Chicken Shack – I’d Rather Go Live (Concert)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C+     Concert: B-

 

 

Britain had a cycle of great Blues bands in the late 1960s that you do not hear enough about and Chicken Shack is one of them.  I’d Rather Go Live features a very recent performance by the band from 2004 that shows they have plenty of life left in them.  The songs are as follows:

 

1)     So Tell Me

2)     The 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)  The Daughter Of The Hillside

11)  Stan’s Blues

 

 

The concert begins like so many Blues genre programs we have seen, then something happens.  The songs and the band suddenly begin to build.  Webb is the lead vocalist (who still very much has a voice) and key guitarist and as he plays, he very slowly gets more and more into it.  Joined by lead guitarist Gary Davies, bass guitarist Jim Rudge and Mick Jones on drums.  You can miss what is going on if you are not paying attention, but if you are, you see 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.  The concert runs about 90 minutes and yes, that is Hurt by Nine Inch Nails that Johnny Cash remade.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is good for a simple concert, though it has detail limits.  The bonus interview is also presented this way.  The Dolby Digital 5.0 sound is better than the 2.0, with the lack of subwoofer not as much of a problem as expected.  The combination is fine, but the interview is 2.0 only.  Extras include that interview (26:29) and a text history/discography section that is interesting enough.  Our favorite is that Christine perfect was a member of the band, a very talented keyboardist and vocalist everyone now knows as Christine McVie from the legendary band Fleetwood Mac.  She left Chicken Shack in 1969 and now just recently left Mac, with no new solo album in sight.  As for Chicken Shack, this is a great concert to put out at this point of their careers.  I only wish it was longer, but it certainly can go a few rounds with any of its contemporaries and is recommended.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo