New Shadows Release due September

[Arpeggio]

No one (least of all me!) should underestimate the enormous amount of work & research that Tony has undertaken down the years - not to mention the fantastic (& sadly missed) "Shadsfax" magazine. Without Tony - releases such as "The Shadows At Abbey Road" would have simply never happened at all. The 'lost' stereo "London's Not Too Far" (as he has just mentioned - is just one of the many tracks found by Tony). Plus, of course, the 'jewel in the crown' - the missing (for nigh on 50 years) stereo master for "FBI" also tracked down by 'The Hound Of Sound' Mr Hoffman. His own Legacy Sounds CD from 2008 was simply magnificent. Crammed full of great instrumental tracks - with lots of rarities and first - time stereos. From what I understand, it was after that when things seemed to go awry betwixt Tony & EMI. Obviously Tony had lots of ideas for a follow up CD - only to have all of his requests be continually turned down. Why?? Quite frankly - only the people concerned at EMI know. No wonder he's become thoroughly disenchanted with them.

To put the record straight.....I was also treated (IMHO) very badly by EMI once I'd done all of the research about the Shadows BBC sessions (as neither the BBC nor EMI themselves would pay any of their own staff to do it). I did it all for free & then I was completely 'cut dead' once I'd passed on all of the information. I have tried several times to get the project reactivated - only to be told by EMI to 'get lost' (in not so many words). Twice I have tried to get the material issued (quite legitimately and properly) by other labels. As a result I was actually threatened with legal action!!! Not very pleasant (whether it would have actually come to that, I don't know). I won't name the person concerned publicly as I don't wish to be accused of defamation of character / slander / libel etc., etc.

As regards "The Early Years" - I actually suggested more or less the same as is happening now* (*adding the 30+ mono tracks was Jim Nugent's idea) at least four times between 2001 and 2012 - only to be turned down flat - in no uncertain terms - every single time. Which is why I was very surprised to be contacted completely 'out of the blue' just a very short while ago to assist with this major restrospective. I knew that Tony had been poorly served / treated by EMI of late & my own recent experiences weren't all that great. But, to be perfectly frank, my main thoughts were genuinely with Shads fans / collectors worldwide. So - I had to put any personal reservations aside & try to be objective. The result is this new set - which has to be good news for all Shads devotees. I don't doubt for one moment that Tony (if he'd been approached) would have done an equally fine job on this project. Sadly, that was never going to happen because of the (understandable) present circumstances. I'm not gaining a personal fortune from this (far from it!!). I just wanted to put it on record on rhis forum -that I have the highest regard for Tony. Not only is he a fine researcher, not only was "Shadsfax" vitally important, not only was his Legacy Sounds CD superb - but what about his work with The Tone Raiders and Legend too!!! Tony is rightly one of the 'legends' of Shadow Music. I think that it is deplorable the way that EMI have treated him of late, but I couldn't let my personal feelings get in the way of trying to make "The Early Years (Expanded Edition)" as good as possible.

Rob

[Graham S]

Are all the mono tracks on the 90's remastered stereo/mono digipak version of all the 60's albums, (with the exception of Sound of the Shadows of course which was only available in stereo) mastered from the stereo tracks, I havn't listened to the albums for a while but I was sure there were different versions of the same tracks, particularly on "Jigsaw" Tennessee waltz to name one, maybe Rob or Jim can help.

Graham.

[Arpeggio]

The 1990s digipaks featured mono / stereo versions of "The Shadows" / "Out Of The Shadows" / "Dance With The Shadows" / "Shadow Music" / "Jigsaw" / "From Hank, Bruce, Brian and John". The mono mixes were indeed the original mono mixes! "The Sound Of The Shadows" was only reissued in stereo because of running time constraints - which is why the mono mixes (hitherto unissued on CD) from that album will be on this new collection. Otherwise - good sources for mono cuts on CD include the 2004 reissues of "The Shadows' Greatest Hits" and "More Hits!" as well as the 2003 CD "A's, B's and EP's" (apostrophe misuse / 'abuse'!!) on EMI Gold.

