Pickwick cassettes with jumbled tracks

[RayL]

At the beginning of the 1990s I came across various Shadows cassettes in a bin at a supermarket (£3.49 each). Ideal for playing in the car. They were issued by Pickwick and consisted of recordings from the Polydor era but with the tracks all jumbled up compared to the original albums and singles.

The cassettes were named The Shadows Collection, Diamonds and Dancing In The Dark. Do I have the complete set or were there others?
Ray

[UlrichS]

Hi Ray,
You have the complete set, which was also issed in a boxed set. All three were released on CD and the first two also on vinyl.
Ulrich

[JimN]

At the beginning of the 1990s I came across various Shadows cassettes in a bin at a supermarket (£3.49 each). Ideal for playing in the car. They were issued by Pickwick and consisted of recordings from the Polydor era but with the tracks all jumbled up compared to the original albums and singles.

The cassettes were named The Shadows Collection, Diamonds and Dancing In The Dark. Do I have the complete set or were there others?
Ray

They were all released as CDs, and the first two were released as LPs as well.

I'm not sure what you mean by "jumbled". All three were budget compilations of RollOver material and so none were intended to replicate the track listing of a particular studio album - quite the reverse.

The CD contents were as presented below. Is the running order different (or deficient) on the cassettes?

One other thing: Some of the included tracks were previously non-LP - 45rpm B-sides - being made available on CD (and perhaps LP/MC). For that reason, both "The Shadows Collection" and "Dancing In The Dark" were essential purchases for those of us then trying to replicate a vinyl collection on compact disc.

THE SHADOWS COLLECTION:
1. Just The Way You Are
2. Turning Point
3. Midnight Creepin'
4. The Shady Lady (B-side of "Missing" as a 45)
5. Thing-Me-Jig
6. Johnny Staccato (shortened version)
7. Stack-It
8. If You Leave Me Now
9. Equinoxe (Part V)
10. Change Of Address
11. Fender Bender
12. Temptation (1980 re-recording)
13. The Fourth Man (B-side of "The Third Man" as a 45)
14. Summer Love '59
15. Mozart Forte
16. Albatross

DANCING IN THE DARK:
1. Dancing In The Dark (album version)
2. Life In The Jungle
3. Queen Of Hearts
4. Cat 'N' Mouse
5. I Will Return
6. Shoba
7. No Dancing!
8. High Noon
9. Telstar
10. More Than I Can Say
11. Outdigo
12. Spot The Ball (B-side of "Treat Me nice" as a 45)
13. Time Is Tight
14. Elevenis (B-side of "Diamonds" as a 45)
15. Mountains Of The Moon
16. A Whiter Shade Of Pale

DIAMONDS:
1. Diamonds
2. Imagine/Woman
3. The Theme From "Missing"
4. You Rescue Me (v)
5. Hats Off To Wally
6. Nut Rocker
7. (I'm Gonna Be Your) Guardian Angel (v)
8. Up Where We Belong
9. This Ole House
10. Africa
11. Arty's Party
12. Can't Play Your Game (v)
13. The Old Romantics
14. Our Albert
15. Cowboy Cafe
16. We Don't Talk Anymore

There were no non-LP tracks on the "Diamonds" compilation.

[iefje]

"Fender Bender" is also a non-album B-side, the other side of "Equinoxe (Part V)".

My father bought all three albums packaged in the 3 CD box "A Special Collection". All three discs have the 'browning' effect. However, they all still play without problems.

[JimN]

"Fender Bender" is also a non-album B-side, the other side of "Equinoxe (Part V)".

My father bought all three albums packaged in the 3 CD box "A Special Collection". All three discs have the 'browning' effect. However, they all still play without problems.

Luckily, most, if not all, of the non-LP tracks have since been reissued on other discs since the early 1990s, most particularly, on "Shadstrax", though all except Elevenis were also on the 1992 three-CD set "Complete".

Anyone relying only on the Pickwick sets is well-advised to rip them to a hard drive in wav format, just in case...

[iefje]

I do think that the sound quality of the five non-album B-sides is better on the CDs "The Shadows Collection" and "Dancing In The Dark" than on "Shadstrax". The sound on the Pickwick CDs is more dynamic, whereas on the "Shadstrax" CD the sound is more loud and less dynamic. I can't say anything about the sound quality of the 3 CD box "The Shadows Complete", because I do not own this set. Four of the five non-album B-sides (omitting "Fender Bender") have also appeared on the 2017 UK 11 CD box "Boxing The Shadows 1980-1990". I do have that set, but having listened to it only once about three years ago, I can't remember anything subtle about the sound quality. I shall check it out again soon.

[drakula63]

Ridiculous that Fender Bender still somehow fails to turn up on CD releases of Change of Address. Those Pickwick CDs actually seem pretty good.

[Iain Purdon]

Ridiculous that Fender Bender still somehow fails to turn up on CD releases of Change of Address. Those Pickwick CDs actually seem pretty good.

How is that ridiculous? Fender Bender is a contemporary track but it wasn't part of the original Change of Address LP.

[JimN]

Ridiculous that Fender Bender still somehow fails to turn up on CD releases of Change of Address. Those Pickwick CDs actually seem pretty good.

How is that ridiculous? Fender Bender is a contemporary track but it wasn't part of the original Change of Address LP.

I think the PP meant that it was disappointing that Fender Bender wasn't issued as a bonus track on one of the albums (others were) in order to make that expensive box set a "Complete Polydor" set.

[RayL]

The CD contents were as presented below. Is the running order different (or deficient) on the cassettes?

The running order is the same (and not deficient) on the cassettes.

The rest of my Shadows-on-cassette collection (and bought around the same time) consists of Dance With The Shadows (double-play containing two LPs, Dance With The Shadows and The Sound Of The Shadows) and Steppin' To The Shadows.

Not being a buyer of new cars, it was some time before I had a car that played CDs, so the cassettes serenaded me on my commuting.
Ray