The Sheldons - Wonderful Land/ The Shark

German take on The Shads on an American issue 45

Label: Philips

Year of Release: 1962

I regularly stumble across people (passionate music fans among them) who try to argue that The Shadows were a supremely naff group with no redeeming qualities. They're wrong, obviously, and I normally rush to recommend "Wonderful Land" to them as the first case for the defence - and God knows there's a long list of other singles besides, including the wah-wah festooned "Scotch On The Socks" which I used to enjoy DJ'ing so people could race over to me to ask who it was by. 

"Wonderful Land", though, sits high up on the tree as one of their biggest hits and most delightful sounds, being somehow simultaneously exultant and sad. Hank Marvin's yearning twanged notes and the gentle orchestra behind him seem to be pining for something that doesn't really exist - an idea of something better - rather than being present and content in the moment. The band appeared to have arrived at the title by happenstance; when one of the group commented to songwriter Jerry Lordan that it "sounded like America", another member added that it seemed like a "wonderful land", and this vague, idealistic impression of a free utopia is, by accident or design, carried right through the mood of the record. The fact it emerged just prior to the beat boom perhaps also unintentionally underlined why a change had to happen - Britain needed to feel good about itself and its own take on American ideas, not pine for far-away lands as offering an answer. 

And anyway, America didn't care for this particular love letter, or indeed most of our musical love letters prior to The Beatles. Very few people over there bought the single (issued on Atlantic) which left the ground clear for someone else to have a crack at that market with the same tune. The mysterious Sheldons, who recorded this in Germany, thus stepped forward to have another go.

To be perfectly honest, it's much the same only not as good, and we might not ordinarily waste our time with it on here were it not for a real peculiarity on the flipside. "The Shark", penned by arranger Claus Ogerman under another name, is just The Shadows future 1965 single "Stingray" recorded three years ahead of its mainstream moment. Once again, this version doesn't top The Shads own, which combines the melody with buzzsaw bass guitar sounds, but it's a serious peculiarity which begs many questions. Chief among them - how the hell did two Shadows tracks, a relative current one and a future one, end up on the same 45 performed by an entirely different (and almost entirely unknown) band?

I'm afraid I don't have the answers, but the most logical explanation would probably be that The Shads were aware of this record and decided that nestling on the flipside was something they'd also like to record themselves, thereby completing the cultural exchange of ideas. If anyone else knows any better, please do let me know. 

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