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 Bill posted on Monday, 13 June, 2005 - 09:56 am
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| What is the musical connection between Doctor Who and me (William Darlington)? |
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| Chris posted on Tuesday, 14 June, 2005 - 01:09 am
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Bill,
I think you revealed this in an earlier posting on the previous forum. If I just say 'your brother' and (possibly) 'Big Finish', would I be in the right ball park?
Chris |
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| Bill posted on Tuesday, 14 June, 2005 - 10:37 am
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Bugger! Too easy, eh? :-)
Good memory, Chris.
Correct, my brother David (Davie) does the music and sound effect for a lot of the Dr Who audiobooks.
I got a classical guitar for my 21st birthday but he has it now! (There's a TV golden age connection. The guitar has a big "The Prisoner" sticker on it.) |
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| Chris posted on Tuesday, 14 June, 2005 - 06:48 pm
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Yeah, too easy... But at least it means that I get to ask a quiz question next. Better get my thinking head on (as Worzel Gummidge would say!). By the way, when you say 'audiobooks', I assume you mean the BBC ones based on the soundtracks of the original serials as opposed to the new audio dramas produced under licence by Big Finish.
I got a classical guitar for my birthday in 1980 - saw myself as a budding John Williams. Or maybe it was 1979 and I saw myself as a budding Bruce Welch?! Either way, I failed miserably and, having learnt three chords (any guesses which ones?) I took a pair of pliers to the strings and cut them. Much to my brother's amusement! He later retrieved said stringless instrument from the loft and sold it for 50 pence! Mind you, I did steal a couple of 1981 Shadows and sky concert programmes off him, so maybe it was fair recompense! Ah, those were the days...
Chris (reformed concert programme thief and failed guitarist). |
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| Bill posted on Tuesday, 14 June, 2005 - 10:55 pm
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My brother has done a lot of the Big Finish CDs. They even released albums of his scores:
http://www.doctorwho.co.uk/drwho_music/music_excelis.shtml
http://www.doctorwho.co.uk/drwho_music/music_excelis.shtml
Not sure if he's worked on any of the originals although he has done freelance work for the BBC on Doctor Who.
I got my guitar for my 21st, a month or so before my finals, so I had other things on my mind. After that, I was doing a Ph.D. No excuse. If I had really made an effort...
Anyway, now for your quiz question, Chris! |
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| Chris posted on Wednesday, 15 June, 2005 - 12:05 am
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OK, then... Here goes... I bet nobody can give me the full answer(s) to these.
Can you tell me what 'direct' links there are between FOUR members of SKY and THE SHADOWS?
There are several 'tenuous' links, which I shall mention in due course. What I am after, for now, are the four 'direct' links between sky and the Shads. A clue: the period in question is the 1970s.
Bill, Richard, or anyone else - any ideas?
Good luck!
Chris |
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| Chris posted on Wednesday, 15 June, 2005 - 12:07 am
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P.S. You must be SPECIFIC!!!!
Sorry!
;o)
Chris |
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| Richard posted on Wednesday, 15 June, 2005 - 02:46 am
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I've never been a particular Shads follower, but here's a few guesses:
Francis and Steve toured with them (but not together) at some stage in the mid 70s. (I suppose I could Google some info but that's against the rules.) :-)
Steve also did several arrangements for them, and has worked with mate Brian Bennett on a few things. (I have a couple of Shads cassettes and I recall his name cropping up. I'm too lazy to go upstairs to check.)
John Farrar was (? is?) a close mate of KP's and they worked on quite a few projects together in the 60s/70s. (Notably, they were in a band together back in Oz before coming to the UK - buggered if I can remember the name).
Tenuous one: JW hit the charts with Cavatina at the same time they did (I never did like their version, to be perfectly honest - I've heard it played on electric guitar by a couple of other people, who did a better job, in my opinion).
Oh, and here's an extra one: Alan Tarney (composer of A Girl in Winter and Return To Me on Cadmium) wrote a heck of Shads pieces. Wasn't he also officially a Shad at some point?
How'd I do, Chris? |
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| Chris posted on Wednesday, 15 June, 2005 - 09:29 am
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Not bad at all, Richard. You are more or less 'spot on' with a couple of them and very close with others. Missed a couple of really big ones though!!!
