by Robert Wilkinson
Today we celebrate the birthdays of two historic trail blazing Scorpios. The first is one of the greatest lights of all time, the man who saved the world from polio, Dr. Jonas Salk. The second begins our series of birthday tributes to Scorpio musicians, a man who is one of the most influential guitarists of the past 60 years, the legendary Hank Marvin of the Shadows.
We’ll get the non-musical honors out of the way before we begin the music! The amazing Dr. Jonas Salk (October 28, 1914 – June 23, 1995) was one of the greatest doctors ever to look into a microscope! He saved the world from polio with his pioneering vaccine, and changed the lives of millions of people forever.
What's remarkable is that he refused to patent his polio vaccine, because “his sole focus had been to develop a safe and effective vaccine as rapidly as possible, with no interest in personal profit. When he was asked in a televised interview who owned the patent to the vaccine, Salk replied: ‘There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?’”
I had the rare privilege of doing a chart session for him back in the early 90s, and we hung out on the phone later and talked for hours about his questions, which I answered as best as I could. It was metaphysics meets meta-biology, where the edge of consciousness meets the edge of life itself, and I just wish he had lived longer, since we had an instant rapport. His last written work, which he sent me, dealt with the nature of cellular consciousness itself, pattern replicability, and the energy fields behind all life, and we had only begun our dialog when he checked out.
He died about 29 years ago while on another major quest trying to find a cure for HIV, and to the end of his life pushed the boundaries of science, life, healing, and meta-biology. We should all be so relentless in pursuing things for the greater good of humanity! Thanks for everything, Jonas. You were one of the best of all time.
You can find out more about this remarkable man for the ages by checking out Wikipedia on Jonas Salk.
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And now, the great Hank Marvin (28 October 1941). If you don't know who the Shadows were, they were a British group that set the standard, along with the Ventures, Link Wray, and Dick Dale, for the entire instrumental music boom of the early 60s. This was a time when such groups as the Tornados, Chantays, Marketts, Surfaris, the Champs, Johnny and the Hurricanes, and Duane Eddy, along with the "Big Three" already mentioned, did instrumental versions of the hits of the era as well as their own original compositions, weaving a tapestry of guitar heavy melodies that impacted music ever since.
The Shadows set the standard. They did the original "Apache," along with all the other great instrumental songs of the era, including "Telstar," "Wipeout," "Ghost Riders in the Sky," and too many other gear fab tunes to count. Hank Marvin was/is the lead guitarist, and so for your remembrance and enjoyment, here are the Shadows!
Apache was # 1 for The Shadows in 1960 for six weeks. Here's a very early clip of The Shadows doing the classic "Apache."
Last year I had a clip with all these together, but it’s disappeared. From 1961, the Shadows on Crackerjack performing “The Frightened City” and “FBI.” (“Dance On” has disappeared.)
From April 1962, The Rudi Carell Show on Dutch TV. "Wonderful Land."
I found this one again! Here are the Shadows with Cliff Richard at the 1964 NME concert doing “Dance On” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On”
Also from 1964 on Belgian television, great footage! "Apache" (I have the entire half hour show downstream at the section featuring Cliff Richard).
Last year I had a clip of them doing this on tv in 1965, but it’s disappeared. Instead, here’s the studio version of "The War Lord."
From 1967, set to go go dancers, a television clip of “Dance On.”
From 1969, a great live performance of “Apache”
From 1979, "Cavatina."
From Top of the Pops in 1980, the Shadows live delivering "Riders In The Sky."
Love this song! I found it again! This is a live performance from 1979 by the Shadows of the 1954 Johnny Smith tune that the Ventures took to #2 in 1960, “Walk Don’t Run”
Here’s the studio version of “Walk Don’t Run”
A live recording of the Shads on Radio Luxembourg of the song. Not a great recording, but live! “Walk Don’t Run”
Last year I had the Shadows live in 1981 on a programme called Razzamataz doing this tune, but it’s gone. So here’s a video of the Shads set to the studio version of the famous "Telstar."
This is an amazing performance, and given Hank's smooth as silk playing, you can hear where Mark Knopfler got the inspiration for his particular guitar style! If you don't play one other video today, check this one out!!! For your enjoyment, the stunningly beautiful rocker written by Mike Oldfield (remember "Tubular Bells") performed in 1986 by Hank Marvin and the Shadows, "Moonlight Shadow."
From The Shadows on The Pebble Mill Show in 1986, another great version of "Moonlight Shadow."
And now, three performances of the song by the guy who wrote it!
I found a great performance by Mike Oldfield of this beautiful tune live in London in 1998! Here's the man who wrote this magnificent piece, accompanied by stunning vocals by Pepsi Demacque, doing "Moonlight Shadow."
From an earlier era, an acoustic take live in 1985 by Mike Oldfield with vocals by Maggie Reilly of "Moonlight Shadow."
For our final Oldfield performance, here's the VH1 live performance of "Moonlight Shadow" (His closing lead lines are amazing!)
Back to the Shadows! I found it again! Here’s the entire 55 minute set of a live stage performance in Liverpool (Liverpool Empire) England in 1989. It’s an awesome set list, so check it out!
The Shadows – 30 Years – Liverpool Empire 1989Here are a couple from the same 1989 show if you don’t have the time to see the entire show. Here are the Shadows doing "Shadoogie." and "Dance On."
Here are some real gems! Besides being hit makers on their own, The Shadows were also the backup band for Cliff Richard, one of the most popular performers in England in the late 50s and early 60s. This set the sound for pop music in the UK at the time, and was a huge influence on three young skiffle players by the names of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison.
