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Macadam « Spécial Shadows » was broadcast on Friday 15th June 1984 on French TV. It was one of a series of "My aim is to create a programme that is more distinctive and original than traditional variety shows. To shoot in natural settings. To show singers in a different light (...) Why did I call my show "Macadam"? For me, 'Macadam' means the road, and it's also a reference to 'Macadam Cowboy'. I'd find myself a bit in this character, not too comfortable..."
As well as this special, there is an episode(?) of Macadam from a year earlier in June 1983 which featured Hank Marvin singing two tracks from his All Alone With Friends album.
I would love to see the full show with Hank but as far as I know it hasn't surfaced.
Luckily - the Shadows special survives! The quality isn't the greatest, however, and I can't speak French so I only have a very vague idea of what's going on! But, from what I've read and seen, it's about a girl called Anne-Marie who wins a radio competition (some sort of music quiz?) and the winner gets to spend a weekend with their favourite music artists. She chooses The Shadows so the people from the radio station phone the Shads' manager and get the band to come over to Camargue in the south of France, where the show was filmed. Obviously this wasn't a real competition, though I wish it was! The programme is an hour long - the extra half hour of this video includes behind-the-scenes footage.
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Radio Flamant Rose - or Radio Pink Flamingo - which is based out of a tiny caravan in a field... The region of Camargue is famous for its pink flamingos, in fact it is the only place they are found in France.
The DJs play Apache and chat about something, we cut to Anne-Marie and Pascal Danel who ride away on horses, then suddenly -
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I
thought this part was a bit weird - a trio consisting of a girl playing one drum jumping around with two guitar guys in pink suits strutting
about to a tragic Jive Bunny-fied medley of various instrumental
hits! Turns out these three are the French synthpop band Magazine 60,
most well known for the very 1980s Eurodisco song Don Quichotte.
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Night time and a melancholy Cavatina is followed by everyone singing
"Happy Birthday", but whose birthday is it? Well if this was filmed in
late 1983 it'd made sense for the 25th anniversary of the Shadows. Then, Pascal
Danel sings the last song, called 1960, backed by the boys. It's a
nice finale - a catchy song and everyone looks like
they're having fun!
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The end...
The behind the scenes footage filmed by Jean-Pierre Danel is worth a watch too.
Jean-Pierre Danel did an interview for Guitar & Drums magazine in about 2006, where he talks about meeting the Shadows on many occasions and the making of the programme as well as the earlier Macadam special with Hank Marvin. There's some good pictures on that page!
Here is the interview, translated into English by Didier Parot:
"I
have been lucky enough to meet the Shadows several times, first during
the eighties. In February 79, I was totally fascinated when listening to
their first 10" album (from 1961) which was offered to me by a friend
of my sister. I started imitating them at home and in school with a toy,
the with a more realistic guitar, although still almost a toy, that I
abused for hours, until I couls find the first notes of "Shadoogie" or
"Nivram". I went around all the records shops and flea markets in Paris,
and I bought all the vinyls I could find from my idols.
In March
1980, the first unexpected opportunity to meet them occured. My father,
Pascal Danel, had just ended two weeks of concerts at the Olympia, when
the manager, Jean-Louis Boris, knowing my passion for the Shadows, told
us with pleasure that they would be there a few weeks later...
Walking
through Paris, I had the shock to discover posters of the Shadows, next
to my fathers' ones stuck on fences... I still couldn't believe it
until this afternoon when we attended a short sound check ("Let Me Be
The One", "Riders In The Sky") and when JM Boris took us to meet them in
their changing room.
Two hours of absolute dream for me! Photos,
signing my sixty vinyls (unfortunately lost since then). Programmes and
singles offered by Brian Goode their manager.
Then came a really
remarkable concert, which left me with great memories. Perfection,
emotion, relaxation... Really, and now looking back at it with a more
professional attitude, it was among the best I have ever seen.
After
the show, we went back backstage and we made our friend Laurent Voulzy
meet Hank (Being an ardent suporter, Laurent was delighted). He was
stunned when Marvin left the Olympia taking with him my father's new
live album, recorded in the same venue a few weeks earlier!
