The Shadows are Britain's most successful instrumental and vocal group with a grand total of 69 (including twelve No.1's) UK hit singles: 35 (including five No.1's) as 'The Shadows' and 34 (including seven No.1's) as 'Cliff Richard and The Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s. According to the Guinness Book of Hit Singles and Albums (19th edition), they are the third most successful UK charted hit-singles act, behind Cliff Richard (2nd) and Elvis Presley (1st). They are also the world's most successful backing group of all time.

The Shadows were the original pioneers of the four-member rock-group format in the UK. The group played a pivotal role in the development of UK rock music "Before-Beatles" (i.e. pre-1963), thus they are of extreme importance in rock music history. Formed in London in 1958–59, their "Apache" hit single paved the way for many thousands of guitar-based groups both in the UK and abroad. Many of their EPs charted in the EP chart (defunct since 1968); in fact they are the UK's most successful chart act in the EP charts (qv "Hit Albums and Singles") and most of their studio albums charted in various UK album charts.

The Shadows, along with Cliff Richard, were from 1958 to 1962 the UK's one and only major group. Both enjoyed a massive second wave revival spell of success and interest in their music from the late-1970s until disbandment in 1990. Their unique guitar sound was originally produced by a combination of American Fender guitars, British amplifiers made by Vox and an Italian Meazzi Echomatic echo unit.

Overview

The Shadows were formed from members of several late 1950s UK skiffle groups: The Newcastle-based "Railroaders" (and also The Five Chesternuts on Columbia Records) who supplied Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch, both inspired by USA-pop music; and The Vipers Skiffle Group (on Parlophone records) who supplied Jet Harris and Tony Meehan from London, both inspired by UK jazz–skiffle music. The Shadows, although originally the live and recording backing band for Cliff Richard, were later marketed as an instrumental combo, following their explosive chart success with the Jerry Lordan composition "Apache". In the USA and Canada they were briefly marketed as a 'surf' group with two special compilation albums, i.e. The Shadows Know and Surfing with The Shadows (both on Atlantic records) to compete with the Ventures and the Surfaris. Although both these two US albums failed to chart in America, the band had hits worldwide and had a significant impact on guitarists before the Beatles (inspiring the likes of Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, Mark Knopfler, & Mike Oldfield).

The original line-up of Marvin, Welch, Harris and Meehan remains iconic in the minds of die-hard fans.^{[citation needed]} Their creation arose out of Cliff Richard's urgent need in 1958, after the success of his "Move It" single, which had used a mixture of his own "The Five Chesternuts/later "Drifters" electrified skiffle group, plus session players, for a set of permanent backing musicians. According to Norrie Paramor, their first producer, the Shadows' first studio album was dogged throughout its creation by clashes within the band.

Harris and Meehan eventually recorded under their own names for Decca Records after first Harris and then Meehan left The Shadows following clashes. Meehan was replaced by ex-Krew Kats drummer Brian Bennett, Harris by bassist Brian ("Licorice") Locking then John Rostill until the late 60s.

The Shadows disbanded in 1968 but Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch subsequently formed a vocal–guitar trio Marvin Welch & Farrar. The Shadows reformed in 1973 with Brian Bennett as a full member and various extra musicians due to low sales and fans demanding Shadows numbers at MW&F gigs. They permanently disbanded in 1990 but temporarily reformed in 2004-05 for a UK and European tour, (the reunion being instigated in 2001 by Roger Field, a guitarist who knew Marvin) and again during 2008–10 to tour with Cliff Richard.

History

1950s

Formed as a backing band for Cliff Richard, under the name The Drifters, the members were founder Ken Pavey (born 1932), Terry Smart on drums (born 1942), Norman Mitham on guitar (born 1941), Ian Samwell on guitar and Harry Webb (before he became Cliff Richard) on guitar and vocals. The original Drifters had no bass player. Samwell wrote the group's first hit, "Move It", which is often mistakenly attributed to "Cliff Richard and The Shadows". Two session players, guitarist Ernie Shear and bassist Frank Clark, play on the "Move It" / "Schoolboy Crush" single on producer Norrie Paramor's insistence to ensure a strong sound.

