Apache by Jorgen Ingmann Songfacts Apache by Jorgen Ingmann Songfacts Songfacts Jorgen Ingmann is a Danish guitarist who had the first American hit with "Apache," which was the top song in the UK the previous year and later made its way into many Hip-Hop songs as a popular sample. The song was written by a British performer named Jerry Lordan, who had three UK Top-40 hits in 1960, but didn't record "Apache." A guitarist named Bert Weedon first recorded it, but it was The Shadows' "Apache" that was first released and became a UK #1 hit for 5 weeks in 1960. The Shadows met Jerry Lordan when they appeared on the same bill of a 1960 tour, and they heard Lordan perform the song on his ukulele. The Shadows version didn't make it in America, where the group had little promotion and a lawsuit from an American R&B group also called The Shadows. It was Ingmann who finally delivered the US hit with this song. Ingmann hadn't been playing this style long - he played Jazz guitar in dance halls before he discovered the style of Les Paul in the 1950s.

While his version was the US hit, The Shadows recording with guitar work from Hank Marvin is generally considered the definitive version. UK guitarist Bert Weedon originally recorded this song, but his Top Rank Record Company procrastinated over its release, and Jerry Lordan passed it to The Shadows. Bert Weedon's version was released shortly after The Shadows' came out, but his only reached #24. The Shadows were Cliff Richard's group in the 1960s, and Richard played the Chinese drum that sounded like bongos on The Shadows version. In 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh he says "Jorgen Ingmann put in a few tricky bits, but essentially it was a cover job. If the Shads had made the charts there with 'Apache,' things might have been very different for us." One Ingmann hit with this song, the floodgates opened for cover versions. Sonny James added vocals to the song and took it to #87 later in 1961.

The Ventures released their cover in 1963 and included it on albums released '65, '67, '71, '75, '77, '80 and '82. Other charting covers in America were by Davie Allen & The Arrows (#64 1965) and The Sugarhill Gang (#53 1982). The most influential cover was by The Incredible Bongo Band , whose 1973 version included an extended drum break that gave the New York DJ Kool Herc the idea of looping that section of the song, creating the first breakbeat. This "break" became one of the most popular samples in Hip-Hop, appearing in songs by LL Cool J, Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, MC Hammer and many others. Three years after recording this, Jorgen Ingmann with his wife Grethe won the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Dansevise" (Dancing Tune). They were representing their home country of Denmark. The couple met in 1955, where married in 1956 and got divorced in 1975.

This was a rare cover of a UK hit that made it into the US Top 10. Through most of the 1960s, it was usually the other way around, with British bands importing American hits. Old music: The Shadows – Apache | Music | The Guardian Old music Old music: The Shadows – Apache The Shads' No 1 hit from 1960 conjures up the twang of the west … and a time before the Beatles ruled the airwaves Greg Freeman Wednesday 9 May 2012 08.42 EDT First published on Wednesday 9 May 2012 08.42 EDT Pinterest There was a time in the early 60s when an English guitarist and former skiffle player who looked rather like Buddy Holly seemed the epitome of cool. Hank B Marvin played lead guitar in the Shadows, once known as the Drifters, and sometimes regarded as simply Cliff Richard's backing group. That was until their instrumental Apache went to No 1 in 1960. Some said they were just a pale imitation of the Ventures and other US surf groups.

They had a trademark, almost apologetic walk; forward, then back, as though they were out for a stroll, but not sure quite where to go. But their cameo appearances playing in clubs in London's Soho or Paris stole the show and were the main moment in Cliff Richard musical films such as Expresso Bongo and Summer Holiday. Their biggest hits and best tunes were invariably written by Jerry Lordan: Apache, Wonderful Land, and Atlantis. (Lordan also wrote the hits Diamonds and Scarlett O'Hara for Jet Harris and Tony Meehan after they left the Shadows.) There was a simplicity and purity about the numbers, plus Hank B Marvin's enigmatic smile that mingled lone cowboy and a hint of existential Left Bank. The melodramatic Apache conjures up native-Americans waiting and watching on the ridge, a sense of suspense; the twang of the west, the horn-rimmed specs, the Stratocaster's echo across the plains … For several years they dominated the charts, had a string of British No 1s, although never made it in America. Then the Beatles turned up. At first it seemed weird to have a group that sang; before long it was the Shadows that seemed strange.

