Chris's blues piano
 

Finally received my Chicken Shack Compilation today. I'd already owned the first two CS cds (and records) but "It's Okay with Me Baby" was a new thrill. MacFan had posted it as an mp3 here a while back and I liked it. But today was the first time I heard it on a proper stereo.

Wow she could play some fine blues piano! Her tasteful lick at towards the end of the song is brilliant. Not over-the-top showboating but certainly more up-front and assertive than a good deal of her piano playing with Mac.

I noticed, too, that for the studio recordings she gradually moved from acoustic piano to organ and then electric keyboards. She's great at all of these, but I'd love to hear her pound away for a while on the keys, you know?

I recently received by copy of Christine Perfect and the prominence of the piano is very noticable and made me think that perhaps ITM could have had a little more keyboard.

I think we should start a campaign for more Ms McVie piano!

Gail

:lol:

I TOTALLY AGREE!

Actually listening to ITM, you can pick out the keyboard lines on just about every track...it still is very much a part of her craft, just not as defined as it was back in her "blues" days. For example, listen to the acoustic version of Friend...the keyboard line is AMAZING...but when you layer more instruments on top of that clear keyboard line, it isn't as easy to pick out. The one thing I DID miss on ITM was her Hammond B-3, which is my favorite instrument she plays...:thumbsup:

I just got my copy of the Chicken Shack box set yesterday. I'm actually listening to it now as I type. I LOVE her blues piano! I totally agree...no showboating(which I hate), but very tasteful.

Mike Vernon also removed Stan Webb's impersonations(which I didn't like) from the O.K. Ken songs.:thumbsup: And, the liner notes are great. Mike Vernon knows how to write liner notes. And, there's even a few new pictures that I'd never seen before in the booklet!

Which perhaps you'll scan and share w/ us if i beg really pathetically?? :p

-Lis

I used to have a vinyl copy of OK Ken and the impersonations are funny the first time but after that they do tend to drive you up the wall!

As a matter of interest did you know who he was impersonating? I seem to remember him doing Albert Steptoe and it actually being quite good.

Did you have Steptoe & Son in the states?

Gail

You don't have to beg.:D I'll get to that either later today or tomorrow. I'll have plenty of time this weekend with all the snow coming.

I just checked my CD booklet from O.K. Ken? This is from the liner notes:

"The voices of John Peel, Hughie Green, Max Wall, Kenneth Williams, Chris Wood, Rt. Hon. Harold Wilson, Steptoe and Son, and that of a Radio 5 announcer, appear by courtesy of Stan Webb/Special Effects: Harry Simmonds Chorale/M.C. for "Live" Track: Harry Boxer."

I don't know most of these names, do you Gail? Wasn't Harold Wilson Prime Minister of Britain? I've never heard of Albert Steptoe either.

By the way, why don't you still have your vinyl copy of O.K. Ken? That's worth quite a bit of money these days. I'd love to get a vinyl copy of both Chicken Shack albums, but they're just so expensive.

yeah those impersonations do get on your nerves when you are just trying to listen to the music....

John Peel was a DJ who died quite recently most famous for championing new young bands
Hughie Green was the presenter of an awful TV show in the 60's called Opportunity Knocks which was an earlier verions of shows like Pop Idol - catch phrase "and I mean that most sincerely folks I really do"
Max Wall was a comedian (deceased)
Chris Wood - never heard of him (her?)
Kenneth Williams was a very camp comedian (deceased)
Harold Wilson former Labour Prime Minister (deceased) once said "this will not affect the pound in your pocket" which was repeated many times by various impersonators
Steptoe & Son - sitcom about father & son rag & bone men. Albert was the father and Harold the son. I always though Albert was a digusting dirty old man. The bloke who played him was a total screaming queen!

I've just thought - do you know what a rag & bone man is? You don't see them any more but basically it was a man with a horse and cart who collected any old rubbish and bric a brac that people wanted to get rid of. I haven't seen one since I was a little girl (which was many moons ago)

Her endeth the lesson on British culture of the 60's!

I got rid of most of my vinyl when I bought my first CD player because I didn't keep my turntable. I've never been one for keeping things but maybe I should have kept hold of a few of them to sell and keep me in my old age!

Gail

Chris Wood played Sax later on for Traffic and wrote with Steve Winwood

It's what our TV show Sanford and Son, was based on.

I'm not sure if we do. Don't think so. But I know Webb's overzealous impersonations must be funny to people in the know. To me, however, they were a distraction from the fine music. Maybe if he relegated them to a radio show or something...

There are also a good number of Webb songs where the piano-driven instrumental backing is magnificent. His singing voice irritates me, a bit too high-strung for the blues, which makes me wonder why CS didn't exploit Christine's lead vocals very much on those two albums.

Thanks for the lesson.:laugh: I did know John Peel. Remember that little film clip of Chris accepting that Melody Maker award? That was John Peel who presented the award to her.