CHICKEN SHACK: 40 BLUE FINGERS (ORIG BLUE HORIZON LP)
£
34
$
45
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Description
This is one of the finest blues/psych albums ever made. I rate Chicken Shack among the most creative bands of the '60s blues explosion*, and this album is probably their best, with some of Christine Perfect's strongest contributions. Yes, alright then, it IS their best.
Here then is an original rare first pressing STEREO copy of Forty Blue Fingers, Freshly Packed and Ready to Serve, on Blue Horizon.
Please forgive my inept photography. I have somehow managed to give these beautiful pastel Blue Horizon labels a washed out look reminiscent of the later BH labels featured on the Focus/Rick Hayward/Mighty Baby releases ... but fear not, you purist lovers of original blues/psych hardware, for this is the real thing. And what's more, this copy features the TEXTURED pastel Blue Horizon labels given to only the very earliest pressings of this title. In fact, you will be familiar with that practice sometimes employed by Blue Horizon, in which a textured label was overlaid with an additional shiny 'outer' covering the extreme 1cm perimeter of the textured label, and that is what we have here, on both A and B sides. It gives the impression of say a ridged Decca label, although there is indeed already a ridge here much closer to the spindle hole - always indicative of an early pressing.
There's little here to show this to be a stereo pressing but by heck it is. The label looks just like a typical mono, showing only the 7-63203 serial number, while the album sleeve offers no more information. However, the matrices are the giveaway - each number is prefixed by an 'S'. Playing (and this album plays as well as it looks) gives indesputable stereophonic confirmation!.
This, then, is the earliest possible stereo pressing of this rare LP ... with not even a stereo sticker to its name!
Overall this is a comfortable VG package. The Blue Horizon labels themselves show only moderate signs of play around the spindle holes, with no unwanted writing, rubbing, tears or anything else to spoil them.
The thick slab of sixties vinyl has clearly been well cared for, with hardly a mark showing on either side, even when held up to intense halogen light.
The front laminated sleeve has just a few light crease marks and a hint of the outline of the disc contained within; the unlaminated matt monochrome rear sleeve featuring Stan Webb and Christine Perfect standing behind Andy Sylvester and Dave Bidwell retains its original clarity, with just a little wear at top dead centre and on the spine,although all of the lengthy title text and the manufacturer/serial number is perfectly readable. There is very slight corner wear, and a little loss of laminate (about one inch) at the middle of the top edge, but this is not a split through the sleeve. There is also a very neatly written first name (Paul's) on the rear.
Here then is an original rare 1968 stereo copy of Forty Blue Fingers, Freshly Packed and Ready to Serve by Chicken Shack on Blue Horizon - truly one of the blues/psych highlights of the 60s. Good luck if you are bidding, and if you're successful: ENJOY!
*Late DJ John Peel also rated Chicken Shack highly. In the sixties underground magazine IT of April 5, 1968 (so it would have been around the time Forty Blue Fingers was produced) Peel was discussing the merits of the Butterfield Blues Band's latest Elektra release but said he "would prefer Canned Heat, The Bluesbreakers, Fleetwood Mac or Chicken Shack, to name but four", adding that he had "recently heard the Chicken Shack in Leeds and was most impressed".
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