By the mid-60s they were dressing up and appearing with Cliff at the London Palladium in panto, and releasing Genie with the Light-Brown Lamp. Precursors of glam rock? Hardly. With the onset of hippiedom and street protest songs the Shads disbanded in 1968. But there remained a deep-lying affection – and nostalgia – for infectious tunes such as Foot Tapper and Dance On! that you could still twist to (if your knees allowed). Marvin and Bruce Welch – a Shadow from the beginning – had formed a new vocal-guitar trio Marvin Welch & Farrar . But the fans kept shouting for Shadows numbers, and the band quickly re-formed in 1973 with drummer Brian Bennett back and various other musicians. After "permanently" disbanding in 1990 they popped up again in 2004-05 for a UK and European tour, and again in 2008-10 to tour with Cliff Richard – Hank still retaining his mysterious smile. Apache by The Shadows Songfacts Apache by The Shadows Songfacts Songfacts "Apache" stands today as probably the best-known work by British proto-surf-rock band The Shadows.

Being a #1 hit in the UK in 1960 was just the beginning; the instrumental song with an Old West motif was a worldwide hit with the #1 position in seven international charts at the same time: UK, Australia, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Spain, and South Africa. With a record like that, why didn't it chart in the US? Mostly because The Shadows didn't get much promotion in America, and also because they didn't go there to tour. Had some enterprising American DJ found the record and given it some spins, this story may have had a different ending, but The Shadows couldn't break through. It took a year before the song finally charted in the US, and it was a version by the Danish jazz guitarist Jorgen Ingmann that did it. He went to #2 with the song in 1961 - his only US hit. The Shadows guitarist was a 6-string wizard named Hank Marvin, and his work on this song inspired a legion of young British guitarists. In a 1963 interview for NME magazine, The Shadows referred to this song as an example of what distinctive sound they had that made them special.

To get this "Hawaiian sound" (as they put it) to the lead guitar, you need to plug American Fender guitars into British Vox amplifiers. At least, that was how they did it. John Lennon once claimed that The Shadows were one of the only things in British music "worth listening to" before The Beatles came along. This song was written by Jerry Lordan, a British singer/guitarist/songwriter who had three UK hits in the '60s, including "Who Could Be Bluer," which was on the charts when he toured with The Shadows early in 1960. Lordan played "Apache" for the Shadows on the tour bus using his ukulele, which he used to write songs, and The Shadows loved it. Lordan hadn't recorded the song himself - the first recording was by the Guitarist Bert Weedon, but Lordan wasn't thrilled with his version, and Weedon's record company hadn't yet released the song, so The Shadows cut their own version which became a #1 UK hit for five weeks and was voted Record of the Year by NME.

The Shadows met with resistance from their record company and had to persuade producer Norrie Paramour that it should be the A-side over the naval tune, "Quatermaster's Stores." Norrie was in his 40s and realized he might be a little out-of-touch, so he played both songs to his teenage daughter, who agreed with The Shadows. When he asked her what song he liked better, she said, "The Indian one." Once The Shadows scored with the song, Bert Weedon's version was finally released and charted at #24. The Shadows released three singles before they finally hit big with "Apache." The group was also Cliff Richard's backing band, and Richard played on this track. Richard used a Chinese drum to simulate the Old West percussion sound. This song became the foundation for many early hip-hop tunes after it was reworked by The Incredible Bongo Band in 1973. This version featured an extended drum break that Kool Herc and other DJs looped in their sets. As Hip-Hop emerged in the '80s, producers put this break into their tracks, and it made its way into a plethora of songs from this era.

Some of the tracks to sample it include " The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel ," "Way Way Back by Kool Moe Dee" and "You Can't Dance by LL Cool J." The Sugarhill Gang did a popular cover of the song in 1981. Movies that used this song include Baby Love (1968) and Scandal (1988). Hank Marvin recalled to Uncut magazine the band's reaction after Jerry Lordan played his demo to the Shadows on the back of their tour bus. "There was something magic about its atmosphere," he said, "even in that very raw, exposed state. We learned it on the bus and in the venues. Then back in London, we arranged it." "First of all I came up with the drum introduction, and then CLANG DA-DA-DAAYI-YA, DA-DA-DA-DA-DAH," he continued. "And I wanted to get some echo on the guitar that gave it a character. It's a multi-tapped echo-it's not too long, but you could hear the multi-taps coming through, and it gives a richness to the guitar sound, and a strange, haunting quality, behind the notes.

