Second number one for The Shadows that was penned by Jerry Lordan, and following his 'Apache' it seems natural to regard 'Wonderful Land' as a homage to the United States. Certainly, America must have seemed the land of opportunity in 1962, promising a Kennedy and consumerist, pop culture based future that finally started painting the century with some colour.The tune is a strong one regardless, but it's useful to compare this with Mike Oldfield's more tightly wrapped 1980 version that vacuum packs the melody at the expense of all atmosphere. The Shadows' cut opens the packaging, giving it acres of space to breathe until you can almost see Marvin's guitar lines snaking across the Great Plains or echoing through the Grand Canyon; 'Wonderful Land' could be the main theme from an eponymous Western that never got made, a soundtrack to an opening Cinemascope and Technicolour scene of Gregory Peck riding to Barbara Stanwyck's ranch to deliver some good news about her missing son she thought was dead. That he turned out to be an outlaw who would end up dead in the dirt at Peck's hands by the closing credits is irrelevant at this point - for the time being it is indeed a wonderful land and there's a marvellously open ended optimism for the future. There's no need to spoil that here.
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