The Drifters signed for Jack Good's Oh Boy! television series. Producer Norrie Paramor of EMI signed Richard, and asked Johnny Foster to recruit a better guitarist. Foster went back to Soho's 2i's coffee bar (famed for musical talent performing there, particularly in skiffle) in search of guitarist Tony Sheridan. Sheridan was not there but Foster's attention was caught by another musician, who played guitar well and had Buddy Holly glasses.

Hank Marvin had played in a school skiffle band with Bruce Welch. The pair had travelled from Newcastle and were surviving on little money. Foster offered Marvin the job, and he accepted on condition that Welch also join. New manager Franklin Boyd could see the pair worked well and they were employed as lead and rhythm guitarists. Ian Samwell was moved to bass until he was replaced by the Most Brothers' bass guitarist, Jet Harris. Drummer Terry Smart left shortly afterwards and was replaced at Harris's suggestion by Tony Meehan. The Drifters' professional lineup was now complete, and they became The Shadows in early 1959 to avoid confusion with the contemporary American R&B vocal group The Drifters. None of the original UK Drifters were in the group when they became The Shadows. Johnny Foster continued for a time as Richard's manager, and Samwell wrote additional songs for The Drifters and The Shadows before writing and producing for others. Meehan recalled that Richard, backed by Marvin, Welch, Harris and himself had played together a year beforehand at least once at the 2i's.

The group started recording and performing with Richard and released two singles in their own right in 1959 ("Feelin' Fine"/"Don't Be A Fool With Love") and ("Jet Black"/"Driftin'"). The first two tracks were vocals and the second pair instrumental. Neither charted. A further (vocal) ("Saturday Dance"/"Lonesome Fella") also failed. The instrumental "Chinchilla" was included on a four-track soundtrack EP by Cliff Richard and the Drifters called Serious Charge released in early 1959 with the film of the same name.

1960s

In 1960, the band released "Apache", an instrumental by Jerry Lordan, which topped the charts for five weeks. Further hits followed, notably "Wonderful Land", another Lordan composition with orchestral backing, at the top of the charts longer than "Apache" (8 weeks). This, and "Kon Tiki" six months earlier, reached number one (1 week). The Shadows played on more chart-toppers as Richard's band. This group, referred to subsequently as "The Original Shadows", had seven hits.

In October 1961 Meehan was replaced by Brian Bennett and in April 1962 Harris was replaced by Brian Locking, also known as Licorice. Bennett and Licorice were friends from the 2I's who had both previously been in Marty Wilde's backing group The Wildcats who also recorded instrumentals as The Krew Kats. This Shadows line-up also produced seven hits, two of which, "Dance On" and "Foot Tapper" topped the charts. The Marvin-Welch-Bennett-Locking line-up lasted 18 months and held its own in the face of Merseybeat, headed by The Beatles. (The first original song ever recorded by the Beatles was an instrumental homage to the Shadows entitled "Cry for a Shadow.")

In October 1963 Locking left to spend more time as a Jehovah's Witness. The band had met John Rostill on tour with other bands and had been impressed by his playing, so they invited him to take over. This final and longest-lasting lineup was also the most innovative as they tried different guitars and developed a wider range of styles and higher musicianship. They produced impressive albums but the chart positions of singles began to ease. The line-up had 10 hits but the most successful, "The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt", was also the first of those ten.

During the 1960s the group appeared with Cliff Richard in the films The Young Ones, Summer Holiday, Wonderful Life, Finders Keepers and as marionettes in the Gerry Anderson film Thunderbirds Are GO. They starred in a short humorous film called "Rhythm and Greens" which became the basis of a music book and an "EP". They appeared on stage in pantomime. Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp was in 1964 at the London Palladium with Arthur Askey as Widow Twankey, Richard as Aladdin, and The Shadows as Wishee, Washee, Noshee and Poshee. Cinderella at the Palladium in 1966 featured Richard as Buttons and The Shadows as the Broker's Men, The film and stage roles allowed the group to develop as songwriters. They wrote only a few songs for the earliest movie, 1961's The Young Ones, but by Finders Keepers in 1966 almost the entire soundtrack was credited to Marvin-Welch-Bennett-Rostill.