I wasn't afraid of giving it a lot of echo, because I thought it was such a good and different sound it didn't matter. I was making a statement with this echo. I didn't want to be too discreet with it, because it needed to be almost in your face. You can hear the whammy bar shaking the guitar and getting vibrato, too." Apache (The Shadows song) | Music Hub | Fandom powered by Wikia Apache (The Shadows song) Share Ad blocker interference detected! Wikia is a free-to-use site that makes money from advertising. We have a modified experience for viewers using ad blockers Wikia is not accessible if you’ve made further modifications. Remove the custom ad blocker rule(s) and the page will load as expected. "Apache" is a much-recorded instrumental written by Jerry Lordan . The original version was by the British group The Shadows , recorded in June 1960 and released the following month. It topped the UK Singles Chart for five weeks. [1 ] In North America, the tune is identified with Jørgen Ingmann , a jazz guitarist from Denmark .

In 1961, his cover version, credited to "Jørgen Ingmann and His Guitar", made No.2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No.9 on the US R&B chart . [2 ] The track reached No.1 on Canada's CHUM Chart . A 1973 version by the Incredible Bongo Band has been called " hip-hop ’s national anthem". [3 ] Although this version was not a hit on release, the long percussion break in the middle has been sampled countless times on hip-hop, rap and dance tracks since the 1980s. In March 2005, Q magazine placed "Apache" at No.96 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. Contents Edit English songwriter and composer Jerry Lordan came up with the tune. The title "Apache" reflects the source of Lordan's inspiration: the 1954 American western film Apache . The original recording was by British guitarist Bert Weedon in early 1960. It remained unreleased for several months. [4 ] In mid-1960 the Shadows were on tour with Lordan as a supporting act.

The band discovered "Apache" when Lordan played it on a ukelele. Lordan figured the tune would fit the Shadows; the band agreed. Edit The recording was done at the EMI Abbey Road Studio in London . Singer-guitarist Joe Brown had bought an Italian-built guitar echo chamber that he didn't like and gave it to Hank Marvin who developed a distinctive sound using it and the tremolo arm of his Fender Stratocaster . Bruce Welch borrowed an acoustic Gibson J200 guitar from Cliff Richard , the heavy melodic bass was by Jet Harris , percussion was by Tony Meehan and Cliff Richard , who played a Chinese drum at the beginning and end to provide an atmosphere of stereotypically Native American music. The song was featured in a memorable scene in the film Scandal Record producer Norrie Paramor preferred the flip side, an instrumental of the army song "The Quartermaster's Stores", now called "The Quatermasster's Stores" after the TV series Quatermass . Paramor changed his mind after his daughter preferred "Apache". It has been cited by a generation of guitarists as inspirational and is considered one of the most influential British rock 45s of the pre- Beatles era.

The Shadows stated – “ What's the most distinctive sound of our group ? We often wondered what it is ourselves. Really, it is the sound we had when we recorded "Apache" – that kind of Hawaiian sounding lead guitar... plus the beat. ” Edit After the Shadows version began its rise up the UK charts, Weedon's original climbed to No.24 in the UK. [6 ] However, neither the Shadows nor Weedon had any impact on North America. Then in 1961, Ingmann produced his own 'twangy' multi-tracked cover version that was a hit in the US and Canada. From this point, the song became a staple of instrumental combos on both sides of the Atlantic. Among many recordings, Spanish rock band Los Pekenikes covered "Apache" in 1961, The Ventures in 1962, and Davie Allan and The Arrows in 1965. Sonny James recorded a vocal music version in 1961. [3 ] [7 ] It was produced in Nashville by Chet Atkins , and was review-rated as a 'Spotlight Winner'. Billboard Music Week in its edition of March 6, 1961.

George Harrison said The Beatles used to play "Apache" as well as other Shadows hits ("FBI", "The Frightened City") during their shows in Hamburg.[ citation needed ] Edit "Apache" has been cited by Afrika Bambaataa as an early element of hip hop music with the record sampled and scratched by DJs. But it wasn't the hit version by the Shadows, Ingmann or Weedon that Bambaataa, Kool Herc and the like turned into " hip-hop ’s anthem": it was the 1973 version by Michael Viner and an ad hoc group called the Incredible Bongo Band . They added a bongo drum intro and added more percussion. The drum break was played by legendary drummer Jim Gordon . This version was not a hit on release but became the sampled foundation of rap and hip-hop classics, reworked by hip hop performers such as the The Sugarhill Gang , L.L. Cool J , The Roots , Nas , and techno performers Future Sound of London , Moby and drum and bass acts J. Majik and Goldie .