In
December of the same year, we again met the Shadows in their changing
room at the Mogador theatre in Paris, and we were extremely warmly
welcomed after the concert, and this too remains a formidable memory.
After
several contacts through mail and phone, my father, who then had turned
TV producer, invited Hank for the shooting of the "Macadam" show in
June 1983, he played two tracks from his current album ("Invisible Man"
and "The Hawk And The Dove"). Voulzy specially came from Paris to see
Hank during the shooting which took place in the Ardèche region. We also
made Pierre Teodori, one of my father's guitarists, meet Hank. He wrote
two tunes for the Shadows during the eighties.
Brian Goode and
Hank seemed delighted by the show, the atmosphere on the shooting
location, the region and its gourmet restaurants... It's most likely
because of this good feeling that they convinced all of the Shadows to
come in Spring 84 for a special episode of "Macadam" dedicated to them
(they hadn't come in France for a TV show for years).
To the great
surprise of the TV network, which knew that we were all supporters and
that we knew them, we received a telex from Roll Over Records, their
label at Polydor : "For you we will come at no charge...". Classy...
Back
from a long tour in Australia, they arrived early April on the shooting
location in Camargue. Hank, the one we knew best, still warm, so were
Brian Goode, Bruce and Brian, all delighted, but yet a little anxious
about what the shooting would be (mixing music and comedy), Alan Jones
the bassist, was really cool, and Cliff Hall who came the next day, with
his well known humour....
Accompanied by their roadie, the
Shadows seemed a little tired by over 80 concerts, not mentioning the jet
lag. Above all they were coming from sunshine, and didn't expect such
freezing weather in the south of France... My mother had the tough task
to explain them the rather unusual concept of the show.
In the end
they liked it, and played all the parts and jokes of the show with great
professionalism an enthusiasm. The even backed my father, which wasn't
really planned, on a tune evocating the sixties and the Shadows
themselves... (as he says, he is the only one with Cliff).
The
Shadows' French wasn't very good, and Hank, Bruce and Brian laughed a
lot when trying to find back some school memories about it... Hank only
remembered a particular sentence : "The horse needs food"...! Which
wasn't really useful ! But he used it as a comment to nearly all
indications from the director or ourselves. He says it during the show.
To
avoid problems with our language, their most current reaction was to
answer "No problem!", which became a key word during the shooting.
Bruce,
always the first ready at 7am, hooked to buttered bread and tea, Hank
with non-stop kid's jokes and unbeatable at table football, Brian very
gentlemanly, Cliff and Alan enjoying late drinks... The 5 days shooting
were a delight for us all, and particularly for me.
Hank signed my
Strat; I was granted a little playing, testing their guitars and
greetings which were miraculous for the 15 year old kid I was. More
photos, videos, signing, gifts, souvenirs (I preciously keep the guitar
strap signed Bruce Welch Shadows)
Emotion was real when they left,
and the Shadows seemed sad to leave this atmosphere and they invited us
to visit them in England.
For many reasons I coudn't come for the
tour with Cliff Richard which followed. But in Spring 1986, when Cliff
and Hank were still #1 with their new version of "Living Doll", and when
the Shadows released with great success their "Moonlight Shadows"
album, we came to attend three concerts in Windsor. They let me video
record a full show from the control room. Then again I came back with a
strong impression and many memories; Brian showing us photos of his
studio, Bruce photos of concert with Mark Knopfler or Hank talking about
his coming departure for Australia...
Later in 89 I nearly went
to record in Brian's studio, but our schedules didn't match because the
Shadows were touring in Australia.
I saw again Hank in concert at the
Olympia in April 2000, Bruce and Cliff Hall in October the same year at
the french fan club meeting, then in 2005 I attended one of their their
Final Tour concert in Paris, before having the luck to record with Hank
in end 2006 for "Guitar Connection 2" to be released in Spring 2007.
I
still admire as much their talent and career, and particularly
impressed by their live shows, and also their work as producers,
particularly those of Bruce for the formidable Cliff's albums in the
seventies, which are among the best I know in his kind, and a reference
for many people in this business.
Throughout their own way and their many experiences, the Shadows remain the most beautiful musical emotion in my life..."
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