The line-up split in December 1968, after the tenth anniversary album Established 1958, a mixture of tracks with Richard, and instrumentals featuring just The Shadows. All were written by the group. Welch left. This was almost the end, although an album (Shades of Rock) and a tour of Japan followed with Alan Hawkshaw on keyboards; in Marvin's words, they did it 'for the Yen'. The live LP of the tour features a long version of "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" in which Marvin plays acoustic and electric guitar.

1970s

During the early 1970s, Marvin and Welch had a second career as vocal group Marvin Welch & Farrar with Australian John Farrar as third vocalist. Farrar provided a high voice and skill as an arranger. They recorded two acclaimed albums and several singles and, without Welch, a third album Marvin and Farrar, which Marvin described as "Frankenstein meets The Beach Boys".^{[citation needed]} Live performances were hampered by audiences expecting the Shadows' greatest hits. Marvin said (interviewed in Guitar Greats by John Tobler), "In the Batley Variety Club we walked off stage to the sound of our own footsteps!"

The Shadows reformed in 1973 with Welch on rhythm guitar and Farrar on guitar and vocals. Following the death of John Rostill, the group booked session bassists for recordings and tours. Dave Richmond and Alan Tarney, who had each provided bass for Marvin, Welch & Farrar, continued for the reformed Shadows. An album, Rocking With Curly Leads featured Marvin using contemporary guitar fuzz effects to modify his sound. Some tracks used Farrar as second lead guitarist, giving this album a very different sound from previous recordings.

The group were chosen by BBC Head of Light Entertainment Bill Cotton to perform the Song for Europe in the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest. The Shadows recorded six options, seen each week on a weekly television show It's Lulu, televised on BBC1 and hosted by Lulu, a former Eurovision winner herself. Unusually for the format, instead of presenting each song live in the studio on a weekly basis and then presenting all six songs consecutively in a 'special' edition on week seven, the group pre-taped all six performances separately in the TV studio, before the series itself began, with the video then being cut into the weekly show. For the presentation of the songs on week seven and the announcement of the result on week eight, the pre-recorded performances were run again. Two of the songs ("No, No Nina" and "This House Runs On Sunshine") were co-penned by members of the group themselves. The public however voted for "Let Me Be The One", composed by Paul Curtis, to go to the Eurovision final in Stockholm. There, the group came second to the Dutch entry, Teach-In's "Ding-A-Dong". Author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor notes in The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History that they were not a popular choice to represent the UK and the viewers' postal vote was the lowest recorded in the 'Song For Europe' history.^[1] But the contest re-established The Shadows. Other records followed.

The packaging of the group's greatest hits in Twenty Golden Greats by EMI in 1977 prompted the group to reform yet again for a tour featuring Francis Monkman from Sky on keyboards, leading to a number one album and a top ten hit single "Don't Cry for Me Argentina". Francis left after that tour and the line-up settled as Marvin, Welch and Bennett, supplemented on records and gigs by Cliff Hall (keyboards) and Alan Jones (bass).

1980s

The group performed and recorded until 1990, with most of their 1980s albums performing well in the charts. With the exception of Guardian Angel, an album of new material, most of 1980s albums featured covers of pop songs, with little original material. The group moved in 1980 from EMI to Polydor with Change of Address. EMI would not agree to a tape leasing scheme, whereby the group would retain copyright of recordings, but the company would be licensed to publish them for individual albums. This resulted in the group re-recording much of its catalogue of EMI hits for Polydor . The recordings were made using analogue equipment, but digitally mastered, but with instruments, amplifiers, and arrangements close to the original. This has allowed the group to package and market their own compilation albums, featuring old hits as well as new. Other albums, such as Diamonds, feature no new material, being compiled from recent albums. The line-up remained until Jones had a car accident and Mark Griffiths of the Cliff Richard band and originally from Matthews Southern Comfort was brought in on bass. He and Jones shared bass duties until 1990 when the band stopped touring and Marvin played solo again.

EMI released a compilation album in the early seventies called Rarities covering various recordings from 1962 to 1970.

