Cherry Red Records The Haunted Pad – British instrumental guitar music of the sixties part one 1960-61

The
Halycon days of British instrumental guitar pop were in the early
sixties, sandwiched between ‘What do You Want’ and ‘She Loves You’. The disc
that sparked the revolution was The Shadows’ Apache, the
summer hit of 1960 in the UK. It was flanked by ‘Hit and Miss’ by The John
Barry Seven (the snappy new theme of Juke Box Jury) and The Ventures’ Walk
Don’t Run; by Duane Eddy and by Johnny & the Hurricanes. Bert Weedon enjoyed
four instrumental Top 20 hits that year.
Apache
captured the public’s imagination and brought instrumental
guitar music squarely into the mainstream and a real treasure chest of
highly individualistic groups emerged in the wake of The Shadows success; all encouraged by the recent expansion of the
UK single chart to a Top 50.
Big
Jim Sullivan’s Krew Kats (formerly Marty Wilde’s backing band,
The Wildcats) were out of the top drawer and can only wonder what
might have been. Still, drummer Brian Bennett and bassist Licorice Locking went
on to replace Tony Meehan and Jet Harris in the Shadows and Sullivan himself
became Britain’s premier session guitarist.
Impressive
also, The Scorpions, whose searing Rockin’ at the Phil’
has been described as “possibly the zenith of UK rock’n’roll guitar
playing as we know it”. ‘Cat’s Eyes’ and ‘Flyover’ by The Ted Taylor Four,
pop art singles distinguished by space-age interplay between guitarist Bob
Rogers and Taylor’s keyboards. The Phantoms, from Cambridge, who encountered
phenomenal success in Scandinavia and made it their home and the guitarists
Rhet Stoller and Judd Proctor, who were able to combine virtuosity with teen
appeal.

Just
months before ‘Telstar’, the “Alchemist of Pop”, Joe Meek, came

with two astonishing instrumental guitar recordings, The Outlaws “Dream of
the West’, a Wild West concept album released before the end of ’61(!), and The
Moontrekkers’ ghoulish ‘Night of the Vampire’, which infiltrated the Top 50 at
around the same time but was banned by the BBC as “unsuitable for people
of a nervous disposition”, Nero and the Gladiators also fell foul of
Broadcasting House; daring to compress Grieg’s ‘Hall of the Mountain King’ into
1.57 of guitar noise and playfully dressing as Romans got them banned “on the
grounds of poor taste.”

Release Date: 13/08/2012

Track list:




1.
Chariot Rhet
Stoller
2.
Jack’s Good Krew
Kats
3.
Trambone Krew
Kats
4.
Phantom Guitar
The Phantom
5.
Eldorado The
Phantom
6.
Big Man The
Packbeats
7.
Gypsy Beat The
Packbeats
8.
Night Of The
Vampire The Moontrekkers
9.
Palamino Judd
Proctor
10. Nola Judd Proctor
11. The Outlaws
12. Valley Of The Sioux The
Outlaws
13. Cat’s Eyes Ted Taylor Four
14. Canyon Ted Taylor Four
15. Flyover Ted Taylor Four


16. The Hunted Pad Ted Taylor
Four
17. Entry of the gladiators Nero
And The Gladiators
18. In The Hall Of The Mountain
King Nero And The Gladiators
19. Teen Scene The Hunters
20. How’s ‘M Chicks The Hunters
21. Starfire The John Barry Seven
Plus Four
22. Desperado Jim Gunner
23. Cossack The Barons
24. Samurai The Barons
25. Whirlwind The Barons


26. Theme From Tightrope The
Volcanos
27. Rockin’ At The Phil’ The
Scorpions
28. Chunky The Planets
29. Topaz The Staccatos
30. Mogambo Sounds Inc
31. Tom Tom Cat The Tom Cats
32. Easy Go David Ede With Rabin
Rock
33. Bush Fire The Cannons
34. Sunday Date The Flee-Rekkers
35. Ghost Train Bert Weedon