Jools Holland

[George Geddes]

Finally caught up with one of his pre-Christmas shows last night - amazing band with five saxes, four trombones, three trumpets, organ, bass and guitar, all driven along by the drumming of Gilson Lavis. Plus JH himself and two backing singers. Guest vocals from Eddi Reader and Ruby Turner.

The icing on the (Christmas?) cake for me was another chance to see Dave Edmunds who did a couple of his hits and other vocals, before finishing with, yes, Sabre Dance (though not the full 11 min version!!)

George

[Mikey]

I'm still kicking myself for not going to see Jools with Dave Edmunds at Dyrham Park near Bath back in August

[BarryH]

I saw the show outdoors in Belvoir Castle.

I must admit I only went to see Dave Edmunds but came away a very happy camper. I really enjoyed the whole show.

What a treat.

Cheers
Barry

[bgohara]

It p1sses me off that Jools has never had Hank on his show. He has had such diverse artists on there over the years - most of whom would not be fit to lace Hank or Bruce's (or even Cliff's) shoelaces. But yet again (imho) the snobbery within the UK music industry towards the Shads (and Cliff) shows its ugly face. They won't realise what they had, until it's gone.

Bernie

[RUSSET]

Yes, I am surprised Jools hasn't had the Shads on the show yet. Maybe I'm biased but, he does have quite a few weird modern bands that seem to me to have no entertainment value ..... just a noise ! Yes, I know I'm a bit predjudised, & maybe stuck in my own time warp, but it's just not really music, is it ? I do applaud the fact that he does occassionally give some knew musicians the chance they deserve, & if it wasn't for him we probably wouldn't have heard 'Seasick Steve', would we ? But ..... Andy Williams, really ....? I know he was a brilliant singer in his time, but the the poor old fellah has lost it now, bless him, & really shouldn't have been wheeled on for that shakey performance. Maybe he'll have the Shads on his New Year's Eve 'Hootenanny' show. God knows they deserve it, & would put on a performance which would demonstrate to the youngsters how to put on a truly professional 'Show' & a polished performance, as they have done a hundred times on their recent tours & DVDs.

Tony.

[JimN]

I'm inclined to agree with Tony (post #6 above).

The "Later With Jools Holland" show deliberately aims at an anti-fashion stance, with the accent on both "good" music and on upcoming and currently-happening stuff. The two categories are not always mutually exclusive, and as well as that, the producers obviously comb the globe for more esoteric acts to leaven out the mix (I remember Mark Lamarr remarking that the standard show-business response to anyone who has played the programme is "Were you on before or after the Africans?"). Given the above, and given that they have been at least as available as (say, SF-based Dengue Fever), the absence of The Shadows is therefore surprising. Dengue Fever (a very cosmopolitan act) were great, by the way.

But thinking back over the list of people who have played the show over the years, it's the pre-Beatles UK scene which seems to have been most under-represented (and to some extent, as I recall from the last time there was concerted effort to get the Shads onto the programme, under-respected). For what it's worth, I'm fairly sure that it isn't Jools who is the fly in the ointment here. This is down to the production side of things. I'd make a small wager that Jools doesn't get all that much say in the guest line-up - pure BBC baby-boomer generation, reflected right across the Beeb, in everything from the "Later with..." line-up to the selection of the audience for "Question Time".

JN

[stratmantd]

It p1sses me off that Jools has never had Hank on his show. He has had such diverse artists on there over the years - most of whom would not be fit to lace Hank or Bruce's (or even Cliff's) shoelaces. But yet again (imho) the snobbery within the UK music industry towards the Shads (and Cliff) shows its ugly face. They won't realise what they had, until it's gone.

Bernie

Bit of a daft attitude there Bernie. For a start, Hank lives in Australia and is hardly able to just pop down to the studio. You can be disappointed that a certain artist hasn't been on a show but no reason to be pissed off by it.

If you feel strongly enough, why not write to the producer of the show and ask?

You can then post any reply here.

[bgohara]

Tom - there was a movement to get Hank on the show a couple of years ago, led by people on this forum. It was basically brushed off. I don't think it's a daft attitude at all - imho - if you don't fit into what the people who run the media like, then it's very hard to get mainstream exposure. I was just making the point that there have been many 'niche' artistes on this show over the years - people who, in the scheme of things, are not that influential or even popular.

I remember a comment for example that Chris Isaak was being interviewed by Jools and he mentioned that the Shads had influenced him - they showed I think the crackerjack clip - and Jools made some dismissive comment.

As for Hank living in Australia - he has been over to the UK loads of times - there have been plenty of opportunities to get him on this show.

I think this is all symptomatic of the Shads not getting the respect they deserve from the music industry. Sure, you can hold the cover version albums against them, or Hank's appearances on cliff's tv shows (dressed as Tarzan!!)!..but the fact is that things would have been very different if it hadn't been for the Shads - and the influence they exerted on british music.

That said, I thought that the reviews of the recent UK tour with cliff were generally very complimentary of the Shadows - although I thought that they sniped a lot at Cliff (yes, I know he brings a lot of it on himself - but I think he comes across as a pretty decent guy, despite the pomposity). At the end of the day, you wouldn't survive this long in the business, or still have hundreds of thousands of fans coming to see you, if you didn't have something special - so, does it really matter what the critics, or the 'luvvies' who run the music business think?

Bernie

[bgohara]

Finally caught up with one of his pre-Christmas shows last night - amazing band with five saxes, four trombones, three trumpets, organ, bass and guitar, all driven along by the drumming of Gilson Lavis. Plus JH himself and two backing singers. Guest vocals from Eddi Reader and Ruby Turner.

The icing on the (Christmas?) cake for me was another chance to see Dave Edmunds who did a couple of his hits and other vocals, before finishing with, yes, Sabre Dance (though not the full 11 min version!!)

George

PS George - sorry for hijacking your thread. I do agree that Jools is a fabulous musician and I do enjoy watching his show!
Bernie

[George Geddes]

The support on Saturday night was a lady called Camille O'Sullivan, who did a Dylan cover, a fab song entitled "In these shoes? I don't think so!" and an a cappella version of Jacques Brel's "Amsterdam" which was brave in front of 2,500 Glaswegians ready to party... She was a guest on 'Later...' earlier this year.

Thanks to Alan Taylor, I also saw a sixties legend on the show, in the person of Booker T. I don't think the producers of these shows would repond too well to petitions or whatever. The shows seem to have a pretty eclectic mix of guests - and yes, Andy Williams was really poor - but I guess Hank & Co. just don't appear on their radar.

George