Christine Perfect Complete Blue Horizon Sessions
 

Finally!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00122M1TS?...QH7BKANSZ2A5W&

Yay! :)

John

Sweet! But where's all the Christine fans to greet this news?

I've seen 2 track lists for this that both exclude I Would Rather Go Blind:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Blu.../dp/B00122M1TS

http://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/3593...searchsource=0

Was that a re-make or just the Chicken Shack single added to the album?

I'm here! I'm here!:laugh:

Seriously, this is cool. I wish there were tracks I didn't already possess. Does anyone know if there are at least cool pics and liner notes inside?

yeah i got all this stuff... where's the fm stuff... there should be more here..... double disc....

but hey... i love the cover

Thanks for the heads up!

(I wouldn't have thought of looking for Christine Perfect...)

Thanks, John!:) I never would have known that this is coming. It looks like this is everything from the Christine Perfect album, except "I'd Rather Go Blind"(which was really a Chicken Shack song) plus the "Too Far Gone" single(which is different from the album version) plus the Christine Perfect band songs from that Madison Blues box set. I'll still buy it anyway, since there may be some interesting liner notes & new pictures. That Chicken Shack box set had both. I LOVE the album cover, by the way. It's been quite a few years since I bought any Christine/Fleetwood Mac related commercial release & it's not really all that expensive anyway, so I'm ready for this!

What a shame this comp doesn't have "I'd Rather Go Blind," which was Christine Perfect's greatest hit. It seems like a real disservice to fans to exclude this song ... and how can they get away with using the word "complete" in the title without this track??

When I saw the title of this I thought it might include her Chicken Shack songs as well, but no such luck.

This comp looks like a typical record industry ploy to milk more income out of a cash cow. They know people like MacFan (and me) will buy it for the packaging. But wouldn't more folks buy it FOR THE MUSIC if it included everything it should?

Well, to be fair, the Chicken Shack compilation features that song, and if you're a Chris fan that two-disc set is definitely worth getting for all of her great Chicken Shack songs, plus her very impressive piano playing on many of the Webb tunes.

On another note, I was wondering however what Christine thinks about this release. We know she feels her Christine Perfect album is "the worst thing I've ever done." And even in 1976, when it was reissued by Sire, she said she just wished it would go away. Given that she's in England now and this reissue can't possibly escape her, I wonder if she was interviewed for the liner notes...

Here's hoping.

Well it's available on Amazon here in the UK so she might well find out that it has come back to haunt her - again!

I've got all the songs but I may well give this a go - given that she probably needs the royalties and all :laugh:

Gail

Yeah, I figured the tracklisting would be something like that, I too think it was right to keep I'd Rather Go Blind on the Shack's CBHS since that's really all it was, was the same version and it just confused things having a CS recording on a Chris solo album, I could see if they re-cut it but...

Anyways, I didn't know about the single version of I'm Too Far Gone being different so that'll be a nice treat. I'm surprised they've used those BBC tracks from the FM Madison Blues set as well, if the idea is "Blue Horizon" tracks...

The crown jewel here I guess will be the studio take of Tell Me You Need Me which we got a snippet of when all this stuff surfaced a few years ago regarding Vernon reissuing all the BH stuff. It did seem at the time like they might have studio takes of Gone Into The Sun et all too but I guess not.

Maybe because the CBHS sets I've bought have been of artists that have since passed (Eddie Boyd, Duster Bennett, Otis Spann, etc.) but if the liner notes to those are any indication I don't think Chris will be part of the liners, at least not new interviews, they might dig up old ones to excerpt, though we might be surprised (I'll have to check the CS one to see if Stan was involved in those notes as PG was with the FM one), on the other hand like some of you have said, maybe she wouldn't want to be a part of it if asked!

This is obviously the last hurrah for this album though since it's the complete session recordings that have existed, so at least she won't have people like us hounding her with questions about "any more tracks existing from THOSE sessions?" anymore so she might say "oh all right then!" :)

John

Bear with me....I am naive...a real kindergartener here among college kids...

I have never heard a Chicken Shack song. Where would I go to hear one? (I pre-ordered the one this thread talks about.)

Then when I did a search on Amazon.com for Chicken Shack...I got lots of choices....but which one to buy?

Suggestions???