Bests....Rob

[JimN]

The 1990s digipaks featured mono / stereo versions of "The Shadows" / "Out Of The Shadows" / "Dance With The Shadows" / "Shadow Music" / "Jigsaw" / "From Hank, Bruce, Brian and John". The mono mixes were indeed the original mono mixes! "The Sound Of The Shadows" was only reissued in stereo because of running time constraints - which is why the mono mixes (hitherto unissued on CD) from that album will be on this new collection.
Bests....Rob

Much as I hesitate to contradict, Rob, I believe that technical time constraints were not the reason for the "Sound Of The Shadows" 1997 DigiPak containing only the stereo version of the album.

I've just loaded that CD into my player, and the total playing time is returned as 36:47. That is comfortably under half the maximum playing time for a CD. The original 1983 Red Book specs for CD-DA were for 74 minutes in total*, though improvements since then mean that up to 80 minutes can be achieved. Even on the original specs (which had been superseded by 1997), "The Sound Of The Shadows" could have been issued with both the mono and stereo versions on one disc, with a total running time of about 73:40. Other discs from the time were advertising running times of 77 minutes and up.

Playing times (totals) for the mono/stereo DigiPaks were:

(a) "The Shadows": 73:07
(b) "Out Of The Shadows": 71:39
(c) "Dance With the Shadows": 69:37
(d) "Shadow Music": 68:25
(e) "Jigsaw": 76:01 (!)
(f) "From Hank, Bruce, Brian and John": 68:21.

In the period since the DigiPaks were released (and deleted), the jewel-cased mono/stereo version of "The Shadows' Greatest Hits" ran out at 76:29 and the equivalent version of "More Hits!" contained a whopping 78:01 of audio.

My feeling is that at first, there was simply no plan to include the mono versions on the DigiPaks. The decision was made after the release of the "Sound Of The Shadows" and because that was such a recent reissue, it was felt that a further, revised, version would not be commercially successful...

JN

[Arpeggio]

I cannot disagree with Jim's data nor his logic. Ergo - he is (as usual!) correct. Which makes EMI's decision not to issue "The Sound Of The Shadows" in the mono / stereo format completely baffling. I do recall asking Nigel Reeve (who was behind the series) at the time why "T S O T Shadows" hadn't been issued as mono / stereo like every other CD in the series and it was he who mentioned the 'timing issues'. I just blithely accepted the explanation and didn't bother to follow the simple expedient of checking the timings as Jim has done. Curioser and curioser. Well, that was all 15 years ago now...but still puzzling.

Rob (Thanks Jim)

[Didier]

I don't remember when this exactly happened, but in the mid sixties, records companies stopped making different mono and stereo recordings, and also dropped publishing different mono and stereo releases. Everything was recorded in stereo and released as mono compatible stereo. In France this was called "gravure universelle" (universal groove).
The trick was to mix the lower bass in mono, so that vertical moves would be reduced for mono PU cartridges, only designed for lateral moves (sum of stereo sound).

Didier

[JimN]

EMI in the UK were issuing in both mono and stereo as late as 1969. Hank's first solo album was released under the SX and the SCX series.

[iefje]

EMI in the UK were issuing in both mono and stereo as late as 1969. Hank's first solo album was released under the SX and the SCX series.

That is Hank's only album to be released in both mono and stereo. Also, only Brian Bennett's first album "Change Of Direction" was released in mono and stereo. I have made a mono/stereo CD for each of these albums for my personal use only, the mono albums taken from the original vinyls and the stereo album from the later CD issues.

[Didier]

EMI in the UK were issuing in both mono and stereo as late as 1969. Hank's first solo album was released under the SX and the SCX series.

In France, the last Shadows' album issued with both mono and stereo releases was "The sound of the Shadows", everything later was isued on a single "gravure universelle" release.

Didier

[JimN]

EMI in the UK were issuing in both mono and stereo as late as 1969. Hank's first solo album was released under the SX and the SCX series.

In France, the last Shadows' album issued with both mono and stereo releases was "The sound of the Shadows", everything later was isued on a single "gravure universelle" release.

Didier

That's interesting. It might mean that the stereo mixes used for French releases, because it featured the bass in the centre (not universal for Shadows releases in the UK), is different from the UK stereo...