[3 ] Hit singles built on samples of The Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache"[ edit source | editbeta ] Edit In 1981 the rap group The Sugarhill Gang covered the Incredible Bongo Band version of the song on their second album 8th Wonder . In 1982, this version peaked at No.53 on the Billboard Hot 100 , No.51 on the US Dance chart , and No.13 on the US R&B chart . [9 ] In 1995, this version gained additional popularity after being featured in "Viva Lost Wages", a sixth-season episode of the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air , [10 ] as well as a subsequent clip show from the series. [11 ] Using the distinctive beat and bongo drums, the Sugarhill Gang added rap lyrics with references, including: The Lone Ranger (a.k.a. " kemosabe ") is mentioned extensively as well as his sidekick (" Tonto , jump on it! Jump on it! Jump on it!") and his horse ("'Hi-ho, Silver !' is what I say").

The lyric "What you hear is not a test" recalls the Sugarhills Gang's earlier hit " Rapper's Delight ". The song " Popcorn " by Hot Butter (who had released a version of "Apache" as a follow-up to "Popcorn") is referenced via the lyric "(What's that?) Hot buttered popcorn!". The popcorn and its butter are referenced in lyrics right beforehand, recalling a 1976 Mazola margarine commercial "We Call It Maize " featuring an American Indian woman. The " Monster Mash " is mentioned in this song as well as the Jerk . Edit The following are different non-hit, but still notable recordings of "Apache" – not songs that sample The Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache". In the 1961, Si Zentner released a version on his "Big Band Plays the Big Hits" album, along with "Up a Lazy River." In 1969, Eyes of Blue released a version entitled Apache '69, under the name the Imposters. The B side of this Mercury label release (MF1080) was the song QIII.

In 1972 the Moog-based band of session musicians called Hot Butter released a cover version of "Apache" as follow-up to their hit " Popcorn ". In 1976 the electro-rock French band Rockets , in their first eponymous album, released a version featuring synthesizers, disco-rock drumming, and heavily treated guitars. In the 1970s the Tennessee Farm Band did a version. In 1977, The Tommy Seebach Band recorded a disco -styled version and filmed an accompanying music video of "Apache". Set on a rocky hillside, it featured scantily-clad dancers adoring a grinning Tommy Seebach while he plays keyboards. This version was successful in Europe and later became an Internet meme . A 30-second edit of The Shadows version was used in an April 1988 UK TV advertisement for Tango fizzy drink. Black Sabbath with Tony Martin on vocals played a live cover of the song at their 1989 concert in Moscow. Ska-Dows recorded a ska version of "Apache", including some lyrics, mostly the word "Apache!" shouted repeatedly.

In 1992, Norwegian a cappella group Bjelleklang recorded their version of "Apache" on the album "Holiholihoo". The California Guitar Trio covered Apache for their 1995 album, Invitation Wyclef Jean 's "Masquerade" includes the melodic hook played on violin as the song closes. In 2002 Portishead 's Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley recorded a cover version which was released on limited white, green, pink and black vinyl 7" single under the name The Jimi Entley Sound. In 2005, the German band Scooter covered this song as an instrumental for the album Who's Got The Last Laugh Now? in a techno version. Later that year, a single was released which combined elements of "Apache" and "Rock Bottom" from the same album, known as "Apache Rocks The Bottom". This later appeared on the 2nd Disc of the UK Edition of their 2008 album Jumping All Over The World .

The best No 1 records: The Shadows – Apache | Peter Paphides | Music | The Guardian The best No 1 records: The Shadows – Apache 1960: The Shadows' streamlined instrumental pop was a supercool soundtrack for British teens in coffee bars The Shadows: Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch, Tony Meehan and Jet Harris. Photograph: Dezo Hoffmann/Rex Features Peter Paphides Thursday 31 May 2012 16.52 EDT First published on Thursday 31 May 2012 16.52 EDT Share on Messenger Close Away from Cliff Richard, the Shadows' streamlined instrumental pop was the height of modernity. More than any other pop star, they made music that was a mirror to a postwar generation raised on adventure stories and westerns, a supercool soundtrack to the small-hours chatter of British teens in Formica-furnished coffee bars. Of all their hits, Apache remains the biggest, both in terms of sales and influence, prompting the likes of Jimmy Page and Brian May to get serious with their guitars. In fact, its influence even extends to hip-hop.