2000s

The group reformed in 2004 – healing a rift of over 10 years - to mount a farewell tour, and they recorded a new track, "Life Story", (written by the late Jerry Lordan) to accompany a new greatest hits package of the same name which featured 1980s re-recordings of all their 1960s and 1970s hits. This opportunity to see Marvin, Welch and Bennett, joined on keyboards by Hall and on bass by Griffiths, was so successful that they extended the tour to Europe in 2005. The line-up was almost the same, but Warren Bennett, son of Brian, came in on keyboards instead of Hall. On 27 November 2008, a concert tour, with Cliff Richard, for 2009 was announced.^[2]. On 11 December 2008, Cliff Richard and the Shadows performed at the Royal Variety Performance at the same time announcing their forthcoming 50th anniversary tour. The tour commences in September 2009, features 36 shows throughout the UK and Europe and extends to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in 2010.

Style and image

Band Logo

As pioneers in British rock-music The Shadows were naive in terms of commercial exploitation opportunities such as self-promotion via artwork etc. The Shadows allowed Vox amplification to produce small metallic badges, using an italicised Tahoma type font, with the group name to be positioned on the front bottom right corner of all three Vox cabinets sometime during the early 1960s for gig usage. This Vox made badge became a 'default' band-logo which was never commercially exploited by The Shadows.

Moreover, unlike The Beatles et al., The Shadows never used this Vox-badge band-logo on the front of the bass-drum preferring to allow their 2 drummers, Tony Meehan and Brian Bennett, to use their names on the bass-drum. Belatedly the band-logo was used only once on the artwork front of their 1975 original studio album, Specs Appeal. To date this band-logo remains untrademarked and uncopyrighted.

By contrast, thanks to its proactive management, The Beatles' band-logo with its dropped-T (qv The "BeaTles") was commercially exploited to great effect, not only on the kick-drum but also as an artwork icon in its own right, such as on stationery, posters, album releases, etc. Since the invention, and subsequent wide ranging usage, of this band-logo by the Beatles (created by Eddie Stokes in 1963), all successful UK bands have, with the aid of graphics or art-work specialists in this field, produced a band-logo often as an artwork piece of work (eg The Who with an arrow-head on top of the 'h') to further promote their group throughout its career often trade-marking it to protect it from copyright infringement.

The Shadows'-'walk'

Ever mindful of how they appear on stage as a band with or without Cliff Richard, The Shadows developed themselves numerous movement sequences using their bodies and guitars as visual enhancement devices in all sorts of different manners in tempo with the music played such as a 'walk'. As seen on BBC's Top of the pops this 'walk' has been copied by numerous groups as part of their TOTP presentation eg Mud (band), The Rubettes, Showaddywaddy, etc.

The Shadows were inspired by The Treniers wild gig routines to include the 'walk' routine as part of their live act both with Cliff Richard and without him. Used throughout their illustrious career, it simply consists of a 3 step walk contained within a 60-60-60 degree triangle formation with a reverse right-heel back-kick with optional can-can finale. This simple choreographed routine was varied throughout a typical gig to great affect during certain numbers (qv track: FBI).

During the 1980s during an instrumental number, rather than playing their instruments in a static posture or using the Shadows' walk, their live act was further refined (qv Equinoxe V) to include another stage movement routine effect featuring Marvin, Welch and the bassist synchronizing all their guitars in unison as a threesome to move them in time or in sequence with critical note or chord changes.

Occasionally, during other instrumentals, this guitars in-step presentation mode is re-engineered with Marvin and Welch acting out of sequence or alternating with each other. As a spectacle this is a visual feast for guitar enthusiasts and fans alike.

For vocal numbers they act more conventionally and play their instruments close up to their microphones with minimal guitar movements except when Hank Marvin plays any mid-song guitar-break.

Name Changes

During the late 1950s in the UK many pop-stars were forced to undergo a somewhat pointless and now outdated (sur)name change into a 'stage' name eg Billy Fury as part of the indoctrination process into show business British style. This process was initiated by either the manager or the producer or the record label who signed the pop-star. The general opinion at that time was that a pop-star without a stage name would fail to excite fans to listen to the music or buy records or attend concerts.

