Customer Reviews

Hank Plays Live

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

 

 

I lke this Cd..The recording is good even though the numbers
are tighter on the Shadows Final Tour dvd.....Would have liked
more numbers from the Shadows 60's instro material...Hank's Band here isn't
as good as his current Shadow line-up...If your
a Shadows music fan or just love instro music from the 60s & 70s.. get it....

Great sound! good selection of songs excellent guitarplaying, with his son Ben Marvin on second guitar and rhytm guitar. The only thing I missed was a drumsolo
what more can I say when I like the way he plays

I got into the Shadows in the 90s when I wanted to get back into playing guitar. Liked their material alot more than most of the Ventures stuff (although I am a fan of those guys). Got a copy of this CD out in Denver over ten years ago and have played it weekly ever since. Hank's version of "Summer Holiday" is what brings me back again and again. It is a meloncholy instrumental that is addictive, nothing like the poppy vocal hit of Cliff's. "The Young Ones" also gets a similar treatment and is great. "Move It" is terrific and Cliff appears for the vocals along with a second verse that only took Mr. Samwell-Smith more than 30 years to write! This was the first place that it appeared. Just got a PAL player so I can view Euro DVDs not made for the US. The Hank Live dvd is the same show as this CD so it's interesting to view this CD after so many years of just listening to it. This is a good one to pick out Hank's lead lines.

The Shadows are my favourite group, and Hank B. Marvin is one of my favourite guitarists. Nevertheless, I think he let standards slip with this set. There is nothing wrong technically with it. He plays every note perfectly, as he has so many times before with many of these songs, and the band is made up of excellent performers, including his son Ben and Shadows Drummer Brian Bennett's son Warren (on keyboards). The production is also clear, in fact it's almost too clinical, and despite this being a live set, you don't really get a sense of that except in the banter between songs and the applause.

The songs are a collection of work from Hank's recent albums and from his days with the Shadows (and Cliff & the Shadows). There is nothing really new here, which is where it disappoints. If you have the studio vrsions of these songs, you may enjoy listening to them again, in a different order, with applause in between, but I would say that you really had to be there (or perhaps watch the DVD) to enjoy the live aspect of this.

Having said that, the opening song, Live And Let Die (from Wings's James Bond Theme) is a very faithful arrangement and Hank's beautiful guitar carries the melody as well as McCartney's voice. No part of the excitement is lost, and Bennett works well on the keyboards to replicate some of the orchestral sounds.

Devil Woman, Summer Holiday, Foot Tapper and Living Doll follow, and these pretty much seem like going through the paces for Hank. The Shads numbers are let down slightly by the absence of Bruce Welch on rhythm guitar. A frenetic version of Pipeline follows, with a rock 'n' roll medley of Lucille, Rip It Up, and Blue Suede Shoes following. This is OK, but the three part harmonies don't really work on these songs, and it would have been better to hear Hank's voice clearly.

More Shadows songs follow, then the thoughtful, different arrangement of Eleanor Rigby from his acoustic 'Guitar Player' album. Great stuff, but I already bought it! Mystery Train is probably the stand out track of the album. A skiffle version of the song, performed with train whistle sounds and a great vocal from Hank that almost redeems the whole album!

In fairness, there is nothing actually wrong with this product, but I would have liked to have heard some more vocals and perhaps his hit Don't Talk, or music from his first four solo albums. Worth buying, only if you don't already have it all on other discs.