The Shadows

The Shadows are a British instrumental rock group, and Cliff Richard's backing band, with 69 UK chart singles from the 1950s to the 2000s, 35 credited to the Shadows and 34 to Cliff Richard and the Shadows. The group, who were in the forefront of the UK beat-group boom, were the first backing band to emerge as stars…

Specs Appeal: What a great title! To two generations of fans, the Shadows' most instantly familiar trademark was Hank Marvin's spectacles – long before Elton John elevated eye glasses to the height of sartorial chic, there was Hank, playing away and smiling behind a gentle pair of horn rims…

The Shadows' fourth album (not counting hits collections) follows on from Dance with the Shadows. The common perception among Americans watching from afar and British historians who just don't know is that the Shadows were operating in a vacuum during the 1960s, oblivious to the pop music universe swirling around them, but their mid-'60s albums tell a different story – the band tries hard to be a mainstream rock & roll outfit without betraying their roots as a virtuoso instrumental ensemble…

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 homegrown British rock & roll band to dominate the U.K. charts, or that they weren't originally an instrumental group, either.

This compilation comprises everything they recorded between 1958 (when they were originally known as The Drifters) and the end of 1961, including an unfeasibly-rare South African EP…

Another great album from The Shadows. They never did disappoint and after fifty years were always underated. This album confirms the great talent throughout the group…

The Shadows' second album is one of the group's better efforts, though not a very hard-rocking one. By this time, the Shadows were moving in a direction similar to that of Cliff Richard, aiming for a wider, more mature audience that was attuned to more than rock & roll…

1967. The Summer of Love. Sgt. Pepper's and Satanic Majesties, San Francisco, flowers in your hair…and the dear old Shadows, still besuited and a-twanging, a-grooving, and a-moving, and so firmly locked in a bygone age that even grandma thought they were a little square…