Early days in childhood - Rock 'n' Roll roots

As previously mentioned, the big thing for my father was 1950's rock 'n' roll. The earliest of my childhood musical memories included hearing rock 'n' roll classics like Chuck Berry's 'Johnny B.Goode', Bill Haley's 'Rock Around the Clock', or his all-time favourite; 'Blue Suede Shoes' by Elvis Presley.
Alongside these rock 'n' roll classics were the early records by Cliff Richard and the Shadows, like 'Move It' and 'High Class Baby', and also the early hits by The Shadows in their own right as a guitar based instrumental group.
Most of these records were 45" singles, and even today, seeing the green 'Columbia' label on which Cliff and The Shadows appeared, still fills me with a nostalgic glow.

Some of my dad's earliest records, including many of his Elvis Presley records were on the old 78" format, and because of the fragile condition of these old 78s, he bought some LPs that featured most of his rock 'n' roll favourites, and a few albums of Elvis Presley's early recordings, including the famous 'Sun Sessions'.

My Dad's music was very important to him, and he always wanted his records to be heard in the best medium possible, so he was one for keeping up with the technological advances in 'Hi-Fi'. By the end of the 1960's, he had replaced all his singles with 'Greatest Hits' album by the likes of Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and of course Cliff Richard and the Shadows.

The excitement and energy of these early rock 'n' roll records like 'Rock Around The Clock', and 'Blue Suede Shoes' was not lost on me as a child. I heard them so often that they were part of my aural furniture, and the guitar work in particular would stay with me for many years until I began to flirt with the idea of playing guitar myself.
But it was guitar based instrumental tunes of The Shadows that had the most effect on me. Even when I was too young to really understand about guitars and what I was listening to, there was something about the SOUND of those Shadows records that really drew me in. I was entranced by the echoing guitar sound, and would listen to them so many times; Even more so than any of my dad's other records.
A particular favourite was 'The Savage' (pictured above) from 1961. I was too young to understand the concept of a 'guitar solo', but on some level I recognised the fast, exciting, bit in the middle as being different from the rest. Whilst on a melodic level, The Shadows tunes were very catchy and memorable, the bit in the middle held an enticing mystery for me, and I always thought of it as the 'best bit'.
My interest in Rock 'n' Roll and The Shadows in particular, didn't go away. As an older child of 11, 12 and 13, when the 'glam-rock' of the 1970s dominated the pop charts, I was collecting more Shadows records and going to a rock 'n' roll disco at a local youth club with a school friend.
Ironically, at 11 & 12, I was at the same time still taking an interest in classical music and collected some classical records. But by the time I was 13, my interest in orchestral music began to lose out to the lure of the guitar.....