Unlike their contemporaries such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones or any USA band during that era, several members of the original Cliff Richard and The Shadows line up changed their birth names into old fashioned stage names. Harry Webb became Cliff Richard; Brian Rankin became Hank Marvin; Terrence Harris became Jet Harris. But Bruce Cripps became Bruce Welch and Daniel Anthony Meehan became Tony Meehan. Subsequently these were all confirmed permanent by deed poll. By contrast, as if to draw a line in the sand, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and all other groups post-Beatles continued to use their birth names throughout their career in music with only a few notable exceptions during the glam-rock (eg David Bowie) or punk-rock (eg Johnny Rotten) eras.

Legacy

As a direct result of using the very first (imported from the USA by Cliff Richard) Fender Stratocaster (Fiesta Red) guitar in the UK in 1959, The Shadows are (/Hank Marvin is) still considered by virtually every major British, European (eg Focus) and Australian (eg AC/DC) rock guitarist to be the most influential, significant and important British lead guitarist of the 20th century as a result of his pioneering work 'Before-Beatles' during 1958-63 despite the fact that the Shadows had no commercial success in the USA due to (i) lack of touring North America after 1959 and (ii) EMI records non-existent promotion of The Shadows' original version of the Apache single (qv not Jorgen Ingmann's questionable stab at Apache, a USA-hit) in the USA and Canada in 1960.

As a direct result of the pioneering and catalytic career of The Shadows, all major British lead guitarists are thus influenced by The Shadows (qv Hank Marvin) have themselves gone on to have major commercial success in the USA and Canada in their own right eg Paul McCartney of The Beatles, Jimmy Page of Led Zepellin, Jeff Beck of The Yardbirds, Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac, Eric Clapton, Pete Townsend of The Who, Brian May of Queen, to name but a few.

Additionally several notable legendary American guitarists have also cited The Shadows as a primary influence in their music career choice eg Carlos Santana, Neil Young, Randy Bachman to name but a few as a result of two early 1960s special USA made compilation vinyl-albums: "The Shadows Know" (cat no:8097) and "Surf with The Shadows" (cat no: 8089) both on Atlantic records (qv USA made CD album "The Shadows are go!" (on Scamp / Caroline records).

As per the Ventures in the USA, The Shadows legacy is summed up in terms of words/phrases such as "pioneers", "catalyst", "originators", and "prototype" etc in terms of the rock group entity. In the succeeding years into the 21st century most other groups have taken the original 4 piece instrument format line up and modified it to suit their own needs and aspirations eg Peter Green's original Fleetwood Mac line-up with 3 guitarists plus bass and drums.

Virtually every British heavy metal rock band, eg Motorhead, who began their careers in the 1960/70s recognize The Shadows as being a massively important 'influence' (as distinct from the term 'commercial success') in terms of a career choice in rock music. In terms of influence alone, not withstanding the commercial success of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones during 1963-70, The Shadows still remain the most influential rock (instrumental) British band of all time with their choice of American made Fender guitars being copied ad-nauseum by numerous British rock/metal bands eg Def Leppard.

Moreover, such was the influence on the embryonic British music scene during 1958-62 that The Beatles (deliberately slimmed down in 1961 to a 4-piece from an original 3 guitar/5-piece band) and The Rolling Stones (formed in 1962) both chose to copy the Shadows or the Cliff Richard and The Shadows' original line-up format as it gave both groups the optimal ratio of sound vs personnel for their own brand of Brit-rock.

Band members

Current members

• Hank Marvin – lead guitar (1958–1968, 1973–1990, 2004–present)
• Bruce Welch – rhythm guitar (1958–1968, 1973–1990, 2004–present)
• Mark Griffiths – bass (1989–1990, 2004–present)
• Brian Bennett – drums (1961–1968, 1977–1990)
• Warren Bennett – keyboards (2004–present)

Former members

• Tony Meehan – drums (1958–1961)
• Jet Harris – bass (1958–1962)
• Brian Locking – bass (1962–1963)
• John Rostill – bass (1963–1968)
• John Fiddy – keyboards (1973–1974)
• John Farrar – bass (1973–1975)
• Dave Richmond – bass (1973–1975)
• Alan Tarney – bass (1973–1977)
• Mo Foster – bass (1974)
• Francis Monkman – keyboards (1977)
• Alan Jones – bass (1977–1989)
• George Ford – bass (1978–1980)
• Cliff Hall – keyboards (1979–1990)

