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I agree 100% that Alan Jones is an excellent bass player and was perfect for the Shadows. I enjoyed his tenure enormously. His recorded legacy is first class.

As to historical questions, they can be answered with facts where we have them. Where we don’t, a bit of guesswork is only human nature. However, this site is also historical in nature and I read some isolated comments in this thread which strayed from fact to conjecture and also touched on personal areas. On balance I thought it would be better to trim them out. I apologise to three contributors to this thread for perhaps leaving you wondering and I am more than happy to address any outstanding questions via the PM system.

Many thanks - Iain

My contribution to all of this is based on fact, nothing made up whatsoever.
I know exactly the true story and it isn't something I'm a liberty to share here as it is bordering on personal stuff for those involved.
What I will say is that I now 'get it'.

Exactly.

Yeah... I wouldn't want things to stray into the 'personal' area and I would have thought, and hoped, that all speculation was limited to 'professional' areas. From a purely 'professional' point of view, i.e. from the records and the live shows, Alan served the Shads very well for ten years - albeit with a couple of absences. I actually listened to Change of Address the other night and I have to say that the bass playing is one of the highlights of the album. All I can really say is that it seemed a shame that he wasn't able to return to the band, but I'm glad he was able to record one final album with them after the accident. As I say, I didn't buy it at the time, but having now got it on CD I am pleasantly surprised by Steppin' to the Shadows and certainly rate it above some of the other Polydor albums. For the record, I liked The Shadows at their Very Best too... but I do prefer the originals.

drakula63 wrote:Yeah... I wouldn't want things to stray into the 'personal' area and I would have thought, and hoped, that all speculation was limited to 'professional' areas. From a purely 'professional' point of view, i.e. from the records and the live shows, Alan served the Shads very well for ten years - albeit with a couple of absences. I actually listened to Change of Address the other night and I have to say that the bass playing is one of the highlights of the album. All I can really say is that it seemed a shame that he wasn't able to return to the band, but I'm glad he was able to record one final album with them after the accident. As I say, I didn't buy it at the time, but having now got it on CD I am pleasantly surprised by Steppin' to the Shadows and certainly rate it above some of the other Polydor albums. For the record, I liked The Shadows at their Very Best too... but I do prefer the originals.

I quite like the "Steppin' To The Shadows" album and the highlights for me are the original tracks: "Mountains Of The Moon", "Stack-It", "Shoba" and "Farewell My Lovely". The second and third of these feature some of Alan's greatest basslines.

I have watched the liverpool empier one a few times .
And have to agree . Theme from the deer hunter and rise and fall
Where you can see at the end hank walking over to have a word with mark me thinks
Kind regards andy

I had to get used to Mark Griffiths' bass playing, I must admit, especially on the "At Their Very Best Live"/"Live At The Liverpool Empire" recording. On it he uses a 6-string bass guitar (not a Fender VI, which is usually used for lead guitar playing). I personally don't like the sound of a 5-string or 6-string bass guitar (again I don't mean the Fender VI). The lowest bass strings just sound too low for me and hardly as solid as a conventional 4-string bass guitar. I liked Mark's sound on the "The Final Tour" recording much more though. His sound on the studio albums "At Their Very Best" and "Reflection" to me are again more satisfactory and solid sounding and I think his sound is best at home on Hank Marvin's solo albums from 1992 onwards.

drakula63 wrote:...
Yes, I saw Time in London, but I'm sure that was 1987. Alan came back into the band after this and so the unavailability issue had been resolved.

I saw "Time" at the Dominion Theatre, London, on October 31, 1986.

drakula63 wrote:Lefje, thanks. Yeah, that's more or less as I understood it or had worked it out. Alan appeared on TV with the Shads late '87 playing the theme from Pulaski on a variety show from the London Palladium, so obviously he was back with them at that point.

When did the car accident take place? Before or after that 1987 Palladium date?

I still have a VHS of that appearance and Alan looks in perfect health and suffering no ill-effects of anything at all. I'd be as sure as one could be that the appearance must have preceded the accident, because Alan's recovery from the injuries he sustained took a long time.

More directly, Dave Robinson's "Past Masters" website contains the information that Alan joined the "Time" musical in 1988 (and we know that it was during that engagement that Alan had the accident).

http://www.pastmastersmusic.co.uk/photo%20album.htm

JimN wrote:

drakula63 wrote:Lefje, thanks. Yeah, that's more or less as I understood it or had worked it out. Alan appeared on TV with the Shads late '87 playing the theme from Pulaski on a variety show from the London Palladium, so obviously he was back with them at that point.

When did the car accident take place? Before or after that 1987 Palladium date?

I still have a VHS of that appearance and Alan looks in perfect health and suffering no ill-effects of anything at all. I'd be as sure as one could be that the appearance must have preceded the accident, because Alan's recovery from the injuries he sustained took a long time.

More directly, Dave Robinson's "Past Masters" website contains the information that Alan joined the "Time" musical in 1988 (and we know that it was during that engagement that Alan had the accident).

http://www.pastmastersmusic.co.uk/photo%20album.htm

Lefje stated that he believed the car accident to have been in April 1988. That was more or less what I thought. I was under the impression that Alan was playing bass in Time right from the start. I was always under the impression that the 1987 TV appearance was before the accident. Alan looked very well and happy that night and I remember him wearing a shiny gold suit.