Knowing how she feels about the CP album, I don't think there's any chance that she'd contribute to the liner notes.;) Mike Vernon wrote the liner notes for the Chicken Shack box set. He did mention talking to Andy Sylvester, but I don't believe Stan Webb, and definitely not Christine.;) Those liner notes are fantastic. They give a great history of Chicken Shack, quite a bit of which I never knew & there were some great new pictures that I'd never seen before. I think if Mike Vernon has anything to do with this Christine Perfect compilation, any liner notes should be very good.

I'd say the Chicken Shack Complete Blue Horizon Sessions. This includes everything Chicken Shack ever recorded on the Blue Horizon label, including both studio albums plus all the singles. It also includes stuff after Christine left Chicken Shack, although I've never actually listened to those later tracks. You might want to add this to your pre-order:

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Horiz...867108&sr=1-18

Christine recorded just two albums with Chicken Shack, 'OK Ken' and '40 Blue Fingers, Freshly Packed And Ready To Serve' (now THERE's a title). Avoid anything recorded by the band after she left! They were pretty horrible without her. Stan Webb, the guitarist/vocalist, had a screechy way of singing (and sometimes his guitar style was similar). I am a real fan of '60s British blues, but unfortunately Chicken Shack is only memorable for Christine's contribution. Some of Stan's tracks feature great piano by Chris but I have to listen selectively -- I try to listen to just the piano and not the vocals or guitar. It's something of a challenge.

As for the Christine Perfect album, has Chris ever said WHY she dislikes it? It's my guess that to Chris' later, more polished ear, it sounds unfinished. It sounds like a collection of demos. There's no doubletracking of vocals or even instruments. It sounds like a raw collection of live-in-the-studio recordings. And ironically, this is one of the reasons why I like it so much -- the same reason (if my guess is correct) Chris doesn't like it.

This probably isn't definitive but I always think back to the quote in one of the '70's FM bio books where she says "they (presumably the Vernon's/BH/etc.) were trying to push me in to the black music thing" which apparently wasn't to her liking.

Just to be clear, I'm sure she didn't mean anything racial about this, I think she just felt it was more R&B or perhaps even soul sounding to her and she may have prefered more trad blues stylings back then?

I think I felt it kind of R&B-ish when I first heard it but as time goes on I hear less of that in the tracks, might've just been the times and/or me getting used to their sound. :)

John

She also complained soon after its completion (and later) that it was a "rushed job" and a "desperate effort" to capitalize on her success with Chicken Shack. However, most of the reviews of the record itself have been positive. Rolling Stone Record Review in 1982 gave it four stars. An article from that same publication around the time of Christine's 84 album called it a "classic."

It's worst critic is Christine herself.

I think a more balanced assessment of the record is that it works very well as soft pop-blues for late 60s radio, but that Christine's voice lacks the depth and texture she exhibited on the first two Chicken Shack records. The reason for this is fairly obvious: she was stretching her capabilities and moving beyond twelve-bar blues. Thus, her songs and her performances are transitional. Compare the Christine Perfect version of "Crazy Bout You Baby" with her live-in-studio version with Mac six months later and it's a different story: with her husband's band, she sounds entirely comfortable and almost fully evolved.

I have an interview that Chris did in one of the old English music magazines. This interview was from back in 1970, just after the CP album was released in England. She said that she only liked about half of the album, so even back then she was starting to dislike it. She later complained that she hadn't had any say in what went on the album, which is a bit of a slap at Mike Vernon. She's had a lot of reasons over the years about why she hates it. As aleuzzi said, she's just about the only one who really hated it. I've seen alot of positive reviews, just not from her.:D

I don't remember hearing this before, a Mac demo of Crazy Bout You Baby.... Does anyone have an MP3 or know where I can find this song??

It's not really a FM demo. It was a BBC performance. It's on the Madison Blues box set that was released a few years ago.

Hey, thanks for bringing that to my attention! (I'm looking this album up on iTunes and listening to the samples as I type, trying to find out how many of these songs are Christine's....)

I can't believe I wasn't aware of this.... Thanks again! :thumbsup:

Maybe I'm crazy but the CP version of "Crazy About You Baby" is way better to me than the Madision versions... The bridge and keys to me are audible on the CP version.

You're not crazy at all. It's a matter of taste.

