Chicken Shack

Chicken Shack - I'd Rather Go Live - 2006 - Beat Goes On (BGO)

"a very accomplished and very talented band still able to play with exceptional skill, prowess, depth, richness, spontaneity, sincerity and authenticity that is just amazing, blowing away many younger such bands we have covered on this very site." © Nicholas Sheffo, © MMIII through MMV fulvuedrive-in.com
Great British blues-rock recorded in the summer of 2004 in Lyme Regis, Southern England by British Blues legend Stan Webb and Chicken Shack. The band had their first hit ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’ in 1969 and since then have consistently toured throughout the UK and Europe. Since the early 70's, Stan Webb has led Chicken Shack, and although the band never reached mega status, they have always had a strong cult following, and even helped launch the careers of Christine Perfect/McVie of Fleetwood Mac fame, and Paul Raymond, who went on to join Savoy Brown. Chicken Shack perform a no frills, blues soaked set with some brilliant riffs and solos. Stan Webb'sstill rips it up on his faithful Gibson Les Paul. Listen to "The Thrill Has Gone", "Spoonful", and the searing blues rock originals "Stan Webb's Chicken Shack Opera" and "I Know You Know Me". The band is tight and laid back, giving Stan the limelight. While Stan's guitar playing is up to par, at times his vocals are strained, especially on some of the high notes, and at times he sings out of key, but this is probably nit pickin' at a great bluesman who has never been given full credit for his talent, and his part in the development of British Blues Rock.This is a hot blues album with typical scorching guitar firepower from the great man. Check out Chicken Shack's "The Collection" album @ CSHACK/COLL and buy their great 1969 "OK Ken? " album.

TRACKS

1. So Tell Me
2. Thrill Has Gone
3. Reconsider Baby
4. I Know You Know Me
5. You Are The Sweetest Little Thing / Hurt
6. Stan Webb's Chicken Shack Opera
7. Spoonful
8. Doctor Brown
9. I'd Rather Go Blind
10. Daughter Of The Hillside
11. Stan's Blues

BAND

Stan Webb - Lead Guitar/Vocals
Gary Davies - Lead Guitar
Jim Rudge - Bass Guitar
Mick Jones - Drums.

BIO (Wikipedia)

Chicken Shack was a British blues band, primarily of the late 1960s, consisting of Christine Perfect (vocals and keyboards), Stan Webb (guitar and vocals), Andy Sylvester (bass guitar), and Alan Morley (drums). The band was formed in 1967 and reputedly named themselves after the chicken coop in Kidderminster where they rehearsed. Their first concert was at the 1967 National Blues and Jazz Festival at Windsor and they were signed by the Blue Horizon record label in the same year. Chicken Shack enjoyed modest commercial success, with Christine Perfect being voted Best Female Vocalist in the Melody Maker polls, two years running. Christine Perfect left the band in 1969 when she married John McVie of Fleetwood Mac. Pianist Paul Raymond, bassist Andy Sylvester, and drummer Dave Bidwell all left in 1971 to join Savoy Brown. Although the band went through several subsequent incarnations, it never equalled its earlier successes. However, Webb remains as its only constant band member.

ABOUT THE BAND

Along with late 60's early 70's blues based bands such as Savoy Brown, Fleetwood Mac and John Mayall's Bluebreakers, Chicken Shack was a big part of the genre. Originally formed in 1965, Chicken Shack started out as, more or less, a house band at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany. They signed a recording contract with the newly formed Blue Horizon label in '67. That same year, former Sound Of Blue vocalist/keyboardist Christine Perfect, who was at one time considered one of the U.K.'s finest blues vocalist, joined. With the release of their debut album, 1968's Forty Blue Fingers Freshly Packed And Ready To Serve, and their 1969 follow up, O.K. Ken, Chicken Shack was in the forefront of the British Blues boom of the late 60's. Although Perfect would leave the group in the summer of '69 to join Fleetwood Mac (she would marry bassist John McVie), Chicken Shack would continue with a good live reputation as at this point their shows were mostly based around the guitar and soulful theatrics of Stan Webb who would keep the group together through many personel changes but by 1973, Chicken Shack had run it's course as Webb would join Savoy Brown. After staying with Savoy Brown for one album, Webb formed Broken Glass which at one time included guitarist Robbie Blunt (later with Robert Plant) and drummer Keef Hartley. Webb would reform Chicken Shack under his own name in '77. Like John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Savoy Brown, many musicians would pass through the various formations of Stan Webb's Chicken Shack through out the 80's. Through the 90's, Webb's Chicken Shack line up has remained pretty much intact as his devoted fans and fans of traditional British blues remain faithful.

ABOUT STAN WEBB

In 1968 Chicken Shack were a major signing to MIKE VERNON’S now legendary BLUE HORIZON label. Led by the mercurial Stan Webb on guitar and vocals, Chicken Shack were a band brimming full of talent, far outweighing the bands, groups and solo performers purveying the BLUES – a musical tradition in many forms, taken from the ‘Folk Roots Of Black America’. Probably the bands most well known member was CHRISTINE PERFECT (later McVie) who went on at a later date to even greater fame and fortune with FLEETWOOD MAC. The late sixties were a prolific time for Chicken Shack with their first two albums “40 Blue Fingers Freshly Packed And Ready To Go” and “O.K. Ken” storming into the U.K. top twenty, whilst the singles “When The Train Comes Back” and “Tears In The Wind” also scored heavily in the charts. Stan’s blistering guitar style matched with a huge stage presence have made Chicken Shack a firm favourite of rock and blues fans everywhere. Since those heady days of the late sixties a further fifteen albums have been released together with numerous compilations proving that Stan, really is “The Man”.Throughout a distinguished career Stan Webb has played and recorded with the very best, including, STEVIE WONDER, HOWLING WOLF, TAJ MAHAL, PETER GREEN and CANNED HEAT, whom he joined on guitar for a U.K, tour following the departure of the bands guitarist. As the ‘60’s have given way to the ‘70’s; ‘80’s and ‘90’s, Stan Webb and Chicken Shack show no sign of slowing down, continually touring the U.K. and Europe to packed houses and rave reviews. In 1997 Stan received the BLUE HEART AWARD for services to blues in Germany, in 1996 that went to BB KING, a glowing testament to Stan Webb and his ongoing love of playing the blues. 2006 saw Stan embarked on an extension UK tour with John Mayall. “Stan The Man” shows no sign of slowing down.