Shadow Music – THE SHADOWS***

I Only Want To Be With You/Fourth Street/The Magic Doll/Stay Around/Maid Marion’s Theme/Benno-San/Don’t Stop Now/In The Past/Fly Me To The Moon/Now That You’re Gone/One Way To Love/Razzmataz/A Sigh/March To Drina

Shadow Music was a disappointing offering from The Shadows that contained no particularly memorable original tracks, concentrating instead on reworking MOR oldies. (UK:5)

"For me the John Rostill period, The Shads playing Burns guitars, stands out for creativity, exploration of new sounds and more. So, this is one of the fine records from that period. Very varied, yet typically Shads."

"One of the less essential Shadows albums, Shadow Music is a 'business-as-usual' type blending of characteristic remakes of pre-pop classics with a clutch of middling band compositions, with its highlights drawn from the least likely surroundings of all."

"Christmas, 1965, saw The Shadows score a pantomime version of Babes In The Wood at the London Palladium. Three songs from the venture appear on Shadow Music - the buoyant beat ballad I Only Want To Be With You, the chiming foot-tapper Magic Doll and Maid Marion's Theme, a gentle guitar instrumental with the ghost of several past Shadows hits lurking around the edges. For the rest, Shadow Music offers little to get excited over. Four further vocal numbers are pleasant but unexceptional. A rocking take on Fly Me To The Moon is scarcely an improvement on Cliff Richard's ham-fisted assault of the previous year, while Fourth Street harks back to the lute and drum led numbers which starred on earlier band albums, a showcase for drummer Brian Bennett's piano playing which adds to the variety, but contributes little to the legend."

"The jazz spoof Razzmataz is neatly dexterous, while a rearrangement of Franz Listz's A Sigh, brings a touch of classic class to the proceedings. There's also a chance to hear the band's original version of In The Past, a song better known from Cliff Richard's 1969 re-recording. By comparison with past Shadows albums, however, Shadow Music offers few surprises and nothing new