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Here's a question I've been meaning to ask for a while...

In 1989 the Shadows released TWO albums: Steppin' to the Shadows and The Shadows at their Very Best. This was after there was no album in '88. Has anyone got the definitive reason for this? Was this due to Alan Jones' car crash (which I believe was 1987 or 1988)? I thought it strange that they should be celebrating their 30th anniversary at the end of 1989 and the concert video that was made during this tour was subsequently released as 30 Years of The Shadows.

I bought The Shadows at their Very Best, but didn't bother with Steppin' to... Funnily enough, I have since bought this album and there are some good tracks on there.

drakula63 wrote:Here's a question I've been meaning to ask for a while...

In 1989 the Shadows released TWO albums: Steppin' to the Shadows and The Shadows at their Very Best. This was after there was no album in '88. Has anyone got the definitive reason for this? Was this due to Alan Jones' car crash (which I believe was 1987 or 1988)? I thought it strange that they should be celebrating their 30th anniversary at the end of 1989 and the concert video that was made during this tour was subsequently released as 30 Years of The Shadows.

I bought The Shadows at their Very Best, but didn't bother with Steppin' to... Funnily enough, I have since bought this album and there are some good tracks on there.

I think Alan Jones' car accident was in April, 1988.

There is probably a good reason for the celebration of The Shadows' 30th anniversary in 1989, rather than 1988, because the group was called The Shadows from mid 1959 onwards. The 25th anniversary was also celebrated in 1984, not 1983 and the 50th anniversary in 2009, not 2008.

To be honest, I was under the impression that the delays in 83/84, 88/89 and more recently in 2008/2009, were more to do with scheduling problems with Cliff. The first proper reunion was in 1978 and it could be said, I think, that Cliff wasn't quite as busy then. I don't think it was a conscious decision to time these reunions to mark 1959 as such.

1989 was certainly a great year for the Shads... but unless it was due to Alan's crash, I can't see why two albums were released that year and none in '88. Interesting that Alan Jones plays bass on Steppin' to the Shadows, which makes me wonder when it was recorded. I'll assume that the original intention was to release it at the end of 1988. To the best of my memory, I don't think the Shads toured in 1988, although the Liverpool Empire video was recorded in '88. So maybe they did.

drakula63 wrote:To be honest, I was under the impression that the delays in 83/84, 88/89 and more recently in 2008/2009, were more to do with scheduling problems with Cliff. The first proper reunion was in 1978 and it could be said, I think, that Cliff wasn't quite as busy then. I don't think it was a conscious decision to time these reunions to mark 1959 as such.

1989 was certainly a great year for the Shads... but unless it was due to Alan's crash, I can't see why two albums were released that year and none in '88. Interesting that Alan Jones plays bass on Steppin' to the Shadows, which makes me wonder when it was recorded. I'll assume that the original intention was to release it at the end of 1988. To the best of my memory, I don't think the Shads toured in 1988, although the Liverpool Empire video was recorded in '88. So maybe they did.

The Liverpool Empire concert was part of a UK national tour which took place in 1989.

Despite the similar packaging, the connection between the released LP / MC / CD "The Shadows At Their Very Best" and the video was tenuous.

It had a completely different set list for a start. And the VHS video was released later than the other items. The video recording appears to have been done in May 1989: <https://www.bear-family.com/media/image/2f/76/42/5014661073230_2_600x600.jpg>

So... following Alan Jones' car crash, it seems that the Shadows took the remainder of 1988 off... possibly this was planned, but more likely it was in the hope that Alan would recover enough to rejoin the band. Perhaps Steppin' to the Shadows was originally intended for late '88 release, but was put back six months or so. It seems that Alan must have recovered enough to record, but not to tour. Mark Griffith's must have officially taken over bass duties for the May '89 tour and then all subsequent work. So we got two albums in 1989 and a video that tied into the second one. I do wonder if The Shadows at their Very Best might have originally been intended for '88 though. My thinking is that once they had decided that they'd release two albums in '89, they decided to hold At Their Very Best back for the lucrative Christmas market. I see that both Steppin' and At Their Very Best went Gold with chart positions of 11 and 12 respectively.

I'm just guessing, as I have long since wondered about the events of '88 and '89.

Contrary to popular belief, none of these recordings were anything to do with Alan Jones, car crash or whatever. Mark Griffiths was hired as the bass player due to Alan Jones unavailability and the band were happy and decided it would remain that way, it's as simple as that.
They re-recorded their hits to retain ownership of their work after splitting with EMI, Brian told me that.

Mark came in to the fold before Alan's accident. Alan's unavailability was due to the fact he had gone to work on the musical 'Time' with Cliff, and it was during that project that the crash occurred.

MeBHank wrote:Mark came in to the fold before Alan's accident. Alan's unavailability was due to the fact he had gone to work on the musical 'Time' with Cliff, and it was during that project that the crash occurred.

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.

drakula63 wrote:

MeBHank wrote:Mark came in to the fold before Alan's accident. Alan's unavailability was due to the fact he had gone to work on the musical 'Time' with Cliff, and it was during that project that the crash occurred.

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'm fairly sure that Alan Jones never worked with the "proper" Shadows again after his accident.

I remember seeing him with Tangent at the Secombe Theatre in Sutton, Surrey. This was the first time I'd seen him since the 1986 or 1987 Shadows tour and it was very obvious that he was not fully recovered from his injuries.

So this begs a question...

When was Steppin' to the Shadows recorded... Alan is credited as playing bass on the album. Is it possible that it had been on the shelf for a year?

Anyway, to go back to the original theme of the thread; I wonder if the Shadows had decided to have a year off during 1988? This seems odd since they'd had a year off during 1985 and '88 was their 30th year. Was it always planned that they'd release two albums in 1989? If not, what caused this? I had always assumed that it was probably as a result of Alan's crash... but it seems that this might not be the case. My assumption was also that Alan had been well enough to record the album - if recording took place after his accident - but not up to touring... hence Mark stepped in. As I understand it, Mark filled in for him on a purely temporary basis during Alan's stint in Time, and Alan did rejoin the band afterwards. Sadly. as things turned out, this didn't last for long.