The Incredible Bongo Band 's widely sampled cover of the song (later also interpolated by the Sugar Hill Gang ) was adjudged by rap pioneer DJ Kool Herc to be "the national anthem of hip-hop". The Shadows on Apple Music To preview a song, mouse over the title and click Play. Open iTunes to buy and download music. Biography The Shadows are usually thought of as the quintessential British instrumental group and, along with the American band the Ventures and the Swedish group the Spotnicks, one of the most popular instrumental groups in the world. But that barely tells the story of their true significance in the history of British rock & roll -- including the fact that they were the first home-grown British rock & roll band to dominate the U.K. charts; or that they weren't originally an instrumental group, either.

The band's roots go back to Chesthunt, Hertfordshire, in early 1958, when a young Indian-born singer/guitarist named Harry Webb joined with drummer Terry Smart and guitarist Norman Mitham to form a group that they ended up calling the Drifters -- at the time, none of the records by the American R&B group of the same name, founded by Clyde McPhatter, had been released in England, so they had no inkling of the name's already being used. The group played their first performance in March of 1958 at a dinner dance and, after a few weeks of local performances, they debuted at the 2I's coffee bar in London's Soho. The 2I's was renowned as the venue where Tommy Steele had been discovered, and was occasionally visited by producers, recording engineers, and managers in search of new talent -- it had, thus, become something of a rock & roll Mecca. The Drifters weren't signed overnight, but they did become immensely popular, playing some very convincingly American-style rock & roll, at least by the standards of the time in London.

Indeed, at their shows, audiences were usually packed in too closely to dance, and the ten pounds they made each week between them in the beginning was serious money for three amateur musicians. In the course of their 2I's gigs over the next few weeks, they picked up one fan, John Foster, who became their first manager, and another, Ian Samwell, who joined them as a guitarist -- interestingly, they had no bassist in their lineup and didn't for quite a while, which set them apart from other bands but didn't seem to impede their progress. The first of two name changes came up when they got an outside booking in Derbyshire -- at that point, Foster decided that "the Drifters" wasn't impressive enough as a name by itself, and wanted their vocalist to have lead billing. At that point, as the singer observed 40 years later, "[Harry Webb] didn't sound very rock & roll." And so, after some pondering of the possibilities, he picked up a stage name, Cliff Richards, with Samwell recommending that the "s" be left off. And Cliff Richard & the Drifters were born. A little more than 40 years later, he was Sir Cliff Richard.

By that time, the group was a quintet of Richard (who still played guitar as well as singing, in the early days), Mitham, Samwell, Ken Pavey (on third guitar), and Terry Smart -- and still no bassist. This five-man group recorded a demo in June of 1958, of "Breathless" b/w "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," which found its way to Norrie Paramor, a producer at EMI who, after seeing them in an audition, signed Richard to the company's Columbia label. And in July of 1958 the group, augmented by session guitarist Ernie Shaw playing lead and Frank Clarke on bass, backed Richard on his debut single, "Schoolboy Crush" b/w "Move It," credited to "Cliff Richard & the Drifters." The A-side was a pleasant, loping slow-tempo piece of teen pop/rock worthy of Fabian at his wimpiest; but "Move It" -- authored by Ian Samwell, no less -- was a pounding, driving rocker in the best Elvis Presley manner. And fortunately for all concerned, the record was "flipped" and "Move It" became the A-side.

The record, released in late August, reached number two on the charts, and as it was climbing the listings, Cliff Richard began a series of appearances on the television show Oh Boy! in mid-September. All of these events -- the recording contract, the single, the chart placement -- ensured Richard's emergence to stardom, but the Drifters, at first, were another matter. Although he was willing to use the group on Richard's recordings, Paramor already felt compelled to use session musicians to enhance their sound in the studio; and as their audience grew along with the demand for shows in bigger and more competitive venues, it was clear that the group would have to adapt. It was John Foster who, in the summer of 1958, went to the 2I's in search of a Liverpool guitarist-and-singer he'd heard about named Tony Sheridan -- he wasn't there, but Foster did find a pair of virtuoso guitarists named Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch; they were already members of a top skiffle group called the Chesternuts, and had made a couple of records. By September of 1958, Mitham and Pavey were gone from the group, replaced by Marvin and Welch.

