A gift for Hank Marvin fans has a scope problem before it starts, because there are two catalogues and most people only think about one of them. My map takes both: 21 Shadows albums and 15 solo records, 36 in all, running from The Shadows in 1961 to Without a Word in 2017.
Fifty-six years from the first station to the last. Nothing else in my range covers that much ground.
The short version. My Hank Marvin map plots 36 albums across 56 years, 21 with the Shadows and 15 solo, braided into one route in date order rather than split into two. 58 musicians are credited across them. Hank appears on all 36. Bruce Welch and Brian Bennett reach 20 each and both stop in 1990. Guests include Olivia Newton-John, Brian May, Duane Eddy, Mark Knopfler and Cliff Richard. Available as a Giclée art print in A2 and A1, unframed or framed, from £42.00.
This Gift for Hank Marvin Fans Braids Two Careers Into One Line
Hank Marvin is on every one of the thirty-six. That is the only line on the print with no break in it, and given the span, it is a remarkable thing to draw.
Bruce Welch reaches twenty stations, and Brian Bennett twenty as well. Between them, they cover most of the Shadows' half and none of the solo half, which is where the shape of this map starts telling you something.
For a fan who has followed him since the Fender came out of the box in 1961, this is the object that puts fifty-six years in one frame.
Hank Marvin Discography Map
Thirty-six albums across 56 years, the Shadows and the solo years drawn as one transit network.
Explore This Art PrintTwo Careers, One Route, Sorted by Date
The decision on this map was not about who to include; it was about the order in which to put them. Two catalogues that overlap for thirty years can be drawn as two parallel routes, or braided into one line in strict date order. I went with the braid.
Drawn as two routes, it would be tidier, and it would hide the only thing that actually matters here. The solo albums do not start after the Shadows finish. Hank Marvin arrives in 1969 while the band is still going, and The Hank Marvin Guitar Syndicate lands in 1977 between two Shadows records.
So the print alternates. Seven Shadows albums, then a solo one, then four more Shadows, then another solo one. You can see him working both sides of it for the best part of thirty years, which two neat parallel lines would have flattened into nothing.
The Shadows Stop in 1990, and Hank Keeps Going for Twenty-Seven Years
Reflection in 1990 is the last Shadows album on the map. Bruce Welch's line ends there. So does Brian Bennett's, and so do Cliff Hall's and Alan Jones's.
Everything after that is solo. Eleven albums in a row, from Into the Light in 1992 to Without a Word in 2017, and the right-hand third of the print has only one line running the whole way through it.
That is the single most legible thing on this map from across a room: a thick braided section that suddenly thins to one thread and stays that way for twenty-seven years.
Ten Guitarists on One Album, Including the Man Who Played the James Bond Riff
The Hank Marvin Guitar Syndicate in 1977 is the widest station on the print and the strangest record in either catalogue. It is a solo album that gathers about ten guitar players onto one record.
Vic Flick is one of them. He is the guitarist who played the riff on the James Bond theme, making his one appearance here the most-heard three seconds of anybody's work on this map.
Alongside him are Alan Parker, Colin Green, Kevin Peek, Les Thatcher, Paul Keogh, Rickie Hitchcock, Chris Rae and Alan Sparks, with Clem Cattini on drums, Herbie Flowers on bass and Frank Ricotti on percussion. Thirteen names at one station, and then almost all of them leave and never come back.
Brian May, Duane Eddy and Mark Knopfler Are All on Here
The solo years bring in a guest list nobody expects from an instrumental guitar catalogue. These are the ones that stop people.
