heard it back in 1981 as part of MFP's Paris Olympia/Sankei Hall double album. Personally, I think it's a great album. It's lively, powerful, different. They all sound like they're having a good time (listen to John Rostill laughing here and there) and Brian is playing with real fire. (Similarly, I think the Shades of Rock album is underrated.) OK, so there's no Bruce, but Alan Hawkshaw has such a great sound that hearing him on tracks like Shazam, Dance On and Exodus is a real pleasure. Similiarly, I've always liked the skiffle/vocal numbers. Little B sounds great - Brian firing on all cylinders - as does Flingel Bunt and Foot Tapper. In short, 40 years on, I think it's still a great album. One of my friends, also a huge Shads fan, is of the same opinion. I now have the album on CD and vinyl, having obtained the original LP from eBay a few years ago. OK, so FBI doesn't quite work (!), but otherwise, I think it's a greatly underrated album, very enjoyable and one that I think more people really ought to try. In short, I'd give it 9 out of 10. It really is that good.

[suboA21]

I must try and get the CD version as my original vinyl bought in the early 70's is worn out and I don't think it has all the tracks the CD does.

On the vinyl the standout track for me is Exodus. But for me it's the overall Burns sounds that I love.
There are three distinct Shads/ Hank sounds that do it for me - Early stuff i.e. Apache to Wonderful Land. Then Early Burns - Lost City etc finally the Shadow Music abum to the 1st Hank Solo album which includes the Sankei Hall period

Steve

[iefje]

In my opinion it is quite a good album too. The live version on this album of "F.B.I." is not the best they have done, but the other tracks are alright. The standout tracks for me are "Shazam", "Exodus", "A Little Bitty Tear", "Slaughter On Tenth Avenue", "Don't Make My Baby Blue" and "The Rise And Fall Of Flingel Bunt".

[Peter K]

Hi,

I bought this vinyl album in 1971. It has never been released in the UK or in Germany because the Shadows didn't want it to be released but EMI in Belgium released it and I got an imported copy.
After listening to it several times I understood why the Shadows had blocked it, some tracks are rather poor, especially
" F.B.I. " sounds very strange, the rhythm playing of Bruce is sadly missed. But though missing Bruce very much I must
admit that Alan Hawkshaw played very well and there are some good tracks, too. I really like " Putting on the style ",
" Exodus " and " Slaughter on tenth avenue ".
It's also very interesting to hear John Rostill speak and sing and it's interesting to hear his bass playing on old tunes like
" Apache " and " Dance On ".
I never saw it on CD that's why I digitalized it myself and put it on a CD. Does the official CD feature any bonus tracks which are not on the original vinyl LP ?

Regards Peter K

[JimN]

Pace what my friend Peter says, the "Live At The Sankei Hall" LP certainly has been released in the UK. It was made available on the EMI Music For Pleasure budget label in 1981, coupled with a re-release of "Live At The Paris Olympia", as a double-disc album in a gatefold sleeve entitled "The Shadows Live" [MFP 1018]. This wasn't long after The Shadows left EMI for Polydor, and may have been part of a general search through the Hayes archives for releasable material, particularly in the wake of "String Of Hits" and the group's recent relative success with 45rpm singles. The same process probably led to the release of the "in the can" track Black Is Black - the only new tune on a full-price compilation album.

I first encountered the Sankei Hall album by chance in 1976, finding a Dutch-pressed Columbia copy [C052-05081] on display in the newly-opened branch of HMV in Liverpool. I didn't even know it had been recorded, let alone released. Of course, it was an immediate reminder of the 1969 UK tour as well as the Japanese tour. I had seen the Liverpool Empire performance by the Marvin/Bennett/Rostill/Hawkshaw line-up (with Cliff, of course) and whatever the limitations of the recording, at least it was a clear representation in stereo, though lacking something in the middle and lower frequencies. It stands as an irreplaceable document of a period which may be seen by some in retrospect as a bit of a low point, especially for some of the almost throwaway nature of some of the cabaret material the group was using on stage. But the Shads archive would be the poorer and the less historically representative without it.

