Apache (piece of music)
Apache is an instrumental piece by British music group The Shadows from 1960. It was number one on the British charts for five weeks .
History of origin
The English composer Jerry Lordan had already written a few minor hits and a few unpublished melodies without lyrics, including Apache . The inspiration for the title came to Lordan when he saw the western of the same name starring Burt Lancaster and Charles Bronson in 1959 , which was released in cinemas in 1954 in the USA and was released in Germany under the title Massai .
Lordan had to find a typical instrumental band, but instrumental recordings were considered a rarity in pop music - they only made up 1% of all single releases. In Bert Weedon he found an accomplished instrumentalist who already had four instrumental hits. Apache was included by Weedon in February 1960 with the serial number Top Rank JAR # 415. The composer Jerry Lordan did not like this version, because the drama of the composition in melody and dynamics was not implemented in this first recording studio . Weedon's interpretation was initially unpublished.
Cover of the Shadows
Disappointed with this first production, Lordan came into contact with Cliff Richard's backing group The Shadows. During a tour in May 1960, the instrumental band picked up the piece when Lordan played it on a ukulele . It was agreed that the piece suited the band's repertoire. On June 17, 1960, the version of the Shadows was created in Studio 2 of the London recording studio Abbey Road Studios with producer Norrie Paramor . Lead guitarist Hank Marvin used an echo device from the Italian manufacturer Meazzi (Echomatic) as well as intense vibrato playing with the help of the tremolo arm of his Fender Stratocaster for the characteristic sound . Rhythm guitarist Bruce Welch borrowed a Gibson J-200 acoustic guitar from Cliff Richard, which was unusual for a rock 'n' roll band. Melodic bass lines were contributed by Jet Harris , while Tony Meehan, together with his drums and the Chinese drum (Tam Tam) played by Cliff Richard, gave the piece strongly percussive features at the beginning, middle and at the end in order to imitate the characteristic sound of American Indian music .
The band spent over two hours of the booked three hours with the title Quartermaster's Stores, initially intended as the A-side . In just under 45 minutes, Apache was finished with just four takes . Producer Paramor was more convinced of Quartermaster's Stores , an instrumental version of an original vocal version performed at a faster pace than Apache . It was an old American army song called The Quartermaster's Store , known for example in the version by Bill Shephard. "Paramor did what he always used to do in situations like this, he played the tracks to his daughter at home and she chose Apache ."
success
The single Apache / Quartermaster's Stores was released on July 21, 1960 by the Shadows under Columbia DB # 4484, but Weedon's version is the original because of the earlier recording date. The piece reached million seller status in 1963 and was awarded platinum. A million records were sold in the UK alone. After the single had hit the British charts on July 21, 1960, it came in first place on August 25, 1960, where it was held for five weeks. Here she ousted Cliff Richards Please Don't Tease! , with which the Shadows can be heard as a backing band. With the single, the Shadows were able to establish themselves as an independent band, but they continued to accompany Richard in the recording studio and on stage. In Germany, after its publication in October 1960, the instrumental hit reached number 10 on the charts. In 1995 composer Jerry Lordan received a BMI award for one million sales of Apache in the US.
More cover versions and samples
The original version by Bert Weedon, which is in the archives, was hastily published almost simultaneously with the Shadows version in July 1960 and entered the UK charts on July 28, 1960, where it was ranked 24th as the highest position. The hit version of the Shadows is almost unknown in the USA, because the Danish jazz guitarist Jørgen Ingmann released his own instrumental version for the American market in January 1961. It was there for two weeks at number 2 on the pop hit parade. Also in 1961 was a sung version by Sonny James that reached number 87 on the pop charts.
The Ventures , themselves a successful American instrumental band with a million seller in 1960, covered the song for an LP in December 1962. The surf band The Surfaris released a surf rock version in 1964 .
The July 1973 version of the Incredible Bongo Band was sampled so often that Kool DJ Herc called it the "national anthem of hip-hop".
In 1992, a dance cover version produced by Thomas Kukula appeared on the First album of his General Base project. The piece was released as a single in 1993 and was later released with remixes by Interactive and André Tanneberger .
Individual evidence
- ^ Arnold Shaw: Dictionary of American Pop / Rock . 1982, p. 186
- ↑ Bert Weedon's website
- ↑ The previous three singles of the Shadows consisted of two vocal and one instrumental recordings.
- ↑ For a musicological analysis of the version of the Shadows see: Ansgar Jerrentrup: Development of rock music from the beginning to the beat . Gustav Bosse Verlag, Regensburg 1981 (Cologne contributions to music research, vol. 113), also Diss. Phil. University of Cologne 1980, p. 197f .; Score transcription of the version, pp. 233-235
- ↑ Jerry Lordan in: Brian Southall, Peter Vince, Allan Rouse: Abbey Road , 1997, p. 56 f.
- ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 146
- ↑ songfacts.com
- ↑ www.nytimes.com: Review