The Shadows on cassette

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The Shadows on cassette

Postby RayL » Wed Nov 14, 2018 5:06 pm

Back at the end of the 1980s (when cars had cassette players rather than CD players and instrumental music was hard to come by), I came across a number of cassettes by The Shadows in supermarket 'Sale' bins or sold off by the local public library.

Two were quite straightforward.
Dance with The Shadows combined the albums Dance With The Shadows with The Sound Of The Shadows (a double-play cassette with 26 tracks that followed the original LP listings). Steppin To The Shadows also followed the LP/CD listing.

Then there were three issued by Pickwick, The Shadows Collection, Dancing In The Dark and Diamonds . Each were 16 tracks and each contained a jumble of 1980s recordings with no particular 'theme' for each.
Any ideas who compiled these Pickwick cassettes? Since The Shadows presumably had a say in the order of listing for the original albums, would they have been consulted about these cassettes, or did Mr Pickwick simply pick tracks out of a hat?
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Re: The Shadows on cassette

Postby JimN » Wed Nov 14, 2018 6:49 pm

Hi, Ray,

Pickwick is a longstanding British record company, specialising in licensed re-release material and speciality records such as the childrens' market. I have thirty-four record collection items on the Pickwick label dating from as far back as 1963 up to 2004. The later ones seem to originate mainly from the Polygram stable (hence the Shadows connection).

Each of those 16-track cassettes were originally issued on vinyl and on CD as well as musicassette. Here they are from my collection:

THE SHADOWS COLLECTION (Pickwick) CD 1989 (compiled)
Pickwick (UK) PWKS 559 (stereo)
1. Just The Way You Are
2. Turning Point
3. Midnight Creepin'
4. The Shady Lady
5. Thing-Me-Jig
6. Johnny Staccato (shortened version)
7. Stack-It
8. If You Leave Me Now
9. Equinoxe (Part V)
10. Change Of Address
11. Fender Bender
12. Temptation (1980 re-recording)
13. The Fourth Man
14. Summer Love '59
15. Mozart Forte
16. Albatross
Budget compilation. Worthwhile as it contains a couple of tracks not on any other CD meaning that this contained several digital debuts.
****************************************************************************************
DIAMONDS CD 1990 (compiled)
Pickwick (UK) PWKS 4018 P (stereo)
1. Diamonds
2. Imagine/Woman
3. The Theme From "Missing"
4. You Rescue Me (v)
5. Hats Off To Wally
6. Nut Rocker
7. (I'm Gonna Be Your) Guardian Angel (v)
8. Up Where We Belong
9. This Ole House
10. Africa
11. Arty's Party
12. Can't Play Your Game (v)
13. The Old Romantics
14. Our Albert
15. Cowboy Cafe
16. We Don't Talk Anymore
Second Pickwick budget compilation. Useful at the time, as not all source LPs had then been released on CD.
**************************************************************
DANCING IN THE DARK C 1990 (compiled)
Pickwick (UK) PWKS 4031 P (stereo)
1. Dancing In The Dark (album version)
2. Life In The Jungle
3. Queen Of Hearts
4. Cat 'N' Mouse
5. I Will Return
6. Shoba
7. No Dancing!
8. High Noon
9. Telstar
10. More Than I Can Say
11. Outdigo
12. Spot The Ball
13. Time Is Tight
14. Elevenis
15. Mountains Of The Moon
16. A Whiter Shade Of Pale.
Third Pickwick budget CD. Useful because of the inclusion of "Elevenis", unavailable elsewhere on CD at the time.
***********************************************************************

All three were also released in a cardboard slip case with the title "A Special Collection". The problem with all three is that the discs are subject to CD-rot in the form of bronzing (a problem in the early days of compact disc).

I also have the first of these three ("The Shadows Collection") on a vinyl LP [Pickwick/Contour (UK) CN 2104 (stereo)]

Pickwick also re-released Hank Marvin's two early-eighties vocal albums "Words And Music"(1982) and "All Alone With Friends" (1983).
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Re: The Shadows on cassette

Postby JimN » Wed Nov 14, 2018 6:53 pm

By the way, the double-cassette "Dance With..." and "The Sound Of..." should have twenty eight tracks. Both source albums were fourteen-trackers.