Concert tours

• Various United Kingdom Tours (1958–1968)
• Japan Tour 1967
• Japan Tour 1969
• Second Opinion Tour (1971)
• Japan Tour 1972
• Rockin' With Curly Leads Tour (1973)
• Specs Appeal Tour (1975)
• 20 Golden Greats Tour (1977)
• United Kingdom Tour (1978)
• Cliff Richard Reunion Tour (1978)
• String of Hits Tour (1979)
• Change of Address Tour (1980)
• Hits Up Your Street Tour (1981)
• Life in the Jungle Tour (1982)
• XXV Tour (1983)
• Cliff Richard Reunion Tour (1983)
• Australasia Tour 1985
• Moonlight Shadows Tour (1986)
• Simply Shadows Tour (1987)
• Steppin' to The Shadows Tour (1989)
• Reflection Tour (1990)
• Final Tour (2004–2005)
• Cliff Richard Final Reunion Tour (2009)

Discography

UK Singles

• Feelin' Fine/Don't be a fool with love (1959)
• Jet Black/Driftin (1959)
• Saturday Dance/Lonesome Fella (1959)
• Apache/Quatermasster's Stores (1960) UK#1
• Man of Mystery/The Stranger (1960) UK#5
• FBI/Midnight (1961) UK#6
• The Frightened City/Back Home (1961) UK#3
• Kon Tiki/36-24-36 (1961) UK#1
• The Savage/Peace Pipe (1961) UK#10
• Wonderful Land/Stars fell on Stockton (1962) UK#1
• Guitar Tango/What a lovely tune (1962) UK#4
• Dance On/All Day (1962) UK#1
• Foot Tapper/The breeze and I (1963) UK#1
• Atlantis/I want you to want me (1963) UK#2
• Shindig/It's been a blue day (1963) UK#6
• Geronimo/Shazam! (1963) UK#11
• Theme for young lovers/This hammer (1964) UK#12
• The rise and fall of Flingel Bunt/It's a man's world (1964) UK#5
• Rhythm and Greens/The miracle (1964) UK#22
• Genie with the light brown lamp/Little Princess (1964) UK#17
• Mary Anne/Chu-chi (1965) UK#17
• Stingray/Alice in Sunderland (1965) UK#19
• Don't make my baby blue/My Grandfather's Clock (1965) UK#10
• The War Lord/I wish I could shimmy like my sister Arthur (1965) UK#18
• I met a girl/Late night set (1966) UK#22
• A place in the sun/Will you be there (1966) UK#24
• The dreams I dream/Scotch on the socks (1966) UK#42
• Maroc 7/Bombay Duck (1967) UK#24
• Tomorrow's Cancelled/Somewhere (1967)
• Dear old Mrs. Bell/Trying to forget the one you love (1968)
• Slaughter on Tenth Avenue/Midnight Cowboy (1969)
• Turn around and touch me/Jungle Jam (1973)
• Let me be the one/Stand up like a man (1975) UK#12
• Run Billy Run/Honourable Puff-Puff (1975)
• It'll be me, babe/Like Strangers (1976)
• Another night/Cricket-bat Boogie (1977)
• Love Deluxe/Sweet Saturday night (1978) UK#80
• Don't cry for me Argentina/Montezuma's Revenge (1978) UK#5
• Theme from the Deer Hunter/Bermuda Triangle (1979) UK#9
• Rodrigo's Guitar Concerto/Song for Duke
• Riders in the sky/Rusk (1980) UK#12
• Heart of Glass/Return to the Alamo (1980)
• Equinoxe Part V/Fender Bender (1980) UK#50
• Mozart Forte/Midnight Creepin (1980)
• The Third Man/The fourth man (1981) UK#44
• Telstar/Summer Love '59 (1981)
• Imagine-Woman/Hats off to Wally (1981)
• Treat me nice/Spot the ball (1982)
• The theme from Missing/The Shady Lady (1982) UK#92
• Diamonds/Elevenis (1983)
• Going Home/Cat 'n' mouse (1983)
• On a night like this/Thing-me-jig (1984)
• Moonlight Shadow/Johnny Staccatto (1986)
• Dancing in the dark/Turning Point (1986)
• Themes from Eastenders and Howards Way/No dancing (1986) UK#86
• Pulaski/Change of address (1987)
• The theme from The Snowman/Outdigo (1987)
• Mountains of the Moon/Stack-It (1989)
• Shadowmix/Arty's Party (1989) UK#81

