1968 Chicken Shack video

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by lazy poker

. . . don't worry (be happy), aleuzzi - no offence taken!

but keep the following facts in mind:
the shack's first 45 featured christine's vocals on the all-important A-SIDE, while their third single had christine singing on BOTH sides even, not to mention their biggest hit ever (single #4), "i'd rather go blind" - and by the time of this '69 paris concert, all that had already happened. so talking of christine as a hired sideman might have been true in the first place, but not in 1969 anymore.

on the other hand . . . in mid-april that year chicken shack already started the first recording sessions with christine's replacement, paul raymond. so we're talking about one of the last gigs before christine's departing from the group, which must have been decided and known to the band by then. so stan might have deemed it better not to feature her any longer explicitly, to avoid a potential striking gap between her and her future successor. it's a thought that popped into me head . . .

and, just by the way - this is what ace-producer mike vernon had to say about that chicken shack line-up:
"they had the it-girl of the blues world in christine perfect (. . .) and an OUTSTANDING HARD, DRIVING RHYTHM SECTION in andy silvester and dave bidwell." and: "a more solid bass man than andy silvester you will never find."
and paul raymond considered dave bidwell to be "possibly the best blues drummer around, next to mick fleetwood”.

so at least i'm in some pretty decent company with my point of view on this matter. but - as a very wise man once said: "one thing in common is we all are different." right?!

peace - martin

Hey, I hear ya. I have the complete Blue Horizon Chicken Shack discs (and the first two individual ones) and enjoy them. To me, she is the main draw. They'd have otherwise been interchangeable from any number of blues acts from that time. Critic Samuel Graham called their albums "torpid" and typical of lesser acts from the British Blues Boom--but that's probably too harsh. I just think they're merely competent in comparison to Mac's blues offerings.

You are right that the band chose McVie's "It's Okay with Me Baby" as its first single, but I thought Vernon said in the liner notes to the above compellation that this was determined by a coin toss. I know Vernon always held her work in high regard, more so, perhaps, than Webb himself. By the time "I'd Rather Go Blind" was chosen as a single, the critics and the fans--as I mentioned in the first of our post conversations--had made their interest in her singing and playing well known.