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I'm intrigued by the 1979 MFP release of The Shadows A L'Olympia (both vinyl and cassette on ebay at the moment). The track listing is:

Side One:
Shadoogie
Guitar Tango
Somewhere
Little B
Medley:
Lucille, Rip It Up, Blue Suede Shoes

Side Two:
Man of Mystery
Lady of the Morning
Nivram
Tiny Robin
Honourable Puff-Puff
Sleepwalk
Apache

A substantially altered running order to the UK release and the omission of The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt. An interesting set-list, but I can't see why they felt the need to alter it so drastically. Having said that, the UK cassette places Little B on side one, so maybe this is an indication of it's popularity? Or maybe not. Certainly on the French MFP album the drum solo is a featured title on the front cover, along with Apache, Guitar Tango, Shadoogie and Nivram.

The tracklisting is mainly a switch of side one and side two of the original issue. As you said, "The Rise And Fall Of Flingel Bunt" has been excluded, but also "Marmaduke". I wonder whether the order of the tracks as listed on side two is correct, especially the sequence "Lady Of The Morning", "Nivram" and "Tiny Robin". On the original issue of the album, this order is listed as such on the back cover of the sleeve and on the record label, but in reality the tracks can be heard in this order: "Lady Of The Morning", "Tiny Robin" and "Nivram".

I've just bought the cassette version from ebay France. So we shall see. Or hear...

drakula63 wrote:A substantially altered running order to the UK release and the omission of The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt. An interesting set-list, but I can't see why they felt the need to alter it so drastically.

Possibly in order to reduce the playing time and be able to cut the vinyl to a better standard then the "regular" pressing?

JimN wrote:

drakula63 wrote:A substantially altered running order to the UK release and the omission of The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt. An interesting set-list, but I can't see why they felt the need to alter it so drastically.

Possibly in order to reduce the playing time and be able to cut the vinyl to a better standard then the "regular" pressing?

Yeah... that did occur to me, but I always thought of MFP as an el cheapo, budget label. I wouldn't have thought that the sound quality would have been their first priority here. Having said that, this could be the reason and it would certainly sound better if it's not so crowded. I am still surprised that 20 Golden Greats was just a single album, with 10 tracks per side, whereas the Spanish released it as a double and therefor spread the tracks out over four sides. Having said all that, I love those old MFP albums and they remind me of better times. I'll probably end up buying the Paris Olympia album on cassette AND vinyl.

Does anyone remember MFP used to release 'An hour of....' cassettes, one was of The Shadows and was the very first Shadows cassette i bought. If i remember the first side was mostly tracks from Jigsaw and side 2 was a collection of B sides and EP tracks. Think the collection closed with 'Slaughter on tenth avenue'. I liked those cassettes as they avoided the usual hits, i also bought one from The Hollies and Herman's Hermits.

Yes! I bought An Hour of...The Shadows and ...Hits of 1960 - because it had Who Could Be Bluer by Jerry Lordan on it. I've still got An Hour of...Instrumental Greats of the '60s which I keep in the garage where I've got an old cassette player - so every six months or so, when I change the oil on one of my two ancient cars - I stick that on...and the neighbours are exposed to Bush Fire by The Cannons, The Ventures' Walk Don't Run and Man of Mystery. I remember a freezing cold afternoon back in January...lying underneath my MG Magnette with warm engine oil trickling down my arm...listening to Hall of Mirrors by The Nu-Notes...thinking, "It doesn't get much better than this"!

Received the French, MFP cassette of The Shadows A L'Olympia today. Just played it. Perfect! It sounded fantastic - very warm and none of the problems that you can find with old cassettes. I liked the way the box is actually red - even the inlay (apart from the front) is red. Looks very distinctive! The band photos are very small and not that well reproduced but, apart from that, the packaging is fine. The transitions between the tracks are very smooth, unnoticeable where they are in a different order to the UK original. And, in that respect, yes, Lady of the Morning, Nivram and Tiny Robin are in that order! As with the UK version, it seems to make sense to play side 2 before side 1 as this is then closer to what we are used to and, I suppose, closer to the original set list. Also, they have retained Bruce's customary "Thank you. And we'll be back soon. Thank you!" after Apache. So, in this case, I suppose he means we'll see you in a few years! All in all, delighted with this purchase. Another curio from the past, in this case 1979. The LP next!

I like these variations of the running order of a live album, because a live album is much more of a 'whole' and if the running order is different, to me it makes the live recording different, if that makes any sense. For me it's not the same with a different running order of a studio album, because all tracks are separate recordings. Anyway, I am going to try to get copies of the original 1975 UK cassette and the 1979 French LP.

Shame the concert wasn't filmed as well, would have made a nice VHS/DVD release.