In 1958, "Move It" broke rock and roll wide open in the UK, and opened the door for 10,000 guitarists to give it a try! For your enjoyment, from March 1960, Cliff Richard and the Shadows doing their 1958 #1 hit "Move It" (Check out those scandalously sexy moves! It was 1960 Great Britain, you know…)
From 1960, Cliff and the Shads live on television cranking out the Ray Charles classic, “What’d I Say”
From May 1960, Cliff and the Shads getting down on tv with “Willie and the Hand Jive”
Here’s their Royal Variety Performance from May 1960! First, Cliff’s crooning out “Living Doll.” From that same performance, Cliff’s dancing and Adam Faith makes an appearance as they crank out the Little Richard rocker “Ready Teddy”
Also from 1960, Cliff Richard & The Shadows doing "Gee Whiz It's You"
Last year I had a collection of three performance clips from television in 1960, but it’s disappeared. So instead here are individual video clips of “A Teenager’s Romance,” followed by “Mean Woman Blues,” then “Down the Line”
This looks like it’s taken from a movie. “Love”
We now take a slight detour, since the Shadows were still cranking out hits even without Cliff in that era! Here’s a mashup of early performance footage set to the studio version of “Man of Mystery”
Back to Sir Cliff! From the same era, "Nine Times Out of Ten." (Hank’s lead break really smokes!)
From 1962, Cliff Richard and the Shadows doing the Royal Variety Show at the London Palladium boppin’ to the Bobby Freeman classic “Do You Want To Dance.” From that same performance Cliff and the Shads give a good performance of their giant hit “The Young Ones.” (Their performance of “Wonderful Land” has disappeared.
Here’s the audio of their 1962 Paris show! The Shadows Live in Paris – 1962 (Set list: “Shazam,” “Shadoogie,” “Stranger on the Shore,” “The Frightened City,” “Man of Mystery,” “Do You Want to Dance,” “Nivram,” “Apache,” “Midnight,” and “Kon Tiki”)
From 1963, Cliff and the Shads doing “Lucky Lips”
From 1964 in Belgium, Cliff Richard and the Shadows giving us a half hour of their best! Cliff Richard & The Shadows - Live at the Forum, Liège, Belgium
From 1965 in the Netherlands, Cliff Richard and the Shadows doing 4 of their biggest! Cliff Richard and the Shadows in Valkenburg Holland - 1965
While the triple play clip from last year is gone, I found these two from the Shads’ 1981 Royal Command Performance with Cliff performing “Willie and the Hand Jive, and “We Don’t Talk Anymore”
From their 1995 Royal Variety Show performance at the Dominion Theatre, Cliff and Hank doing !"Move It."
Here they are again in 2008, cranking out their hits at the Royal Variety Show in the Palladium, Cliff Richard and the Shadows live doing "The Young Ones," "Willie and the Hand Jive," and "Move It."
A twangy studio version of a Cliff Richards rocker!"She's Gone."
To close this section on Cliff Richard and the Shadow, we have two great shows! For your enjoyment, Cliff Richard and the Shadows Live at the NEC 1984
Last year I had a 93 minute show in Dublin of the Cliff Richard and the Shadows 50th Anniversary Show in 2009, but it’s gone. However, in a strange turn, here’s a clip which links to 24 others and has a lot of that show. Cliff Richard and the Shadows 50th Anniversary Show – the Final Reunion in 2009.
The following are all studio versions set to still pictures of the Shadows doing some of the greatest hits of the day.
From 1960, "The Stranger."
From 1962, the Shads doing "The Rumble." (This is NOT the iconic Link Wray tune which gave the world the power chord.)
From 1963, "Atlantis"
From 1965, "Stingray."
Here's the studio version of the classic "Perfidia."
Another slowed down studio version of "Perfidia."
From 2000, a live video of "Riders in the Sky."
From Hank's Guitar Player tour he gives us the legendary Ennio Morricone composition, "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly."
From Cliff Richard's Countdown to the Millenium concert in 2000, here's the Master Guitarist doing the great "Apache."
The Shads live in Cardiff on the Final Tour 2004! Here are Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch & Brian Bennet doing "Geronimo." From that same Final Tour, here’s "Sleepwalk”
The 1998 clip of Hank and his son Ben doing “The Shadow” is gone, as is their performance of “Oxygene,” but I found this live performance of “Shadoogie.” I also found this great video from 2004 of dad and son performing "Sleepwalk"
Last year I had a great clip from 1994 of Hank and Ben, accompanied by Brian Bennett and his son Warren Bennett with bassist Mark Griffiths in a live performance of ”Move It,” “Apache,” and "Sleepwalk" but this year it’s disappeared, as is the 1995 clip from 1995 of Hank, Ben, and Warren performing “The Young Ones” and “Traveling Light.”
Here’s a great 8+ minute clip of Hank and Ben doing ”The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt.”
We’ll close this buffet of father/son rock and roll clips with Hank and Ben on GMTV doing a great acoustic version of “Eleanor Rigby”
Here’s an amazing live performance by Hank of Jean Michel Jarre’s “Oxygene”
In a fitting close to this birthday tribute, here are two English guitar legends doing what they do best! For your enjoyment, a 1985 live performance by Dire Straits and Hank Marvin doing "Going Home."
For an encore, a great score! Here's a one hour plus of Hank being interviewed about how he came to his style of playing, with clips of his performances throughout the years. Enjoy! Just Hank Marvin - 1997
Mister Hank Marvin, many thanks for setting the standard so long ago, and inspiring so many great British and American guitarists! May you rock on!!
© Copyright 2024 Robert Wilkinson
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