Studio albums

• The Shadows (1961) UK#1
• Out of the Shadows (1962) UK#1
• Dance With The Shadows (1964) UK#2
• The Sound of The Shadows (1965) UK#4
• Shadow Music (1966) UK#5
• Jigsaw (1967) UK#8
• From Hank, Bruce, Brian & John (1967)
• Established 1958 (1968) UK#30
• Shades of Rock (1970) UK#30
• Rockin' With Curly Leads (1973) UK#45
• Specs Appeal (1975) UK#30
• Tasty (1977)
• String of Hits (1979) UK#1
• Change of Address (1980) UK#17
• Hits Up Your Street (1981) UK#15
• Life in the Jungle (1982) UK#24
• XXV (1983) UK#34
• Guardian Angel (1984) UK#98
• Moonlight Shadows (1986) UK#6
• Simply Shadows (1987) UK#11
• Steppin' to The Shadows (1989) UK#11
• At Their Very Best (1989) UK#12
• Reflection (1990) UK#5

Live albums

• Cliff (1959)
• Live at the Colosseum (1961)
• Live at the ABC Kingston (1962)
• Live in Japan 1969 (1969)
• Live at the Paris Olympia (1975)
• Thank You Very Much (1978) UK#5
• Live at Abbey Road (1982) UK#24
• Live at NEC Birmingham (1984)
• Live at Liverpool (1989)
• Final Tour (2004) UK#78

Compilations

• Greatest Hits (1963) UK#2
• More Hits! (1965)
• 20 Golden Greats (1976) UK#1
• Another String of Hot Hits (1980) UK#16
• Compact Shadows (1984)
• Themes and Dreams (1991) UK#21
• Shadows in the Night (1993) UK#22
• Best of Hank Marvin and The Shadows (1994) UK#19
• The Shadows Play Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice (1997) UK#41
• Very Best of The Shadows: The First 40 Years (1997) UK#56
• 50 Golden Greats (1998) UK#35
• Life Story (2004) UK#8
• Platinum (2005)
• Reunited (50th Anniversary Album) (2009)

Books

• 1. The Shadows by Themselves by Royston Ellis with The Shadows. Consul Books. 1961. No ISBN.
• 2. The Story of the Shadows by Mike Read. 1983. Elm Tree books. ISBN 0-241-10861-6.
• 3. Rock 'n' Roll, I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life - A Life In The Shadows by Bruce Welch. ISBN 0-670-82705-3 (Penguin Books).
• 4. That Sound (From Move It on, the story of the magic sound of The Shadows), by R.Pistolesi, M.Addey & M.Mazzini. Publ: Vanni Lisanti. June 2000. No ISBN.
• 5. A pocket guide to Shadow music, by M.Campbell, R.Bradford, L.Woosey. Idmon. ISBN 0-9535567-4-3.
• 6. A guide to The Shadows and Hank Marvin on CD, by M.Cambell & L.Woosey. Idmon. ISBN 0-9535567-3-5.
• 7. The Shadows at Polydor, by M.Campbell. Idmon. ISBN 0-9535567-2-7.
• 8. The Shadows at EMI, by M.Campbell. Idmon. ISBN 0-9535567-1-9.
• 9. The Complete Rock Family Rock Trees, by Pete Frame. Omnibus. ISBN 0711968799.
• 10. 17 Watts, by Mo Foster. ISBN ?.
• 11. The Shadows Discography, by John Friesen. No ISBN.
• 12. The Shadows Discography, by George Geddes. No ISBN.
• 13. Guinness World Records: British Hit Singles and Albums (19th Edn), David Roberts. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
• 14. The Complete Book of the British Charts Singles and Albums, by Neil Warwick, Jon Kutner & Tony Brown, 3rd Edn. ISBN 978-1844490585.
• 15. John Farrar - Music makes my day, (A Shadsfax-Tribute-40pp-booklet), by T.Hoffman, A.Hardwick, S.Duffy, G.Jermy, A.Lewis, J.Auman. No ISBN.
• 16. John Rostill - Funny old world, (Tribute-60pp-booklet), by B.Bradford. No ISBN.
• 17. Jet Harris - Survivor, by Dave Nicolson, ISBN-13: 978-0-9562679-0-0, 31st Oct 2009.

