Marvin, Welch & Farrar

Track	Album / Single
You’re Burning Bridges	Marvin, Welch & Farrar
A Thousand Conversations	Marvin, Welch & Farrar
Silvery Rain	Marvin, Welch & Farrar
Throw Down A Line	Marvin, Welch & Farrar
Faithful	Marvin, Welch & Farrar
Simplify Your Head	Second Opinion
Ronnie	Second Opinion
Far Away Falling	Second Opinion
Lonesome Mole	Second Opinion
Marmaduke	Regal Zonophone RZ 3048

I have a small china tortoise that my dad bought my mum after she had major heart surgery sometime in the 1950s. It’s always been there. On the mantelpiece at our family home. Then after dad died it lived on a G Plan chest of drawers next to my mum’s chair when she moved into sheltered accommodation. After mum died, I kept it. It now resides on the top shelf of a cabinet at my house. Every now and then its look of quiet contemplation catches my eye and I’ll smile at the memories it brings. It’s important and I love it, but I don’t think about it all the time. Which is how I feel about the Shadows. They’ve just always been there.

I was born in 1965 and you could argue the Shadows had already had their day by then, but there they were regularly appearing on TV at some summer spectacular or with Cliff on a double decker bus. In the 70s their 20 Golden Greats with its iconic cover taught me just how incredible they were, with all those classic hits like Apache, Wonderful Land and The Rise And Fall Of Flingel Bunt.

As I got older, I began to understand their impact on pop music (“Before Cliff and The Shadows, there had been nothing worth listening to in British music.” John Lennon). Then over the last few years as I began crate digging for vinyl, I realised that there is an endless supply of truly wonderful Shadows records available that record stores and charity shops can’t give away. My copy of this is a prized possession. Released in 1961. Vinyl as thick as a dinner plate and the boys looking like they’d just signed for Postcard Records in 1981. My love of the Shadows as musicians and icons grew.

A couple of months ago Sky Arts showed a Cliff and the Shadows anniversary concert from about fifteen years ago. It was amazing and I posted excitedly about it on social media to little response except one message from a chap called Ian. “Do you know the Marvin, Welch & Farrar albums, Dave?” I responded, “I don’t, but I will investigate.” So, I did.

It was like discovering that little china tortoise had enjoyed a brief foray into life as a lava lamp that I had absolutely no idea about. What comes next is my attempt to share the very best of Marvin, Welch & Farrar by selecting ten songs from their two mind-blowing, transcendental albums along with the bit of background story I have been able to discover. I hope you grow to love them as much as I have.

Now we must picture Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch as the 1970s dawn. They’ve been the Drifters and then the Shadows for over a decade. The world was moving on around them. They’d seen the Beatles come and almost go. They wanted to do something new but what? Both Bruce and Hank could sing as evidenced in this fabulous clip from 1964.

They could harmonise, they could play guitar and they had things they wanted to say, so they started writing. They needed a third voice and through a combination of working with a band called the Strangers in Australia, and a friend of a friend situation via Bruce’s fiancé Olivia Newton-John (I know!), they connected with singer and guitarist John Farrar. Marvin, Welch & Farrar were born.

The first album, imaginatively called Marvin, Welch & Farrar drew favorable comparisons with Crosby, Stills & Nash leaning heavily on that West Coast Americana sound. They really did have something special but how could they sell themselves and move away from the Shadows / Cliff / Saturday TV scene that everyone so identified them with?  They grew their hair, wore more casual clothes, they really looked the part. And yet, the only clips you can find of them playing are with Cilla, Basil Brush, Roger Whittaker or Ken Dodd on Saturday night TV shows. More on that in a bit.

As with their eponymous first album their second, Second Opinion, was full of great songs; Hank in particular showing himself to be a real songwriting force. It was incredibly well received by critics yet roundly ignored by the public despite the efforts they made through mainstream TV. Both albums were released in 1971 and by 1972 it was over when Bruce left the band frustrated by the lack of impact.  I found a fantastic fact which really makes you wish they’d completely started afresh – “Second Opinion was voted the best produced album to come out of the Abbey Road Studios in the 70s.” When you consider this was voted for by engineers and producers who worked at Abbey Road it’s clear how great they were.

To emphasise their struggle with where they wanted to pitch themselves, I’m going to share three clips of Lady Of The Morning from Second Opinion. It’s clearly the song they threw everything at chasing a hit. It’s a great little song yet there were better, more challenging, songs that could have expanded their reach. I’m going to site Cliffluence as the problem; have a hit boys, have a hit you can hear him say.

Here they are again with Cilla and Basil. Worth sharing because it’s incredible for so many right and wrong reasons.

