I have two guitars set up with Sliders '59s and they sound 'right', giving the desired tone.
I also have a guitar set up with Mojo Vintage pickups and they sound equally cool.
My '63 Strat has some USA made hand wound pickups from a guy in the US who specialises in recreating the original period pickups using the original materials, which I asked him to make especially for my '63 Strat. They sound terrific too and out of all of those four sets I struggle to set them apart, as they all deliver the tone. That said, they were all expensive.
Other pickups that I have are Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro IIs, Amalfitano Vintage, Kinman Traditional, Fender Noiseless, Tone Riders, Ironstone Vintage, Fender CS 69 and G&L pickups on my S-500. They are all amazingly good too and I personally rate the G&L pickups very highly.
The point I'm making is that all of my Strats sound very earthy and authentic for Shadows tunes and I think it's more down to the amplifier settings rather than any specific pickup.