Chicken Shack: The Complete Blue Horizons Sessions
 

This 3-CD set must be the only realistic way to get all of Christine's studio songs with Chicken Shack. Even if someone has the two Chicken Shack albums that featured her, there were still some songs that were only released on singles.

Shall we talk about Christine's nine studio songs with Chicken Shack? Ten if you count the single version of "When the Train Comes Back" as a separate song. At first I preferred the spare album version as I found the horns on the single version intrusive. But then I started liking the slinky feeling of the single version. It sounds like it could be the music to a scene in a film.

I assumed her time with this band was rather brief, but in actuality it seems she dedicated two whole years of her life to the band, from early 1967 to early 1969. Doesn't it seem like this era of her life is rather unexplored? They were traveling around England and Europe, having adventures and interacting with lots of other bands. This era seems like a story that hasn't been properly told.

I enjoy the liner notes. Did people know that she was in an earlier band called Sounds of Blue? Stan Webb of Chicken Shack knew her from that band and that is what made him ask her to join him. And I didn't know that they worked with celebrated American blues musicians. I don't know much about Freddie King and Walter "Shakey" Horton, but reading about their performances together has made me start learning. Finally, I think the drummer Dave Bidwell had a good-natured face, and it makes me sad that he he died from drug use in 1977. Someone is quoted as saying "He was a real loner. I knew nothing of his background or his family. He wasn't married and he had no kids. He was a great guy." The small amount of information shared about him makes him seem as benevolent as his face and it makes me wish I knew more about him.

i agree the whole period before/during chicken shack has not been explored as much as it could have been. i knew she worked with some american blues artists, i remember john saying that whenever one guy would come over to england he'd always ask for christine to play on piano. (Maybe that was freddie king?) i have an old audiotape interview from i think 1984 where chris mentioned that dave bidwell 'is now unfortunately deceased', i didn't know it was a drug overdose though. it's a shame andy or stan never wrote a book or something about their early days.

i don't think i'm gonna buy 3 CD set so one day i hope someone puts of scans of the liner notes so i can read them lol

--Lis

The complete liner notes can be found here:
https://www.discogs.com/release/2242...U6NzUxMjk3NTU=

ooh ok thank you!

--Lis

I would just like to say that this set is essential for anyone with a real interest in Christine's blues years. And decent copies can be found for 10 € /10 GBP. And of course there are CDs like "From The Vaults" and "On Air" featuring mostly BBC recordings plus other live material. If not for Christine's vocal contributions and songwriting efforts, at least her fine piano playing on that stuff is worth it.

I agree. I bought it years ago and it’s great to have Christine’s early work. I always chuckle when I think about her comments on her earlier work……

Remember the TUSK documentary when Chris is on the yacht and says, “For some obscure reason, I was playing bass”? That was Sounds of Blue. She was the bassist.

I think Stan Webb turned her on to Freddie King because he knew that Christine needed a little blues piano training — in fact, she asked for it before joining Chicken Shack. It was an opportune moment because listening to Freddie King and his frequent pianist Sonny Thompson really built the Christine style.

A long time ago, I bought meself a Freddie King full-score music portfolio published by Hal Leonard, which notated a bunch of tracks on staff, including Sonny’s piano. I just devoured it and learned as much as I could (Christine had to learn it by ear). If you stare at Sonny’s piano parts — the I–V bass shuffle, the little blues licks and turnarounds in the right hand — you can see exactly where Christine developed her style for Fleetwood Mac. Sonny was not a barrel-house player and was not splashy at all. He played rhythm parts and helped create the pocket, which is exactly what Chris has always done! (The 1979 “Angel” is built upward from the electric piano.) The two blues guys who built her style are Sonny Thompson and Bob Hall. (To this day, sometimes I hear Bob Hall’s old recordings and think it’s Chris playing.)