Hank talks about "Slaughter..."

[Moderne]

Hank mentions that there was a delay in releasing Slaughter... although Norrie Paramor wanted to release it earlier - I wonder if this was to see what happened with Hank's solo things that year - Goodnight Dick and Sacha - as The Shadows had broken up at the time. And then it was released when they reformed in the autumn (when they toured Japan and recorded the Sankei Hall concert...featuring Slaughter on Tenth Avenue). I understand that Hank's solo recordings featured Rex Bennett (no relation) on drums and didn't feature John Rostill; there was a clear distinction between Hank solo things and Shadows recordings around this time. I remember this being discussed before when I suggested that maybe Exodus was one of the film themes for the projected Shadows film theme album which never got beyond the recording of Slaughter... and Chitty..., as they featured it on that autumn tour.

[JimN]

Hank mentions that there was a delay in releasing Slaughter... although Norrie Paramor wanted to release it earlier - I wonder if this was to see what happened with Hank's solo things that year - Goodnight Dick and Sacha - as The Shadows had broken up at the time. And then it was released when they reformed in the autumn (when they toured Japan and recorded the Sankei Hall concert...featuring Slaughter on Tenth Avenue). I understand that Hank's solo recordings featured Rex Bennett (no relation) on drums and didn't feature John Rostill; there was a clear distinction between Hank solo things and Shadows recordings around this time. I remember this being discussed before when I suggested that maybe Exodus was one of the film themes for the projected Shadows film theme album which never got beyond the recording of Slaughter... and Chitty..., as they featured it on that autumn tour.

I agree about the delay on Slaughter... it may have been that the track had been left in abeyance (as were others from that period) and was dusted off as an offering to coincide with the 1969 tours of the UK and Japan. There was also the summertime period when Hank was promoting Throw Down A Line with Cliff. All of this would have left less room for the Richard Rodgers tune.

I saw that tour at the Liverpool Empire (the last time I ever saw John Rostill) and though the group (including Alan Hawkshaw) played Slaughter On 10th Avenue and Exodus, I'm fairly sure they didn't play Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Perhaps they did at other venues.

[StuartD]

Hi Jim

I saw that tour and all the cabaret dates with Alan Hawkshaw and they never played Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at all!! I remember speaking to Hank at the Palladium on the day of Bruce's last gig, Dec 1968 and he told me they had recorded Slaughter, for the next single and Chitty Chitty. Later, at the Stockton Fiesta Club in Dec 1969, the recording had been released and I said I liked it. Hank said he did when they recorded it but by the time it was released he felt and i quote, "It was another year out of date".

Regards

Stuart

[iefje]

These sessions were supposed to be the start of a proposed Shadows album of film themes but was never completed.
Only 2 songs were recorded in December 1968 then the project was abandoned.

There were arrangements, demo attempts or finished versions of:

Slaughter On 10th Avenue
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
The Big Country
Born Free
Lara's Theme (Dr Zhivago)
The Windmills Of Your Mind
Midnight Cowboy.

The Shadows had a rehearsed version of Lara's Theme but never made a satisfactory recording of it.

Most of the titles were eventually released as Hank Marvin recordings in 1969.

I didn't know this, another great bit of information! I only knew about "Lara's Theme" being attempted by The Shadows, in any case on BBC radio, British TV and on stage.
In the same style as "The Big Country", Hank's first solo album also features his own composition (co-composed with Petrina Lordan) "High Sierra", which I think is a great track and a great album closer. It starts kind of melancholic in a minor key, as if to illustrate the end of an era (The Shadows' first period) and then the key changes to major and it suddenly becomes very optimistic, like it's the start of a new period full of great new possibilities (Hank's solo career and the Marvin, Welch & Farrar period).