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All the original chickens, bar frontman Stan Webb, flew this coop years ago, but the Shack remained open nonetheless, continuing to serve up steaming helpings of British blues. Stan Would Rather Go Live caught the band live on both tape and film, at a 2004 gig in Lyme Regis, England, for this paired CD/DVD set. It was the kind of show that most groups dream about, where the songs flow out effortlessly and the band just rides the groove ever higher in delight. This is the kind of performance Chicken Shack deliver as a matter of course, yet there was something undeniably special about this night. The set list was comprised of Shack's hits and blues standards, a number of which the band made its own decades ago, with the group embracing blues' many tones. Webb is the master of them all, as is Gary Davies, with whom he so deftly trades riffs and licks. That's best heard on the group's simmering cover of "The Thrill Has Gone," where delicate picked guitar is interwoven with emotive, searing leads. One would think it would be the centerpiece of the set, but that seemingly arrives with the haunting original "You Are the Sweetest Little Thing," paired with a seething take of NiN's "Hurt" (a song, of course, also covered by Johnny Cash) -- or perhaps not, because immediately thereafter the band launches into fan fave "Stan Webb's Chicken Shack Opera," shaking out some of the most down-and-dirty blues of the night. Then comes a heaping helping of danger, as the band pours every ounce of peril into a lethal "Spoonful" of steaming blues. Cream first doused Britain with their cover of that blues classic, and the Shack pay musical tribute to them with "The Daughter of the Hillside," along with Jimi Hendrix, whose incendiary wah-wah leads are brought back to life within. The show closes with a triumphant "Stan's Blues," the perfect finale for a tour de force show. The DVD captures it all on film, with an interview with Webb also included. The hits may have dried up long ago, but the magic of Chicken's blues remains. ~ Jo-Ann Greene
