shotgun

[negninegaw]

Last week I heard the stereo version (YT) for the fist time ,
and for the first time I could distinguish between both lead guitars.
I always thought that the last 3 notes of the first melody line: D, (bent) C, A were played by the first lead guitar,
but they appear to belong to the 2nd guitar.
Did Bruce Welch play the second lead guitar in "Shotgun"?
Or did Hank overdub it?

[GoldenStreet]

Shotgun (recorded 5/9/60) remains one of my all time Shads favourites and, so the story goes, was considered as a strong contender as follow-up single to Man Of Mystery/The Stranger, but ultimately lost out to FBI. If Bruce wasn't playing second electric guitar (the Jazzmaster?), I don't know what he was playing! It has to be one of the classic early examples of rocking single string electric guitar interplay.

Bill

[mojolomjl]

Never heard this number before, or at least don't remember it, and I thought I knew most of The Shadows numbers.

[iefje]

"Shotgun" is a great original track (credited to Jon Allen, but in reality composed by Hank, Bruce and Jet) from the first EP "The Shadows". The other tracks are great as well. Bruce did indeed play the harmony lead guitar.
To my knowledge, the take chosen as the master was recorded live in the studio without any overdubs. Overdubbing didn't really exist in 1960, at least not in the UK, but sometimes a primitive method was used to add vocals and/or instruments to a basic track. The tape with the basic track would be played back, while at the same time the vocals and/or instruments would be recorded together on another tape machine. I think it was called "superimposition".

[RayL]

Overdubbing didn't really exist in 1960, at least not in the UK, but sometimes a primitive method was used to add vocals and/or instruments to a basic track.

Recording on magnetic tape was available to commercial recording studios from the very early 1950s when tape recorders became the standard method of recording professional sound.

From that point on, any studio that had two recorders could add sound on sound, whether you call it 'overdubbing' or 'superimposition'. Les Paul was a pioneer in this and had many successful recordings (often with his wife Mary Ford) in the 1950s. In Norman Petty's studio in Clovis in 1957 Buddy Holly recorded Words Of Love, the first of many tracks in which Buddy would add a second vocal and guitar part. Hank and Bruce, strong fans of Holly, would have therefore heard the technique well before they were members of The Drifters.

In the UK, it was the attitude of those who ran the studios (and the pressure of recording an A and B side in a three hour session) rather than any lack of technical equipment that meant that overdubbing was uncommon. It was left to the innovators, in particular Joe Meek, to show what was possible with I Hear A New World (1960) featuring multiple overdubbing and many tape effects.

I suppose I'm querying the word 'primitive'. Using full track 1/4" tape running at 30 ips, very satisfactory results can be obtained with low noise levels even after second- and third-generation dubs.
Ray

[GoldenStreet]

To my knowledge, the take chosen as the master was recorded live in the studio without any overdubs.

Apparently, it took twenty attempts to achieve the take considered good enough for release, which would suggest the four were recording simultaneously.

Bill

[Tone]

"Shotgun" is a great original track (credited to Jon Allen, but in reality composed by Hank, Bruce and Jet) from the first EP "The Shadows". The other tracks are great as well. Bruce did indeed play the harmony lead guitar.
To my knowledge, the take chosen as the master was recorded live in the studio without any overdubs. Overdubbing didn't really exist in 1960, at least not in the UK, but sometimes a primitive method was used to add vocals and/or instruments to a basic track. The tape with the basic track would be played back, while at the same time the vocals and/or instruments would be recorded together on another tape machine. I think it was called "superimposition".

So is/was 'Jon Allen' a real person or was it a made up name? Why, real or not, was he credited with composing the track? I know, of course, that FBI was credited to Peter Gormley ( a real person indeed!) whereas it was written by the Shads themselves so 'Shotgun' would seem to be a similar case. There may be other examples if I took the trouble to research the subject.

The point I'm raising is why was it necessary to give the composing credit to someone else when the vast majority of self composed Shads tracks are credited to the individual group member(s) concerned?

Cheers.

Tony

[iefje]

"Shotgun" is a great original track (credited to Jon Allen, but in reality composed by Hank, Bruce and Jet) from the first EP "The Shadows". The other tracks are great as well. Bruce did indeed play the harmony lead guitar.
To my knowledge, the take chosen as the master was recorded live in the studio without any overdubs. Overdubbing didn't really exist in 1960, at least not in the UK, but sometimes a primitive method was used to add vocals and/or instruments to a basic track. The tape with the basic track would be played back, while at the same time the vocals and/or instruments would be recorded together on another tape machine. I think it was called "superimposition".

So is/was 'Jon Allen' a real person or was it a made up name? Why, real or not, was he credited with composing the track? I know, of course, that FBI was credited to Peter Gormley ( a real person indeed!) whereas it was written by the Shads themselves so 'Shotgun' would seem to be a similar case. There may be other examples if I took the trouble to research the subject.

The point I'm raising is why was it necessary to give the composing credit to someone else when the vast majority of self composed Shads tracks are credited to the individual group member(s) concerned?

Cheers.

Tony

It had something to do with contractual obligations. Three tracks that were written by Hank, Bruce and Jet were credited to fictional persons, with the exception of "F.B.I.":
- "Shotgun" was credited to Jon Allen.
- "F.B.I." was credited to Peter Gormley.
- "Gonzales" was credited to Robyn McGlynn.

[JimN]

Last week I heard the stereo version (YT) for the first time...

Don't be a skinflint.

Buy yourself a copy of the expanded version of "The Early Years" (six CDs for about £15).

You'll get Shotgun in stereo AND mono.

[negninegaw]

I never listen to CD's...