Chicken Shack, Accept Chicken Shack (1970)

This record was recommended to me years ago by a friend along with several others. She died a few years back and I’m somewhat ashamed to admit it, but the CD version has continued to languish on my Amazon wishlist as I’ve waited for the price to drop below about the $25 mark. I think if it was going to happen it would’ve happened by now, but hearing Chicken Shack‘s Accept — also known as Accept Chicken Shack — I can kind of understand why the cost is so high. The UK band’s fourth album, it was released in 1970 and seems to offer a prescient blend of nascent prog and heavy blues rock, where their prior outings skewed more decisively toward the latter. That it came out in 1970 and not 1971 is a big difference considering the changes in the rock scene that the next year would bring — if one had to pinpoint a moment when “rock got heavy,” even factoring in Blue Cheer‘s prior contributions, there are solid arguments to be made for ’71 — but though Chicken Shack weren’t the first to blend blues jams and more progressive and melodic flair, what with Jethro Tull around and all, Accept Chicken Shack does it with remarkable balance between the two sounds that, over the ensuing years, would only grow more and more incongruous.

Recorded with the lineup of founding guitarist/vocalist Stan Webb, bassist Andy Sylvester, keyboardist/vocalist Paul Raymond and drummer Dave Bidwell, it would be their final outing through Blue Horizon Records and after it came out, Webb would have to completely revamp the lineup after losing Sylvester, Raymond and Bidwell all to Savoy Brown. All the same, listening to the rolling start of “Diary of Your Life,” the gritty swing and harmonies of “Never Ever,” the complex structure and arrangement of “Some Other Time” — vaguely post-Beatles but grown outward — and the soft departure of “Andalucian Blues,” whatever friction there might’ve been in the band doesn’t show up in the compositions, which are more varied than some of what would follow in the UK (also a good deal of what preceded), but hit with no less impact when they choose to do so. At 35 minutes, Accept Chicken Shack leaves one wondering how anybody couldn’t with its niche blend of elements and confident execution, earning its place in that great dusty canon of heavy ’70s classics just waiting to be discovered by new generations of listeners in a vinyl shop or online. In this case, clearly the latter.

Webb has kept Chicken Shack going. Over the years he’s brought in nearly 50 players, but they still perform as Chicken Shack from time to time (seem like a good bet for the next installment of Psycho fest) and had releases out as recently as 2008. Accept Chicken Shack is more than a footnote in a larger career, however, and as you can hear in these songs, whatever came later, this lineup was able to come together to accomplish something special during their time.

As always, I hope you enjoy.

—

Well, it’s back down to Maryland this weekend. Yes, really. For a wedding. It’ll be the third trip in the last four weeks, and if you’re somewhere in the world other than the Eastern Seaboard and unsure just how far it is, it’s at least seven hours in the car — the first time down this round it was 10 — each way. Not an easy trip.

The good news is I’ll have an interview with Jack Townley from Elephant Tree on Monday and a track premiere from Cuzo on Tuesday. I’m hoping to review High Fighter before the end of the week, and I’ll have Pentagram‘s new video up on Monday and there’s a bunch of news to be put together as well. I expect I’ll be doing that on the highway this Sunday while The Patient Mrs. drives north. She’s wonderful. I’m lucky.

I have some stuff to take care of on Thursday and may or may not be out of commission for the rest of the week thereafter. I’ll post as much as I’m able. You know that. Gonna try to get a long-awaited (by me) podcast up to fill the space. I’m sure some huge announcement will come through — the first round of Roadburn 2017 adds or a new Electric Wizard video or something ridiculous like that — at just the most inopportune time to remind me the world doesn’t revolve around my silly little blog.

If you’re wondering, work continues to be good. I’m getting settled in, figuring out that balance. I’ve still been going to bed early and getting up to write reviews, so have gotten to be pretty burnt out by the time evenings come around, but The Patient Mrs. has been great and helpful and have I mentioned I’m lucky?

To wit, as I write this, she’s taking my camera in for repair. We’ll see how that goes.

Thanks for reading. Please come to The Obelisk All-Dayer (tickets here) Aug. 20 at Saint Vitus Bar, please have a great and safe weekend, and please check out the forum and radio stream. I know that’s a lot to ask, but it’s very much appreciated on this end.

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Tags: Accept Chicken Shack, Blue Horizon Records, Chicken Shack, Chicken Shack Accept Chicken Shack, UK

This entry was posted on Friday, July 15th, 2016 at 11:27 am and is filed under Bootleg Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.