Now the same song with a smokily atmospheric black and white video where the song really comes to life.

They were trying to sell Marvin Welch & Farrar to a Shadows audience. They couldn’t really cut themselves loose and find a new audience. As a live act they actually toured supporting Cliff as The Shadows featuring Marvin, Welch and Farrar. Where they should have been was in a smokey bar or a dingy tent seeking out new fans. Where they were was back in theatres as a strange hybrid, never really brave enough to cut the strings of their old audience who had no interest in Hippy Hank, Beach Bum Bruce or the new guy. “Play Apache you bastards!” 

This final clip sums up the dilemma they created for themselves perfectly. Who is this going to appeal to in 1971? I mean, we look back now agog but Marvin, Welch and Farrar were so much better than this.

Time for me to run through my top ten now. It was really hard to know which tracks to leave out as they are all remarkable. I’ve chosen five from each of the two studio albums (as they are listed on Spotify). With copies of the vinyl album available for peanuts online, I really recommend you get yourself the pair and indulge in some unbelievable music (I did and my copies are beautiful things, pics at the foot of this post). There are a couple of really strong Best Of CD options too well worth seeking out.

Track one, album one, You’re Burning Bridges, and what an introduction.  A stunning West Coast sound, written and sung by Hank.

A Thousand Conversations is a genuinely beautiful lilting love song with hippy charm and Beach Boys-esque harmonies. Written by Bruce and Hank and sung by Bruce.

Silvery Rain is Hank’s plea to save the planet and shows a rare songwriting talent, sadly never given the credit he deserves. Covered by Cliff, Olivia Newton-John and Cliff and Olivia Newton-John, YouTube is your friend here but first listen to the Marvin, Welch & Farrar original. Sung by Hank.

And I simply have to share this extraordinary performance from Olivia Newton-John.

In Throw Down A Line, John turns up the rasp to sound like Jon Bon Jovi. In fact, the whole song could be imagined as a Bon Jovi record from the mid-eighties. Of course, Cliff has covered it. Thankfully, Olivia didn’t. Written by Hank, whose equal-billing version with Cliff was a #7 hit in September 1969.

This one is so beautiful. Genuinely transportive, Faithful takes you out of yourself through exquisite harmonies and the lightest of guitar. A full band effort on songwriting and vocals. It was the debut single in January 1971 and failed to chart.

Press play, close your eyes and imagine it’s the 1990s as Hank and Bruce take John’s song, Simplify Your Head, and turn into the prototype for a dozen different 90s bands’ sound – from the Happy Mondays to Kula Shaker and many others in between. Such a brilliant song. I love the little chuckle at the end.

As if to continue the theme, if someone told you Ronnie was the latest song by the Coral you wouldn’t question it. It even closes on some seaside-style organ. A touching story of a young man with mental health issues and how society shuts him out. The environment and mental health. No one else was doing this in 1971.

An almost Beatles-esque sound to this John Farrar composition, Far Away Falling. Absolutely stunning harmonies again.

The boys go a little bit country on Lonesome Mole and I love them for it.

Let’s finish this top ten on a high. Marmaduke is an anti-war, anti-conscription song written by Alan Tarney. Performed here with John Farrar on lead vocals with Bruce and Hank providing the harmonies. I love this so much, and they look really happy to be doing what they do, and yet there’s that shadow of the Shadows in everything they do.

So that’s it. I’m going to do my absolute best to ensure Marvin, Welch & Farrar receive all the belated kudos they deserve. Trying to shake off the Shadows was clearly too much, understandably; it’s important to remember just how huge they were in the 60s. The fact they tried and produced two albums of such quality is a testament if needed to their extraordinary talent. There they were, familiar ornaments trying to become lava lamps in a musical world changing ridiculously fast, their light dimming so quickly as they returned to their original form most of us missed it. If I’ve managed to introduce just one person to the magic of Marvin, Welch & Farrar – as Ian did for me – I’ll be incredibly happy.

My vinyl copies

Marvin, Welch & Farrar Wikipedia

Hank Marvin Official Facebook

Bruce Welch Tribute Website

John Farrar Wikipedia

Dave Ross lives near Windsor and hides under his online pseudonym @DaveAmitri to talk mainly about cricket and music. He has written a drama “Jimmy Blue” featuring the music of Del Amitri and has recently published his first book “12 Bowie Albums In 12 Months” based on a series of posts on The Afterword website. Follow him at his website and on bluesky. His other posts for this site include The Associates, Rick Astley, The Blow Monkeys, The Coral, The Kane Gang, Justin Currie, Nick Heyward, Hot Chocolate, The Lotus Eaters, Tears for Fears, Then Jerico, Thompson Twins, Wham!.

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