Which ones are missing? French Dressing and Blue Shadows, by any chance?
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Re: The Shadows on cassette

Postby jimuc » Wed Nov 14, 2018 8:26 pm

Somewhere in my loft I have "The Shadows Greatest Hits" on eight track (remember them) by Columbia

Programme 1.
Man of Mystery
F.B.I.
Midnight
Wonderful Land

Programme 2.
The Frightened City
Kon-tiki
Peace Pipe
Dance on

Programme 3.
Apache
The Stranger
Guitar Tango

Programme 4
34-24-36
The Savage
Stars Fell On Stockton
The Boys
Never nail a door shut that you may want to go back through
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Re: The Shadows on cassette

Postby UlrichS » Wed Nov 14, 2018 10:32 pm

JimN wrote:By the way, the double-cassette "Dance With..." and "The Sound Of..." should have twenty eight tracks. Both source albums were fourteen-trackers.

Which ones are missing? French Dressing and Blue Shadows, by any chance?

There are 28 tracks at least on my copy of this cassette (TC2-EDP1546329).
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Re: The Shadows on cassette

Postby jetharrisfanclub » Wed Nov 14, 2018 11:51 pm

Think you will find all the albums up to and including 'Reflection' were issue on cassette, as were most of the compilation albums, including the See For Miles E.P. volumes and the 'Themes And Dreams' release. I also have from 'The Shadows to 'From Hank Bruce Brian & John on reel to reel tape, as well as 'Greatest Hits' and 'More Hits'. Don't know if any were issued after 'From Hank Bruce Brian & John', anyone know?
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Re: The Shadows on cassette

Postby UlrichS » Thu Nov 15, 2018 12:29 am

jetharrisfanclub wrote:Think you will find all the albums up to and including 'Reflection' were issue on cassette, as were most of the compilation albums, including the See For Miles E.P. volumes and the 'Themes And Dreams' release. I also have from 'The Shadows to 'From Hank Bruce Brian & John on reel to reel tape, as well as 'Greatest Hits' and 'More Hits'. Don't know if any were issued after 'From Hank Bruce Brian & John', anyone know?

All albums up to HBBJ were released as mono reel-to-reel tapes. I think I have once seen a reel-to-reel copy of 'Established 1958' but I am not sure whether my memory is fooling me.
I am curious about the 8-track tapes, which were released well into the '70s, but I could not find confirmation about the early albums in this format.
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Re: The Shadows on cassette

Postby RayL » Thu Nov 15, 2018 8:45 am

To Jim and Ulrich, yes my Dance With The Shadows cassette does have 28 racks - the slip card with the listings is printed so that track 14 for Side 1 and Side 2 (Temptation and National Provincial Samba) are printed 'over the page' and I missed them.

So far, nobody has answered my original question - did Hank, Bruce or Brian have any say in the shuffling of the Pickwick collections?
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Re: The Shadows on cassette

Postby JimN » Thu Nov 15, 2018 12:59 pm

It is possible that Hank Bruce and Brian were consulted about the three Pickwick compilations, but in my view, not likely that they contributed significantly to the overall track listings. Conversations over the years have not given me the impression that th inclusion of rare or unreleased tracks is at the top of the group's agenda. Consultation seems to be more about whether oir not to release a particular potentially-contentious track and even that is limited to the EMI years (obviously, since every Polydor track is actually owned by the group's own Rollover Records).

Each of these albums (as CDs) made available one or more recordings which had so far only been released on vinyl (cassette in some cases). That indicates the hand of someone making a careful analysis of what was already available to the fans, as well as a commercial eye for the best way to present these extra tracks.

Incidentally, I ought to have pointed out that after these three Pickwick compilations (and Hank's two early 1980s LPs on the same label), no further Pickwick Shadows or Hank Marvin albums were released. Newer cheap label compilations of Shadows material were thereafter on the Polygram-owned Spectrum label, sometimes stylised as "Karrusell (Carousel) - Spectrum".
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Re: The Shadows on cassette

Postby iefje » Thu Nov 15, 2018 1:15 pm

JimN wrote:Incidentally, I ought to have pointed out that after these three Pickwick compilations (and Hank's two early 1980s LPs on the same label), no further Pickwick Shadows or Hank Marvin albums were released.


No compilations indeed, but the albums "Hits Right Up Your Street" and "Life In The Jungle" both received reissues on CD by Pickwick and with different artwork as compared to the original Polydor LP's/CD's.
Last edited by iefje on Thu Nov 15, 2018 1:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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