''40 Blue Fingers, Freshly Packed and Ready to Serve'' is the debut studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by the

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

band

Chicken Shack Chicken Shack are a British blues band, founded in the mid-1960s by Stan Webb (guitarist), Stan Webb (guitar and vocals), Andy Silvester (bass guitar), and Alan Morley (drums), who were later joined by Christine McVie, Christine Perfect (later ...

, released in 1968. The album reached number 12 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. This album has three Freddy King covers; "Lonesome Whistle Blues" (written by Rudolph Toombs), "See See Baby" from '' Freddy King Sings''; and "San-Ho-Zay" from '' Let's Hide Away and Dance Away''.

Background

Chicken Shack's first single “It's Okay With Me Baby / When My Left Eye Jumps” (BH 57-3135), was released in 1968 shortly before their first LP release ''40 Blue Fingers, Freshly Packed and Ready to Serve'' was released later that year. Christine Perfect composed and sang the song on side A of the first single and Stan Webb composed and sang the song on the flip side. Neither side of the first single was included on the first LP release. "Mike Vernon (2007) Chicken Shack - The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions, page 6" The first non-album single and the debut LP attracted a lot of attention. ''40 Blue Fingers…'' ended up having considerable chart success (No. 12 on the British Album Charts)."Mike Vernon (2007) Chicken Shack - The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions, page 9" Stan Webb and Christine Perfect both wrote two songs for the album and the rest of the songs were blues covers. Webb sang lead vocals on all of his compositions as well as all of the covers. Perfect sang lead only on her compositions. The entire album and the rest of the Chicken Shack sessions on Blue Horizon were made available on the CD compilation ''Chicken Shack – The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions'' in 2007.

Track listing

Personnel

Chicken Shack

* Stan Webb –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

* Christine Perfect –

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

, vocals,

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

Andy Silvester Andrew Frederick Silvester (born 16 June 1947, Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England) is a British bassist and multi-instrumentalist. Silvester has played in various bands during his career, most notably as co-founder of both Chicken Shack and ...

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

*Dave Bidwell –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Additional personnel

*Alan Ellis –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

* Dick Heckstall-Smith –

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

* Johnny Almond –

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

Production

*Producer – Mike Vernon *Engineer – Mike Ross *Studio –

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

*Photography and design – Terence Ibbott

References

{{Authority control 1968 debut albums Chicken Shack albums Blue Horizon Records albums Albums produced by Mike Vernon (record producer)