You're right that the CP version has great electric keyboards and this cool, easygoing soul feel. But I love the driving edge of the live-in-studio Madison Blues version. The two guitarists make their mark in precise solos and Christine herself sounds genuinely inspired, her voice so much more developed than on her solo record.

First off... make no mistake... I'm crazy.... that's all.....

:lol:

The 'Christine Perfect' version features the keyboard more prominently and has that fabulous "live in the studio" feel to it that I referred to in my earlier post as being one of the reasons I love that album so much, but might be considered a drawback by fans who are used to the later, more polished Fleetwood Mac sound. And I really love that little drum surprise at the end.

The 'Madison Blues' version is more rocky, with the guitars up front and loud, which means the keyboard, while it's still prominent, isn't the lead instrument any more. Chris' singing does sound more confident. There was nothing wrong with her singing on the 'CP' version, but here there is a little more swagger to her voice; her singing here is a little hotter, on the 'CP' version it's cooler. The 'CP' version is an R&B song, this one is a rock song. I love both versions.

The 'Madison Blues' box set, by the way, is essential to have for Mac and Christine fans because of four unreleased songs recorded by the Christine Perfect Band, including one of my favorite Chris songs of all time, "Gone Into the Sun."

Okay, so has anyone gotten their copy of the Christine's complete BH sessions? I wanted to know if there were good photos and liner notes.

Mine shipped today. :)

John

John, could you let me know what it looks like (pictures, liner notes, etc...)? That'll make or break my buying it, since I own all the music elsewhere.

I will, should be here sometime this coming week so I'll post then. :)

John

The photos are nothing amazing. There's a bunch of live shots takes by "Jet" Martin Celmins, the Christine photo that was in the Record Collector article about Blue Note a couple of years back (which incidentally is referrenced to in the linear notes) and the Melody Maker front page. All are quite small and nothing we haven't seen before (I think). But the notes by Mike Vernon are pretty fascinating. He clearly has great respect for Christine's talent but is still pretty pissed off that she has constantly rubbished the album in the press: it's obviously something he's still proud of.

As well he should be. I think Mike Vernon did a lot to advance Christine's career at the time. I still think of the wording he used at the time -- that Chris was "an incredible blues pianist that you just have to see." I think it's too bad Chris herself is so down on the album. I'll bet she hasn't actually listened to it in a really long time. What's her involvement in the release of the BH sessions, if any? I don't suppose she actually owns the rights to any of that music?

To be fair to Chris, I don't think her first solo effort is nearly as good as her performances on the Chicken Shack records, where her voice sounded more relaxed and assured. There, too, she was prone to some fine acoustic piano fills. On the solo album, she seems to be moving away from that comfort zone, transitioning into a more malleable musical voice. It's still a very good record. But her Chicken Shack recordings (and her piano work on Mr. Wonderful!) are, to my way of thinking, far superior.

Thanks for the info, Sharon.:) I have a feeling it will be worth it just for Mike Vernon's liner notes alone. His liner notes in that Chicken Shack box set are fantastic! He gave a great, complete history of Chicken Shack.

I got an e-mail from Amazon that this CD is temporarly out of stock & will ship when they get a new shipment of CDs in. Unfortunately, I've got to wait a bit more to get my copy.

Out of stock already?! Don't tell me it's selling more than In the Meantime. :laugh:

It's in stock on Amazon UK if anyone's interested.

Gail

The 'Complete Blue Horizons Sessions' is also in the catalogue at CD Universe, for $18.69 (a cheaper price than Amazon), but it is also listed as backordered there. The link:

http://tinyurl.com/2rpaqd

Not to be lazy aleuzzi :) but Sharon's spot on, not much I can add to what she said on this so hope that helps. :)

Anyone know if Chris' vocal on the single version of "I'm Too Far Gone" from this is different to the vocal of it she did on the album?

This was my first time hearing it and I couldn't tell if they just remixed it and added the horns etc. or if she did a dif vocal for it (like the single version of the Shack's "When The Train Comes Back") or not.

John

I believe it's the same vocal, just with the horns added. I prefer the album version.

This CD seems to be back in stock at Amazon. It is also in stock at CD Universe for the better price of $18.39, where I just ordered my copy.

I just got an e-mail this afternoon from Amazon. They shipped my CD today. Hopefully, I'll have it by the end of this week. I got it at the original price of $18.99 with free shipping.

It sounds like they got more orders than they expected. They didn't have enough in stock on the initial release date.