Music Arcades: The Shadows: Good Vibrations

One of the questions that may be running through your mind right now — though I know you to be a broad-minded soul — is Why? Two and half reasons. Seven years ago, when I bought this 3-CD box, I was discovering The Ventures for the first time, and I was curious to hear The Shadows' versions of tracks like Walk, Don't Run and Perfidia. Then there was Neil Young's enthusiasm for The Shadows early in his career (I'm not sure if it's ever been established definitively whether the Hank in From Hank to Hendrix is Williams or Marvin). And at the time the compilation seemed good value, though £9.99 for less than three hours of music doesn't seem such a great deal now.

I've already come clean about what I think about The Shadows versus The Ventures, and it was this compilation that led me to that conclusion. I know that The Ventures have it in them to be shit but when they were good, they were very, very good. When The Shadows were good, they were half-decent, but now sound dated and a bit limp in a way that the V's old stuff manages to avoid. Their version of Walk, Don't Run has no zip, and their Rumble is so anaemic, I didn't even notice it.

… And when they were poor, they were awful. As Exhibit 1 I cite the ghastly keyboards and drum arrangement on Something. As Exhibit 2, there are the cover versions from the second half of the 1970s. Anything with either (a) a 'catchy' tune or (b) a prominent guitar was fair game. The original of Parisienne Walkways was squirmtastic enough to have you rubbing your skin to try and get rid of some imagined oily mucus. A cover version? Euchh! Then there's Cava-bloody-tina and even Bright bloody Eyes.

OK, it's not all that bad. They stretch Baker Street out for nearly five minutes — no sax and no vocals — but it's still good. They show how sophisticated La Belle Epoque's Black is Black was; and we all knew about the sophistication of Good Vibrations, but no harm in being reminded this way. I was listening to the CDs without the tracklisting in front of me, and, just as I was reflecting on a similarity to some of John Barry's music, up popped Midnight Cowboy. I'm surprised they never did Wuthering Heights — though Wikipedia reports that they did essay Jean Michel Jarre's Equinoxe. Unsurprisingly, they stopped recording soon after.