Chicken Shack - Poor Boy: The Deram Years 1972-1974 (2 CDs)

Fronted by the ubiquitous Stan Webb, the mighty Chicken Shack were second in popularity only to Fleetwood Mac in the late '60s Blues Boom. This set re-releases Shack’s three early 70s Deram albums, Imagination Lady, Unlucky Boy and the ultra-rare Goodbye Chicken Shack. Includes their European hit single 'Poor Boy' & the bonus track 'He Knows The Rules'.

CD1
01 Crying Won't Help You Now
02 Daughter Of The Hillside
03 If I Were A Carpenter
04 Going Down
05 Poor Boy
06 Telling Your Fortune
07 The Loser
08 You Know You Could Be Right
09 Revelation
10 Prudence's Party
11 Too Late To Cry
12 Stan The Man
13 Unlucky Boy
14 As Time Goes Passing By
15 Jammin' With The Ash
16 He Knows The Rules
17 As Time Goes Passing By (Single Version) (Bonustrack)

CD2
01 Everyday I Have The Blues
02 The Thrill Is Gone
03 Going Down
04 You Take Me Down
05 Webb's Boogie
06 You're Mean
07 Poor Boy
08 Webb's Guitar Boogie Shuffle
09 Tutti Frutti

Review by Thom Jurek
This Castle package features the best of Chicken Shack's Deram years, when they kept some of the trademark blues expression that made them somewhat popular in the British blues scene of the 1960s, while getting decidedly heavier to the point of being a power metal trio. The entire Imagination Lady album is presented here, along with eight of the 14 cuts form Unlucky Boy. As a bonus, there is a second disc that contains Chicken Shack's unreleased Goodbye album, which was cut live. Those who worshiped the early band – and there are people who did since they were in their way as credible as the Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer-led Fleetwood Mac (and even had Christine Perfect as a member for a time before she left and married the Mac's bassist, John McVie) – will, as those of the day did, find this material tedious and plodding. However, those who have found solace in the hard rock of the early '70s will find this material not only gratifying but surprising in its way, given the mastery of the material and the big, loud, and raw mixes. Recommended.