Dance With The Shadows

The wildest of the Shadows' early albums, Dance with the Shadows, may not possess the most inspiring track listing on earth (how many great albums can you think of which open with "Chattanooga Choo Choo"?), but overcome your qualms and Dance draws you in from that opening number. There are a couple of low-key pieces, like the sensitive take on "Tonight," from West Side Story, offers nothing more than some tasteful playing to an already overwrought song. "In the Mood," too, is a touch corny -- by 1964, the Shadows' sound was so firmly entrenched that they could have rehearsed this one in their sleep. But "That's the Way It Goes," a self-composed variation on Buddy Holly's "It's So Easy," is primal British beat, while Brian Bennett's "Big B" is a convoluted melody over tricky rhythms and percussion, and every bit as masterful as predecessor Tony Meehan's percussion showcase on the band's first LP. The movie theme "The High and the Mighty" is suitably stirring, and "Don't It Make You Feel Good" could have slipped effortlessly onto any of the Beatles' early albums. Cut at a time -- the early days of Beatlemania -- when the Shadows were going to be requiring every last ounce of ingenuity to survive, Dance with the Shadows does more than simply acquit itself. It reminds the listener how the band had already spent so long (six years) at the top; and confirms that it was going to take more than bunch of long-haired moptops to displace them. ~ Dave Thompson