Fenderman wrote:I'm wondering what would have happened if the Shads took George Harrison's advice after 'Don't make my baby blue' and became a vocal band, that would have been interesting.
Although Hank now says they should have followed George's advice - in fact they half followed his advice at the time as their A-sides were alternate vocal and instrumental from then on. They were obviously reluctant to drop instrumentals completely as that was what they had become famous for. I think the problem was partly that they were fighting the 'old-fashioned' tag increasingly as the 60s wore on, but also songs such as I Met A Girl, The Dreams I Dream and Dear Old Mrs Bell just weren't strong enough to compete with The Beatles, The Hollies, Manfred Mann etc. I think A Place In The Sun (interestingly written by Petrina Lordan - who displayed a similar melodic genius to her husband!) was probably their strongest late 60s single - but even that only managed to get to 24 in the charts.
Also, Hank has stated several times that by the late 60s, radio stations were increasingly reluctant to play instrumentals - although Fleetwood Mac still managed to score a no. 1 with Albatross in 1969.
Incidentally, I understand Mike's comments about Rhythm 'n' Greens, but they still scored several more hits after that (Flingel Bunt, Don't Make My Baby Blue). The Miracle - although maybe a bit dated by 1964 - should have been the A-side.
