Because
America was overflowing with so much great music in 1960, and because
the AM radio boom of America of the ‘60s was about to really
take off, and because in a few years the arrival of the Beatles would
change rock and roll forever, The Shadows never had their chance
for fame and fortune in America. Two short years after Buddy Holly
died and 3 long years before America’s Beatlemania epoch, 1961
was nevertheless a brilliant year for music—both in the U.S.
and the U.K. Established 1958, by the dawning of 1961 Cliff Richard
and The Shadows had become the predominant rock and roll
music force in England and throughout much of the world. While America
was still licking it’s wounds following the senseless deaths
of Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran, and with the army coming to take
Elvis away and the insane incarceration of Chuck Berry, at the start
of the ‘60s England was paving a different kind of musical road
that would reach an unimaginable climax by 1969. At the close of the
‘50s, with Cliff Richard becoming England's version of Elvis,
and guitarist Hank Marvin becoming a guitar god, the war babies
were starting to think about picking up a guitar just to try to be
like Hank. Who were these great little English kids with stardom in
their eyes back in 1959? Well, how about kids with last names like
Clapton, Beck, Howe, Kirwan, Hackett, Oldfield, Frampton and Townshend
to name a few. Even with their own music evolving in a complete different
way, these rock guitar gods would go on years later and literally
confess that “I'm Absolutely Hank Marvin!” So by late ‘62
with groups like The 4 Seasons and Brian Wilson's Beach Boys starting
to take over the pop charts in America, Hank and the Shads and even
Cliff basically ended up being forgotten by Top 40 radio in the U.S.
even as quite the opposite happened in the rest of the world. Though
it’s now 50 years since Summer Love ‘59, what goes around
comes around and that’s exactly what you get with the 2010 Eagle
Rock Entertainment DVD release of Cliff And The Shadows - The
Final Reunion. Worshipped by millions across the globe,
Cliff, Hank and the Shadows amazingly reunited for a series of live
concerts in 2009 and the results can be seen on Eagle’s nostalgic
2010 DVD release of The Final Reunion. While the joy of watching
Hank play guitar behind Cliff is indescribable—especially
for those who’ve never heard them before—I
guess for these early fans who went to these 2009 shows it’s
much like it was back in 1958 when Cliff and The Shadows rocked London
with possibly England's first real rock and roll record, "Move
It." Cliff’s early hits from the late ‘50s featured
The Shadows as his backing band—and often as Cliff’s writers
and arrangers too—and quite the showman, Cliff really does a
fantastic job on reviving these songs with The Shadows on The Final
Reunion. Featuring a complete concert experience taken from one
of the shows that happened at the September 25th, 26th and
28th 2009 concerts in London at the 02 Arena, The Final Reunion
is the ultimate nostalgic reunion trip and for the kids, it's
a better late than never way to find out about some still vital music
history.
Will there be a CD of this show? Who knows but for a great companion
piece to the 42 track, 2+hour DVD pick up on their 2009 50th anniversary
remake
/ remodel
22 cut studio
CD
on EMI called Reunited. Hank Marvin may be older and wiser
now (a Scorpio 11 months younger than Libra John Lennon) but his God-given
hands are still the hands of an iconic guitar original. Watching Hank
live, playing his intricate guitar riffs and melodies with Cliff on
his huge early hits—in addition to a pair of mini instrumental
sets featuring Hank, Bruce Welch and Brian Bennett (with
Mark Griffiths and Brian's son Warren Bennett) playing
a round of early Shadows classics—is a little like stepping into
the time tunnel. The perennial teenager who quite skillfully mixes
his Elvis moves with some early Beatles beats, Cliff looks like he’s
having a blast throughout this DVD. At times Cliff almost looks amazed
that Hank is right there with him on stage playing on these songs!
The DVD also adds in some cool behind the scenes bonus footage that
chronicles this historic tour, which is set to kick off again in early
2010 by the way. You can always hope for a new studio album (Re-Established
2010?) but chance are, we won’t see Cliff, Hank, Bruce and Brian
doing these kind of live tours anymore... So pick up The Final
Reunion DVD, dim the lights, crank up the flat screen and let
Hank and the lads take you down to Wonderful Land. www.Cliff
Richard.org