With a lineup of Richard, Marvin, Welch, Samwell, and Smart, they proceeded to play before crowds that were completely unprecedented for a home-grown British rock & roll band. Richard also abandoned his guitar, just as Elvis Presley had, and found the experience liberating, as his stage moves became all the more intense and downright provocative, so much so that they were regarded as highly controversial in the press. And the shows filled up and the bookings and the fees skyrocketed -- their sound was still a bit raw on-stage, but even that worked to their advantage at the time, giving the music still more authenticity than was typical for the time in England. For that first year, the music was pure rock & roll on-stage and in the studio. The group's sound was toughened further in November when Ian Samwell dropped out of performing in favor of further cultivating his songwriting (which served him in good stead, along with producing, for the rest of his life); he was replaced by Jet Harris, who became the first stylistically important and notable rock & roll bassist in England, and almost single-handedly popularized the electric bass in British rock & roll.

A second hit, "High Class Baby," made it to number seven in December of 1958, and a follow-up, "Livin' Lovin' Doll" b/w "Mean Streak," reached the Top 20 in January of 1959. And in early 1959, Tony Meehan, a drummer who was already making a good living in his mid-teens as a session musician, replaced Terry Smart, the last of the original Drifters. This was the version of the group that was finally signed in their own right to EMI. An album followed in February of 1959, cut live before an audience of extremely fervent fans at Abbey Road's Studio No. 1, which was issued under the title Cliff. The Drifters name was changed to the Shadows in mid-1959 to avoid a conflict with the American R&B group, which had experienced a resurgence of popularity and whose records -- starting with "There Goes My Baby" -- were getting issued in England. The newly rechristened Cliff Richard & the Shadows dominated British rock & roll for the next four years.

And beyond Richard's fame, Marvin, Welch, Harris, and Meehan all became stars in their own right, with Harris and Meehan regarded as one of the best rhythm sections in the business, with a huge fan following of their own, while Marvin and Welch were directly responsible for the sales of tens of thousands of electric guitars to teenagers. A story out of the early history of the Beatles illustrates their dominance -- John Lennon and Paul McCartney, both in their mid-teens at the time, knew that Richard and the Shadows were to appear on television one evening, and both were watching from their respective homes to look at Hank Marvin to see exactly how the intro to "Move It" was played. There was an effort early in 1959 to push Richard as a star in his own right, separate from the band, but it didn't come from the music side of the entertainment business -- rather, he was signed to play an important supporting role in the gritty juvenile delinquency drama Serious Charge. Later that same year, he and the Shadows were all seen in the comedy/drama Expresso Bongo, essentially playing dramatizations of themselves.

Practically overnight in the fall of 1958, the Drifters-cum-Shadows had become the top rock & roll band in England, a status they maintain even as Richard's singing career was gradually steered toward more mainstream pop and ballads. The band began to emerge as a recording act on their own while they were still known as the Drifters, in January of 1959, with the single "Feelin' Fine," a group vocal effort, the B-side of which, "Don't Be a Fool with Love," even featured them doing Belmonts-style harmony singing. A second single, "Jet Black" b/w "Driftin'" (still credited to the Drifters), was released in July of that year. And a third record, "Saturday Dance" b/w "Lonesome Fella," credited to the Shadows, and featuring vocals, was released in late 1959. All three were ignored by the public. And then, in June of 1960, they recorded "Apache," an instrumental composed by Jerry Lordan that had previously been done by guitarist Bert Weedon -- and it topped the charts, riding the number one spot for five weeks.

Over the next three years, they charted high with the singles "Man of Mystery," "F.B.I.," "The Frightened City," "Wonderful Land," and "Kon Tiki," the latter two reaching number one. All of these records showed phenomenal evolution in the group's sound from their rock & roll origins -- mixing electric and acoustic guitar sounds in a unique meld, they were catchy, memorable, hook-laden pop masterpieces, some with a hard rock edge but more often showing a unique level of precision for the work of a rock & roll outfit. And "Wonderful Land" also demonstrated a special command of orchestral timbres in juxtaposition with electric instruments (one must also ask how much credit producer Norrie Paramor, who had cut his share of instrumentals as a recording artist, deserves for some of these successes).

