20 Golden Greats @45

[drakula63]

I think the main thing about 20GG was that it started a bit of a Shads renaissance... a decade or so after they had last been truly successful. It kick started the touring again and brought the Shadows back into the public gaze... in a way that even the Eurovision hadn't really. If you type The Shadows 20 Golden Greats into a certain well known internet auction site, you get about 500 results on average, This, to me, suggests that there were a heck of a lot of people who bought it in 1977 - sadly, many of them possibly no longer with us. I'll speculate that without 20 Golden Greats, the Shadows wouldn't have lasted until 1990.

Interestingly, when you type 'The Shadows Greatest Hits' into the same auction site, you currently get more than 1,000 results... but many of them are for other albums as well as the primary one. I think String of Hits is, not surprisingly, equally as popular as 20GGr.

P.S. Been meaning to mention this for a while... Has anyone else ever noticed that the cover design of Thank You Very Much contains obvious visual nods to both 20 Golden Greats and Cliff's 40 Golden Greats albums? Namely, Cliff's head in profile and looking right and the shadows (silhouettes) of the guitar necks and headstocks. Not a coincidence I feel.

[Uncle Fiesta]

Unfortunately, it also kickstarted the Shadows slow decline into covers band mediocrity. Had it not been for 20GG then they may (together or separately) have come up with something more original.

I know what I would have preferred to see.

[drakula63]

Unfortunately, it also kickstarted the Shadows slow decline into covers band mediocrity. Had it not been for 20GG then they may (together or separately) have come up with something more original.

I know what I would have preferred to see.

Nonsense. Their 'decline into covers band mediocrity' had nothing to do with 20GG at all. It was more likely due to the success of the singles Don't Cry for Me Argentina and Cavatina and the success of the album String of Hits. 20GG got them back together again as a unit on a more or less full-time basis (which they hadn't been since the 60s) and touring... I cannot see how it had any kind of influence on their musical direction. As a matter of fact, their first post-20GG album, Tasty, had a huge number of original tracks on it but, strangely, didn't sell. 20 Golden Greats did nothing but great things for the Shadows. I'm bemused that anyone could entertain a thought to the contrary.

[iefje]

I think that if "20 Golden Greats" wasn't released or was released but did not do much on the charts, The Shadows would have followed the same path as they did between 1973 and 1976: release an album every now and then with some singles, but probably no annual tours.
What happened between "Tasty" and "String Of Hits" (an album with largely original material vs. an album with largely derivative material), happened again between "Guardian Angel" and "Moonlight Shadows". Largely original material didn't do much on the charts, but after that, derivative material got them much higher in the charts again.
The "Moonlight Shadows" album was probably a test to see if derivative material indeed got the group higher in the charts again. The fact that the last four studio albums ("Simply...Shadows", "Steppin' To The Shadows", "At Their Very Best" and "Reflection") were predominantly cover oriented (the third self-covers), was probably because Hank had emigrated to Australia in November 1986 and Brian got more involved in composing for television and film. They simply didn't have or take the time to write more original material.

[Twilight Ranger]

Landmark release as 20 Golden Greats was for many in its time, the original Greatest Hits compilation was for me the definitive collection.

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More or less the same with me. I had the Greatest Hits LP and several Shadows singles and EPs, so there was no new material for me on the 20GG. I have read somewhere that it sold 1,250,000 copies and even I eventually bought the CD version when it was released.

[drakula63]

So, it's 45 years ago TODAY that The Shadows 20 Golden Greats hit #1 on the album chart! Break open the bubbly!

[JimN]

Lefje wrote:

What happened between "Tasty" and "String Of Hits" (an album with largely original material vs. an album with largely derivative material), happened again between "Guardian Angel" and "Moonlight Shadows". Largely original material didn't do much on the charts, but after that, derivative material got them much higher in the charts again.

What is often unmentioned is that even though The Shadows had plenty of opportunity that year (they did a summer tour of the UK - I saw them three times in Kent), they did absolutely no promotion of "Guardian Angel". Not a single number played on stage and not even a mention of the LP which was on sale out in the theatre foyer on each occasion.

[Learig331]

Lefje wrote:

What happened between "Tasty" and "String Of Hits" (an album with largely original material vs. an album with largely derivative material), happened again between "Guardian Angel" and "Moonlight Shadows". Largely original material didn't do much on the charts, but after that, derivative material got them much higher in the charts again.

What is often unmentioned is that even though The Shadows had plenty of opportunity that year (they did a summer tour of the UK - I saw them three times in Kent), they did absolutely no promotion of "Guardian Angel". Not a single number played on stage and not even a mention of the LP which was on sale out in the theatre foyer on each occasion.

To this day I still don't understand that. I like that album and it could have been more successful had they promoted it. The title track isn't bad at all, there are some great licks in it and could have been a hit imho. There are some Knopfler/DireStraits vibes about it. But what do i know.

[dave robinson]

I had another listen to the Guardian Angel tracks yesterday and I actually think if anything doomed it, the vocals were the problem.
In retrospect I remember at the time that I wasn't mad on the content and put the album in the rack after a couple of plays.
Choice of material is everything and for what ever reason The Shadows lost their appeal to the masses, with only die hard fans buying the albums. That's why the record company instigated the survey and they began recording mainstream pop, Brian told me that.
Listening again there are some good tunes and arrangements on there but one has to wonder why they didn't try to promote it and what their own thoughts were at the time.

[Uncle Fiesta]

I think by then they had realised that awful boring song covers were selling better than the good stuff, so went with that for the sake of their bank balance.

I wouldn't cross the road to see a band playing covers, much less buy an album full of them, by someone who is capable of much better.

But obviously, the masses see things differently.