Sheet Music (Book Albums)

All the hit (& misses) singles eg Apache (et al.) were published as individual (2xA4 page) music sheets during the release of the single until the late 1970s when publishers switched to books featuring multiple hits.

• 1. The Album of Guitar Favourities, 1961, The Shadows Music Ltd/Belinda Ltd. No ISBN.
• 2. The 2nd Album of Guitar Favourities, 1961, The Shadows Music Ltd/Belinda Ltd. No ISBN.
• 3. The 3rd Album of Guitar Favourities, 1962, The Shadows Music Ltd/Belinda Ltd. No ISBN.
• 4. The 4th Album of Guitar Favourities, 1964, The Shadows Music Ltd/Belinda Ltd. No ISBN.
• 5. The 5th Album of Guitar Favourities, 1964, The Shadows Music Ltd/Belinda Ltd. No ISBN.
• 6. The 6th Album of Guitar Favourities, 1965, The Shadows Music Ltd/Belinda Ltd. No ISBN.
• 7. The 7th Album of Guitar Favourities, 1966, The Shadows Music Ltd/Belinda Ltd. No ISBN.
• 8. The 8th Album of Guitar Favourities, 1966, The Shadows Music Ltd/Belinda Ltd. No ISBN.
• 9. The 9th Album of Guitar Favourities, 1967, The Shadows Music Ltd/Carlin Music Ltd. No ISBN.
• 10. The Shadows Album of Rhythm & Greens, 1964, The Shadows Music Ltd/Belinda Music Ltd. No ISBN.
• 11. The Shadows Modern Electric Guitar Tutor, 196?, The Shadows Music Ltd/Belinda Ltd. No ISBN.
• 12. The Shadows Guitar Book, 1964, Francis, Day & Hunter. No ISBN.
• 13. The Shadows Then and Now, 1981, EMI Music Publishing. ISBN ??????????.
• 14. The Big Hits of The Shadows, 19??, Wise Publications, ISBN 071190815X.
• 15. The Shadows, Guitar Legends Tab, 19??, Faber Music, ISBN 9780571525850.
• 16. The Young Ones, 1961, ?, ISBN: ?.
• 17. Summer Holiday, 1962, ?, ISBN: ?.
• 18. Wonderful life, 1964, ?, ISBN: ?.
• 19. Finders Keepers, 1966, Carlin Music, ISBN: ?.
• 20. Marvin Welch and Farrar, 1970, Music Sales Ltd. ISBN ????????.
• 21. Play Guitar with Hank Marvin, 200?, Wise Publications, ISBN 9780711980921.
• 22. Lick Library: Learn to play Hank Marvin, 200?, Roadrock Intl, ISBN: "RDR0061".
• 23. Jam with Hank Marvin, 200?, Faber Music, ISBN 9780571527328.
• 24. Hank Marvin's Guitar Instruction Book, 200?, Hudson Music, ISBN 0711993696.
• 25. Lick Library: Learn to play Hank Marvin (Vol.2), 200?, Roadrock Intl, ISBN: "RDR0061".
• 26. Hank Marvin's Guitar Tutor, 200?, IMP, ISBN 9780863597497.
• 27. Diamonds - piano solo with guitar chords, 1963, Francis day and Hunter, ISBN: ?.
• 28. Brian Bennett's Drum Tutor, 196?, ?????, ISBN: ?.
• 29. The Mersey Beat, 196?, Shadows music/Belinda, no ISBN.
• 30. Cliff and the Shadows Album, 196?, B.Feldman & co ltd, no ISBN.
• 31. Aladdin - Guitar album, 1964, Shadows Music/Belinda, no ISBN.
• 32. Aladdin - Vocal album, 1964, Shadows Music/Belinda, no ISBN.
• 33. Established 1958, 1968, Shadows Music/Carlin Music, no ISBN.
• 34. Frank Ifield Album, 196?, Shadows Music/Belinda, no ISBN.

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