The group's influence during this period can be measured not just by their chart success, but their obvious influence on other artists -- Sweden's Spotnicks, who became stars in their own right, emulated the Shadows' instrumental sound; and the Beatles, in their earliest official recording sessions (backing Tony Sheridan), in Hamburg, Germany during 1961, were allowed to cut a pair of songs of their own and gave one of those slots to a John Lennon/George Harrison-authored instrumental called "Cry for a Shadow," that was both a tribute and a gentle send-up of the Shadows' style. The Shadows had also developed a stage presentation behind Richard in which they did little steps in unison. It seems incredibly hokey in retrospect, but one must remember that in the late '50s and early '60s, rock & roll in England was thought of as just another part of "show business" and entertainment, and the idea of dressing up the act with little contrivances wasn't so bizarre in that context. Other groups of the time, seeking success, emulated them -- and you can see the movie A Hard Day's Night poking fun at the band choreography, when the Beatles are clowning in the TV studio.

On a more obscure but equally telling level, in the rock & roll/juvenile delinquency drama Some People (1962), directed by Clive Donner, one can see the members of the Bristol-based rock & roll band at the center of the movie running through the title song and suddenly start to do choreography that parodies the Shadows' stage moves. In the fall of 1961, Tony Meehan left the band, owing to his unhappiness at the constant touring, and was replaced by Brian Bennett, another 2I's veteran, who had previously played with the house band on Oh Boy! and been a member of both Marty Wilde's and Tommy Steele backing bands. And six months later, Jet Harris left the band, to be succeeded by Brian Locking (aka Licorice Locking), another 2I's alumnus. These lineup changes were major events in the British music press at the time, and there was some question as to whether the Shadows could hold on to their audience -- especially when Harris and Meehan teamed together for a recording, "Diamonds," that bumped the Shadows' then current record from its chart position.

After a short transition period, however, the band found their popularity just as great as ever, and a string of hits followed across 1962 and beyond: "The Savage," "Guitar Tango," "Dance On," "Foot Tapper," "Atlantis," "Shindig," and "Geronimo." All of those made the Top Ten, with four placing at number one, through the end of 1963, carrying their success into the midst of the rise of the Beatles and the Liverpool sound. The group's first two LPs, The Shadows (1961) and Out of the Shadows (1962), both topped the album charts as well, and their next three long-players, Greatest Hits (1963), Dance with the Shadows (1964), and Shadow Music, all made the Top Five (the first two at number two). They also continued to appear on stage with Cliff Richard and played on most of his biggest hit records of the period.

Locking was gone by 1964, replaced by John Rostill, inaugurating the longest-lasting lineup in the group's history, Marvin, Welch, Rostill, and Bennett comprising the Shadows from 1964 until 1973, when Rostill's death eliminated the permanent bassist's spot. From then on, the Shadows would emulate Roxy Music by employing bassists rather than taking them on as ongoing members. Their success was the envy of a lot of musicians, though they were never able to successfully crack the American market as anything more than a cult act -- indeed, on that side of the Atlantic, they tended to be thought of in the same vein as the Ventures, who came along at roughly the same time in the late '50s and have endured at least as long. The Shadows -- often referred to informally as "the Shads" by their fans -- officially disbanded in 1968, on the tenth anniversary of their signing to EMI. Bennett devoted himself to a second career as a producer and arranger, while Marvin and Welch formed a Crosby, Stills & Nash-type trio with John Farrar in the '70s, with harmony vocals to match.

But in spite of some gorgeous recordings, they were never able to leave the Shadows legacy behind, and by 1973, the group had been officially reactivated with Farrar as a member. The group remained active throughout the '70s and '80s, switching to the Polydor label with the start of the latter decade and still selling large numbers of records and CDs, as well as concert tickets in England and around the world. Marvin embarked on a solo career in 1990 which left the Shadows inactive for the next decade or so. But they reunited in 2004 for a series of farewell concerts that ended up being extended into the following year, and yielded a live album and a concert DVD. ~ Bruce Eder Top Albums

Question: Who played bongos on the Shadows 1960 No.1 Apache?
Answer: Cliff Richard