I shall reveal all shortly, but I'll give it a while longer to see if anyone else can surprise me.
But, yes, you are very, very close on all counts... |
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| Bill posted on Wednesday, 15 June, 2005 - 09:31 am
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JF/KP: Quartet (but it was in the UK)
AT/KP: James Taylor Move
(I did, of course, cheat but I used Copernic, not Google.) |
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| Richard Sliwa posted on Thursday, 16 June, 2005 - 08:38 pm
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| Hey, Chris, are you going to keep us in suspense forever? |
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| Chris posted on Thursday, 16 June, 2005 - 10:31 pm
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| Yeah. |
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| Chris posted on Thursday, 16 June, 2005 - 11:12 pm
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Only joking!
Because Richard is going away tomorrow and because I don't think anyone is going to get more than one correct answer, I will put you all out of your misery.
HERBIE FLOWERS played bass on the Shadows 1970 album SHADES OF ROCK. Although I have not been able to find out any further information, it is widely acknowledged that Herbie plays bass on several tracks on this album (along with one or two other bass players).
STEVE GRAY arranged the orchestra on several tracks on the Shads 1979 album STRING OF HITS.
FRANCIS MONKMAN played keyboards on the Shads 20 GOLDEN DATES tour of May 1977.
KEVIN PEEK reputedly played rhythm guitar on the Shadows 1979 version of CAVATINA – THE THEME FROM THE DEER HUNTER. This fact, needless to say, is never mentioned in any Shadows publication or website. Having said that, this was confirmed to me by a source very, very close to the Shadows (in more ways than one) and someone who should be in a position to know. Obviously I won’t say who this was.
Those are the only four direct links that I know of.
Tenuous links:
KEVIN was in Cliff Richard’s band in the early/mid 1970s. He can be heard on the live double album ‘Japan Tour ’74’. He also plays on Hank Marvin’s 1977 album THE HANK MARVIN GUITAR SYNDICATE. He was also in the ‘Get it Together’ house band, alongside Shadows bassist Alan Jones. ‘Get it Together’, for those fortunate enough not to remember, was a kind of junior version of Top of the Pops, which went out on ITV on a weekday afternoon at about 4.30.
HERBIE plays bass on Cliff Richard’s 1979 album ROCK ‘N’ ROLL JUVENILE, as well as appearing, with Kevin, on Hank’s GUITAR SYNDICATE album.
TRISTAN FRY plays percussion of ROCK ‘N’ ROLL JUVENILE.
FRANCIS plays keyboards on Brian Bennett’s 1977 album VOYAGE, along with Shads bassist Alan Jones.
STEVE GRAY worked extensively with Brian Bennett in the 1970s, on sessions and composing and performing library music. One tune in particular, Melissa, was the theme to a BBC TV series and released (under the group name Wasp) in 1974. He also formed Survivors, a band that included Brian Bennett. The band also included Paul Hart, who had previously played an electric violin solo on Cliff Richard’s 1982 album NOW YOU SEE ME...NOW YOU DON’T.
KEVIN PEEK was, indeed, a member of QUARTET – although the other members were Alan Tarney, Trevor Spencer and Terry Britten. Alan Tarney was, indeed, the Shadows main bass player between 1973 and 1977. He did, of course, contribute two tracks to sky’s 1983 album Cadmium.
And finally, to reverse the connection, so to speak. When touring Australia in the late 1980s, sky invited Hank Marvin to get up on stage with them at the end of one particular gig to guest on Toccata. He did so and, apparently, it brought the house down. Hank, of course, has lived in Australia since 1987 and has, on occasion, recorded at the very studio owned by Kevin Peek! And so the connections seem to go on and on...
There are probably many more tenuous links between The Shadows and sky, but these are the only ones that I am personally aware of. Please enlighten me with any others that you know of...
(And I'm not even going to mention the remark Bruce Welch can be heard making on the Shads 1982 album 'Live at Abbey Road'...! Suffice to say, sky and the Shadows were clearly very good friends and, despite what some might think, there was never any rivalry between them at all. Or, if there was, it was all good humoured.)
Chris |
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