| Guest | Album | Better known for |
|---|---|---|
| Olivia Newton-John | From Hank, Bruce, Brian and John (1967) | Guest vocals on "The Day I Met Marie", years before Grease |
| Vic Flick | The Hank Marvin Guitar Syndicate (1977) | The guitar on the James Bond theme |
| Brian May | Into the Light (1992) | Queen |
| Duane Eddy | Into the Light (1992) | The other great twang guitarist, on the same album |
| Mark Knopfler | Heartbeat (1993) | Dire Straits |
| Cliff Richard | Heartbeat (1993), Hank Plays Cliff (1995) | Two stations, one of them an album of his own songs |
| Clem Cattini | The Hank Marvin Guitar Syndicate (1977) | A session drummer credited on dozens of British number ones |
| Norrie Paramor | Four albums, 1962 to 1977 | Producing and orchestral arrangements he also played |
| John Farrar | Three albums, 1973 to 1977 | Later writing "You're the One That I Want" |
| Herbie Flowers | Two albums, 1970 and 1977 | The bass on "Walk on the Wild Side" |
Brian May and Duane Eddy on the same record is the pairing I would put in front of anybody who thinks this is a nostalgia catalogue. Two guitarists from either side of Marvin's influence arrived at one station in 1992.
The Bass Chair Changes Hands Five Times Before 1980
Jet Harris plays bass on the first two albums and then stops. Brian "Licorice" Locking covers the next two. John Rostill took over in 1964 and ran until 1970.
After that, it fragments completely. Dave Richmond, Herbie Flowers, Brian Odgers, Alan Tarney, and Alan Jones all take turns, sometimes two of them on the same record, splitting it track by track. Tony Meehan, meanwhile, drums on the debut and nothing else, because Brian Bennett arrives for the second album and stays for twenty.
One short line at the very start, then a long steady one beside it. That contrast between Meehan and Bennett is right at the left-hand edge of the print, and it is the first thing I would point out to somebody unwrapping it.
Two of His Children Are on the Later Albums
Ben Marvin appears on eight solo albums, from Heartbeat in 1993 to Without a Word in 2017. Tahlia Marvin is on five of them across the same stretch.
So the thin end of the map, the part where the Shadows' lines have all stopped, is where the family lines start. Nunzio Mondia appears on seven albums alongside them and is named in the title of one, Django's Castle, in 2013.
It is a quiet way for a map to end, and I like it. Twenty players at a station in 1977, and two of his children at the last one.
Where the Print Gets Tight
The A2 at 420 x 594mm (18 x 24 in) carries all thirty-six stations, and the braid of Shadows and solo albums reads clearly, as does the thinning after 1990. It starts at £42.00.
The A1 at 594 x 841mm (24 x 36 in) is worth it here for two reasons. Thirty-six stations are at the busy end for A2, and the Guitar Syndicate crowd needs room; otherwise, Vic Flick and Kevin Peek become part of a cluster instead of names you can read.
Both come unframed if they would rather choose a frame themselves, or framed and ready to hang. Every print is a Giclée on 230gsm premium fine art paper, textured matte, archival and acid-free, with the full detail on the print and frame specification page.
What Gets Asked About the Two Halves
Is this the Shadows or Hank Marvin solo?
Both on one route. Twenty-one Shadows albums and fifteen solo albums, interleaved in date order from 1961 to 2017, rather than split into two separate lines.
Are Bruce Welch and Brian Bennett on it?
Both, on twenty stations each. Their lines run through the Shadows albums and end at Reflection in 1990.
Does it include Cliff Richard?
On two albums, Heartbeat in 1993 and Hank Plays Cliff in 1995. The Cliff and Shadows backing records are not on this map, since those are Cliff Richard albums rather than Shadows' ones.
How far does it go?
To Without a Word in 2017, which is the thirty-sixth station and the end of the line.
Does it show who played what on each track?
No. Each line tells you which albums the musician appears on. Track-level roles appear only on my Rolling Stones Goats Head Soup album map.
The James Bond Connection, and Three More
The best link on this print crosses out of music altogether. Vic Flick played the guitar on the James Bond theme, and he is on the Guitar Syndicate album, which ties this one to my James Bond map, the only credit link I have between a music map and a film map.
The other two are removed from the guest list. Brian May's appearance on Into the Light connects it to the Queen map, and Mark Knopfler on Heartbeat connects it to the Dire Straits map.
The wider era sits in the 1960s bands collection, and the full range is in the music art print collection. If you came here for the gift rather than the research, the Hank Marvin discography map is the print itself, in A2 or A1, unframed or framed, from £42.00.