Incidentally, the same album was eventually released on CD (in Japan, naturally), coupled with the track listing of the 1967 Japanese equivalent of "From Hank, Bruce, Brian & John". This EMI/Toshiba label CD, "The Shadows Live In Japan & Pops In Japan" [TOCP-6603] saw the light of day in 1991 and I got my copy via the good offices of Ian K Kershaw of the Australian "Shadows Circle Of Friends" (SCOFA). If you read this, Ian, thanks, mate.

Best wishes,

JN

PS: Isn't it about time the CD got an official European release, EMI?

[Peter K]

Hi Jim,

wow, it looks like I missed the UK release of Sankei Hall back in 1981, sorry for writing something wrong.
Does the CD feature some bonus tracks, compared to the LP ?

Regards Peter K

[iefje]

Hi Jim,

wow, it looks like I missed the UK release of Sankei Hall back in 1981, sorry for writing something wrong.
Does the CD feature some bonus tracks, compared to the LP ?

Regards Peter K

Hello Peter,

The CD featured the exact same tracklisting as the original LP, no extra material.

Pace what my friend Peter says, the "Live At The Sankei Hall" LP certainly has been released in the UK. It was made available on the EMI Music For Pleasure budget label in 1981, coupled with a re-release of "Live At The Paris Olympia", as a double-disc album in a gatefold sleeve entitled "The Shadows Live" [MFP 1018]. This wasn't long after The Shadows left EMI for Polydor, and may have been part of a general search through the Hayes archives for releasable material, particularly in the wake of "String Of Hits" and the group's recent relative success with 45rpm singles. The same process probably led to the release of the "in the can" track Black Is Black - the only new tune on a full-price compilation album.

I first encountered the Sankei Hall album by chance in 1976, finding a Dutch-pressed Columbia copy [C052-05081] on display in the newly-opened branch of HMV in Liverpool. I didn't even know it had been recorded, let alone released. Of course, it was an immediate reminder of the 1969 UK tour as well as the Japanese tour. I had seen the Liverpool Empire performance by the Marvin/Bennett/Rostill/Hawkshaw line-up (with Cliff, of course) and whatever the limitations of the recording, at least it was a clear representation in stereo, though lacking something in the middle and lower frequencies. It stands as an irreplaceable document of a period which may be seen by some in retrospect as a bit of a low point, especially for some of the almost throwaway nature of some of the cabaret material the group was using on stage. But the Shads archive would be the poorer and the less historically representative without it.

Incidentally, the same album was eventually released on CD (in Japan, naturally), coupled with the track listing of the 1967 Japanese equivalent of "From Hank, Bruce, Brian & John". This EMI/Toshiba label CD, "The Shadows Live In Japan & Pops In Japan" [TOCP-6603] saw the light of day in 1991 and I got my copy via the good offices of Ian K Kershaw of the Australian "Shadows Circle Of Friends" (SCOFA). If you read this, Ian, thanks, mate.

Best wishes,

JN

PS: Isn't it about time the CD got an official European release, EMI?

There has never been an official CD release by EMI UK, but it has been issued on CD in France in 2002 via Magic Records as a bonus set to "Live At The Paris Olympia".

What I really would like to see is an official CD release of one of The Shadows' concerts from their tour in Japan in 1967. From Malcolm Campbell's website I learned that one of those concerts was professionally recorded by EMI/Columbia.

[Moderne]

I bought the 1981 MfP double Live at Paris Olympia/Live at Sankei Hall Japan in July on the day I passed my driving test as a reward to myself, for £2.99 in WHSmith in Brent Cross. It still has the price label on. I drove there in my Wolseley 1500.

I knew you'd be interested!

Clive
PS I presume 'Exodus' was another possible track for the projected film theme LP project which was abandoned.