Customer Reviews

Gloria

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What an album! Not to take anything away from Van Morrison but if you lived on the NW side of Chicago, or in the NW suburbs in the Mid-60's, this was THE version of "Gloria." I don't want to analyze it too much but I think by taking the organ out, The Shadows made it a bit more primitive.

A couple of weeks ago, more than 35 years later, I'm at carnival in the Chicago burbs and some of the old Chicago rockers are playing there. This guy Ronnie Rice who used to be with the New Colony 6 does kind of a "human jukebox" gig where he comes out and plays a whole bunch of 60's songs, sometimes all the way through, sometimes just snippets. Anyway, he's at the carnival and he starts playing "Wild Night" by Van Morrison, then he starts "Brown Eyed Girl." He stops singing "Brown Eyed Girl" but keeps playing the chords. He says something like, "you might be wondering why I'm doing 2 Van songs in a row. Well, we got a guy whose band had a big hit with a Van Morrison song,....." and he brings out the Shadows of Knight's lead singer, Jimmy Sahns and they finish up "Brown Eyed Girl" and then break into "Gloria."

I was sitting there with a friend of mine, and she used to see The Shadows at the Cellar in Arlington Heights in the 60's. And for us, and especially her, it was a true rock and roll moment to see the leader of Chicago's rockin-est 60's band, back on his home turf.

So, if any of this makes any sense to you, do yourself a favor and pick up this gem of garage rock from the Chicago suburbs!

I had this record back when it came out. I saw The Shadows play a few times and my brother's band, The Chosen Few, played with them once or twice. I tried and tried to find it and then it came out with it on CD & LP. Now I have a mint CD & LP to look at and a CD to play. It is the best rock and early white rock blues you will ever hear, anywhere. The vocals, and guitar work are second to none. Additionally, great controlled distortion, reverb & sustain & the clearest sounding Mid-West 60's lead guitar rifts you'll ever find. Zepplein, The Who & Stones had nothing on these monsters of the midway. This is a must. Get it, every song is great, no junk, pure hard driven rock!!!!

A couple of reasons I wanted to review this disc.Very often,I have much younger fans asking me about which band did 'this song,it goes like this...'.They're often amazed that many of these tunes they inquire about are actually over thirty years old.Sort of gives you hope for the future,doesn't it?Does me,anyway.Second,this album has been reissued several times now and I think it deserves much praise.The opener/title track "Gloria" has vocalist Jim Sohns literally giving the Van Morrison gem new life.No freakin' wonder this tune had become a staple in garage rock.I had NO idea until now that "Oh Yeah" was a minor hit for Shadows Of Knight.Both lp and single version are on the disc.Also enjoyed their heavy bluesy "Light Bulb Blues","Dark Side" and "Someone Like You".There are a couple of standards as well,"Hoochie Coochie Man" and Chuck Berry's "Let It Rock".Too bad this genre isn't 'in' anymore.Yep,a real shame.

The Shadows of Knight exploded out of Arlington Heights' Cellar Club with what is the ultimate recording of Van Morrison's "GLORIA", defining the genre for all U.S. garage bands who would follow.

What set the Shadows of Knight apart from contemporaries like The Blues Magoos, Count Five, and Syndicate of Sound was a seemless repertoir of great songs - electric Chicago blues classics - which the group attacked with wild abandon. They also had the advantage of being fronted by hyper-energized vocalist, Jim Sohns.

This is THE '60s garage band album, with only The Standells' "Dirty Water" being in the same league.

Get the Shadows of Knight's "Gloria" today, slide it into your CD player, and prepare to melt your granny glasses. G-L-O-R-I-A!!!

Without a doubt, this album represents some of the best rock & roll to come blasting out of Chicago in the 1960's. This album's highlights are "Gloria" (I like this version better than Them's version), a remake of Bo Diddley's "Oh Yeah", and their smoking version of "I Just Want To Make Love To You" complete with guitar feedback. There are also a few good originals such as "Light Bulb Blues", the moody "Dark Side", and "It Always Happens That Way". This album only gets four stars because some of the blues numbers that they cover are not very convincing. They tend to sound a bit trite. Other than that, it's a winner.

The title track has always knocked my socks off, but I was pleasantly surprised by how good the rest of the songs were. Good CD!!!

First album by seminal Chicago-blues band. Hearing it brought back so many memories,
including the smell of musty basements and old Fender amps.
Great quality! Cool bonuses!!!

Hailing from the swingin' town of Chicago, Illinois, the Shadows of Knight were a hard-rockin' bunch of teenagers who played rock n roll with a heavy blues influence (what'dya expect with a bunch of kids from Chicago?). After cutting their teeth at the Cellar, an apparently quite hip teen club in the nearby town of Arlington Heights, they ran into the studio in recorded this, their debut album. Released in 1966, Gloria may not be the first great album to be released by a garage band, but it's certainly one of the best. Each song is a rollicking blast of bluesy rock n roll, informed by the wildest aspects of Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, and everyone in between.

The album consists mostly of covers, but don't worry; they really manage to make these songs their own! Their rendition of Bo Diddley's "Oh Yeah" is a hypnotic two-chord blues-punk pounder with some stomping rhythms and a very snotty vocal from Jim Sohns. Their take on "You Can't Judge A Book By Looking At the Cover" rattles along like an outta-control freight train, with Joe Kelly's spastic guitar hanging on for dear life. Elsewhere, they transform Chuck Berry's "Let It Rock" into a breathless, hyperactive rock and roll classic (not that the original wasn't), and turn "I Got My Mojo Working" into an amped up barnstormer. Their "Hoohie Coochie Man" sounds just as mean 'n' macho as Muddy Waters' version (although they make the mistake of messing with the song's best line, "I got 700 dollars/ Don't you mess with me"). They also totally slaughter (in a good way) "I Just Want to Make Love To You," mutating that blues standard into a flailing rock n roll rave up, complete with a howling thunderstorm of controlled (?) feedback. They also do a souped up "I Got My Mojo Working." The album's title track (biggest hit), however, isn't a blues cover, but rather a rendition of Van Morrison's gareage-punk masterpiece. Admittedly, I prefer the original (it has a kind of raw sexuality that this take simply doesn't capture), but the Shadows' version is still excellent, thanks to Sohns' exuberant vocals and an awesome three-chord guitar attack. There are even three group originals (by George, they wrote songs!)- "Light Bulb Blues" is another high-strung slice of garage band blues-rock, and "It Always Happens this Way" is a tough hard-luck rocker. Even "Dark Side," the album's sole ballad (by which I mean it's a rocker without guitars that sound like they're going to explode) is cooler than a leather jacket. So... yeah! This is one of the rockinist, coolest, and downright best LPs o' the whole darn 60s, and... get it!