by Bruce EderThe Shadows' fourth album (not counting hits collections) follows on fromDance With The Shadows. The common perception among Americans watching from afar and British historians who just don't know is that the Shadows were operating in a vacuum during the 1960's, oblivious to the pop music universe swirling around them, but their mid-1960's albums tell a different story-the band tries hard to be a mainstream rock 'n roll outfit without betraying their roots as a virtuoso instrumental ensemble. A Little Bitty Tear, Let It Be Me, and Five Hundred Miles are attempts at successful vocal numbers, and not bad-they harmonize beautifully on the latter two. All of these do rather get lost in the shuffle, amid slow instrumental ballads like Blue Sky, Blue Sea, Blue Me (which features the band supported bythe Norrie Paramor Strings) and harder dance numbers like Bossa Roo and Breakthru', but the vocal efforts are valid. The latter track is a great showcase forJohn Rostill's bass andMarvinlead picking andWelchmelodic rhythm guitar. Surprisingly, DrummerBrian Bennettisn't quite as visible on this record, as either a songwriter or on his instrument, as he was on their other albums of this era-in his place,John Rostillshares songwriting with bothMarvinandWelchon four numbers featured on this album. Some of the outside songwriting is a bit lacking in imagination, most notablyJerry Lordan's Santa Ana, which often seems one note away from turning into La Bamba. By contrast, Dean's Theme byHank MarvinandJohn Rostillis a bluesy little venture that's a bit different for the quartet, although the best (and hardest rocking) number on the album is an outside composition, a driving instrumental called Breakthru'. The sound throughout is more than good, but not as radiant here as it is on several of the group's other remastered CD editions-this one was done in 1997, not 1998, and although it features 24-bit digital audio mastering and the same noice reduction process, the later releases are more successful. Additionally, the CD version predates the decision by EMI to include the mono and stereo mixes together on the same compact disc.