Tonight

“Tonight” is a wonderful song from the classic musical, “West Side Story” — composed by Leonard Bernstein. The Shadows included an arrangement on their 1964 album “Dance with the Shadows”. It was not released as a single, but was included on an E.P.

My instrumental version is basically a cover of the Shadows arrangement with a few minor changes in the harmonization.

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Santa Ana

“Santa Ana” was the second track on side two of the Shadows 1965 album “Sound of the Shadows”. It was composed by Jerry Lordan, who also penned the Shadows’ hits “Apache”, “Wonderful Land” and “Atlantis”.

My version is pretty much a straight cover, although I did play around a bit with the rhythms in the backing tracks.

All Day

“All Day” was the B-side to the Shadows 1962 number one UK hit, “Dance On”. Written by Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch, it is a simple affair with only two chords tonic and dominant. The title apparently resulted from the band having to sit around and wait for a long period of time at the Abbey Road studios.

On the original recording, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch each played a bouzouki.  For my cover version I used the acoustic 12-strings on my Line6 Variax.

Guitar Tango

“Guitar Tango” was a #4 UK singles hit for the Shadows in 1962. My version is a cover.

Fandango

“Fandango” was the third track on the Shadows 1964 album, “Dance with the Shadows”. It was composed by Frank Perkins, an American song composer best known for “Stars Fell on Alabama” in addition to “Fandango”.

My instrumental arrangement is a cover the Shadows version.

Celestial Blue

“Celestial Blue” is an original instrumental composition in which I try to evoke a feel similar to the style of the Shadows.

Warmed Up

“Warmed Up” is an original instrumental featuring three of my Nash guitars:

1. Les Paul
2. S-57
3. PB-57  (not visible in the video)

Is this in a classic-rock or jazz-fusion style? You can decide which and let me know which you think!

Relic

“Relic” is an original composition in classic rock style, arranged for guitar, bass, organ and drums.

Deep Purple

“Deep Purple” was composed by pianist Peter DeRose in 1933. Originally instrumental, it was so popular that lyrics were added in 1938 by Mitchell Parish. In the following years it was successfully recorded by numerous artists.

In 1963, the brother and sister team of Nino Tempo and April Stevens released a version that went on to hold the number one position on the USA charts for twelve weeks.

In 1965, the Shadows included an instrumental version of the song on their album, “The Sound of The Shadows”. This is the basis for my rendition, which is not a straight cover.

Zambesi

“Zambesi”, written by South African musician Nico Carstens, was covered by the Shadows on the 1964 album “Dance with the Shadows”. My version is essentially a loose cover of their arrangement.

The High and the Mighty

“The High and the Mighty”, composed by Dimitri Tiomkin,  is the main theme from the 1954 movie of the same name. While the song did not win any awards, the film’s score won an Oscar for best music. The song, with lyrics by Ned Washington, peaked at #4 in 1954.

The Shadows included an instrumental version of the song on their 1964 album “Dance with the Shadows”. My version is essentially a cover of this — although it is not “note-for-note”.

Saturday Shadow

“Saturday Shadow” is an original composition in which I try to combine the feel of 60’s instrumental guitar rock with a somewhat more sophisticated musical and harmonic language than was typical for that genre. This one is similar to the style of the Shadows.

Blue Star

“Blue Star” was originally theme music for the television series, Medic, and was composed in 1955 by Victor Young under the title “The Medic Theme.” A set of lyrics were later added by Edward Heyman (who often worked with Young) and with those lyrics the new title was  “Blue Star,” a new copyright was issued on May 5, 1955.

The Shadows included an instrumental version of the song as the second track on their 1961 eponymous album.

My rendition is basically a cover of the Shadows version with some added instrumentation.

French Dressing

“French Dressing” was originally a track on the Shadows 1964 album, “Dance with the Shadows”. It was written by drummer Brian Bennett. It has a bit of a rockabilly fell.

My version is pretty much a cover with just a few minor changes.

Rhythm & Greens

Rhythm & Greens was an extended play 45 rpm record released by The Shadows in 1964. The music was the soundtrack from a films short of the same name, produced and directed by Christopher Miles.

The EP contained 5 songs, with writing credit shared by the four members of the group at the time: guitarist Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch, bassist John Rostill, and drummer Bruce Bennett. The recording was produced by Norrie Paramor.

The first song on side one was titled “Rhythm & Greens” which was also released as a single in 1964 and peaked at #22 on the UK singles charts. The first song on side two is this “Main Theme”.

My version is a straight cover.