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Shadows of Knight
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The Shadows of Knight are a American rock band from the Chicago suburbs, formed in the 1960s, who play a form of British blues mixed with influences from their native city (see Chicago blues). At the time they first started recording, the band's self-description was as follows: "The Stones, Animals and Yardbirds took the Chicago Blues and gave it an English interpretation. We've taken the English version of the Blues and re-added a Chicago touch.", to which noted rock critic Richie Unterberger commented: "The Shadows of Knight's self-description was fairly accurate."
History
Initially formed in 1964 as simply The Shadows, the band learned in spring 1965 of an existing British group, The Shadows. A friend of theirs, Whiz Winters, who worked for their manager, Paul Sampson in his record shop, came up with the name "Shadows of Knight" to tie into the British Invasion in music of that time, and because all four of the band members attended Prospect High School in Mt. Prospect, Illinois, whose sports team had the name the "Knights."
They would release three albums in their first five years of existence. Founding members included Warren Rogers (lead guitar), Roger Spielmann (rhythm and lead guitar/vocals) Norm Gotsch (rhythm guitar), Wayne Pursell (bass guitar), Tom Schiffour (drums) and Jim Sohns (vocals). Sohns was sixteen years old at the time. During 1965, Joe Kelley was recruited to play bass, replacing Pursell. Kelley would swap bass and lead duties with Rogers in late 1965 at the time of the "Gloria" recordings. Guitarist and vocalist Jerry McGeorge replaced Norm Gotsch in late 1965 after Gotsch was drafted into the U.S. military. David "Hawk" Wolinski, who later worked with Rufus and Chaka Khan, replaced Rogers on bass in late 1966.
After performing in and around Chicago's northwest suburbs in 1964 and 1965, the Shadows of Knight became the house band at The Cellar in Arlington Heights, Illinois, owned by Sampson. They attracted over 500 teenagers every Saturday and Sunday at the "Cellar" for over six months until Sampson began booking other bands, giving them a break. A recording of a Shadows of Knight performance at The Cellar was released in 1992 by Sundazed Records as Raw 'n' Alive at The Cellar, 1966.
A stellar performance in support of The Byrds at Chicago's McCormick Place in early summer 1965 attracted the attention of Dunwich Records record producers Bill Traut and George Badonski. During that show, they performed "Gloria" by Van Morrison's Northern Irish Them band. The band signed with Dunwich shortly thereafter and recorded "Gloria" as a first effort.
Released in December 1965, "Gloria" received massive regional airplay. The band had slightly altered the song's lyrics, replacing Morrison's original "she comes to my room, just about midnight " with "she comes around here, just about midnight" after influential Chicago station WLS had banned Them's original version. This simple change overcame the prevalent AM radio censorship of the era, and got the Shadows of Knight's cover version of the song onto the playlist of WLS, which had censored the original. The single reached the #1 position on the radio station's countdown, as well as on local rival WCFL. On the Billboard national charts, "Gloria" rose to #10. The secondary publication Cashbox ranked "Gloria" as high as #7. "Gloria" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A.
There is reason to believe the Billboard charting understated the song's popularity.and The Shadows of Knight's version of "Gloria" reached number one in several markets where it received airplay. But, because Dunwich was not a national label, the single was released on a staggered basis around the country. This caused it to peak in certain markets before being released in others, diluting its weekly placement. Most significantly, the song received little airplay in certain major markets, such as South Florida (Miami) and California, where Morrison's release of "Gloria" had just been a major hit the previous year.
The Shadows of Knight soon released the Gloria album, followed by the Back Door Men LP, in the summer of 1966. Subsequent singles included their version of the Bo Diddley song "Oh Yeah" (which reached #39 nationally and was introduced to their lead singer, Jim Sohns by Whiz Winters), "Bad Little Woman" (#91) and the powerhouse "I'm Gonna Make You Mine" (#90), which can be seen as a precursor to hard rock. However, none of these releases approached their initial commercial success.
Failure to find a winning followup to "Gloria" handicapped the band's earning power, and led to its disintegration. Tom Schiffour left the band in Spring 1967. McGeorge departed for acid-rock band H.P. Lovecraft shortly thereafter, while Kelley left to front his own blues band. Hawk Wolinski also left the band to form Bangor Flying Circus with Schiffour, guitarist Alan De Carlo and drummer Michael Tegza, also of H.P.Lovecraft.
By mid-1967, the only original member of the Shadows of Knight remaining was vocalist Jim Sohns, who, through simple default, inherited the band's name and legacy. In 1968, Dunwich sold the master tapes to its Shadow of Knight recordings to Atlantic Records for one dollar. Sohns then moved the band from Chicago to New York, where they signed with Buddah Records. Sohns had hoped to take the band in a British power-rock direction, but the Super K record label pulled them into a more commercial orientation, pairing the band with bubblegum groups such as the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Ohio Express on tour.
In 1969, the second generation Shadows of Knight released "Shake" on Buddah's short-lived subsidiary Team Records; the track eventually climbed to #46. That same year, without the band's knowledge or consent, the unsuccessful update "Gloria '69" was released by Dunwich. It consisted of new bass and guitar tracks overdubbed by Peter Cetera (later of Chicago) and Jim Donlinger, both Chicago rock veterans.
"Shake" and its B-Side, "From Way Out to Way Under" were actually recorded by Sohns and a number of studio musicians, on the understanding that a Shadows of Knight reassembled by Sohns would record the follow-up album. That album, Shadows of Knight is today regarded as a distinct recording oddity, being an attempt to mix punk and bubblegum music. As described by one reviewer, "It was supernatural. As well as crudely produced and swept into a schizoid zone all its own where it barked and drooled while trying to behave. Which it did—badly. It is one of the most incorrigible displays in a space and time renowned for incorrigibility. The album is a catalog of first takes, mistakes, outtakes and every-other-kinda-takes as well as how NOT to produce a record; let alone one to rescue a diminishing career with some semblance of a return to form. But as far as providing true con-o-sewers with enough fuzz, junk, kicks and yucks for its half an hour duration, it scores a big time punk “f***, yeah!” Although not zackly up there with the likes of Basic Blues Magoos (let alone The Litter’s far more consistent Emerge) it is strange, unique and nonplussing-as-f*** enough to earn laurels galore from those starved for more rama-lama-fa-fa-fa from the twilight zone twixt garage, heavy Rock and points beyond (Namely: ‘people like me’ as Jim Sohns once sang in his usual gutsy, adenoidal and succinct manner.)"
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