SPRING chickens they ain't, but Stan Webb's "rebuilt" Chicken Shack are finger pickin' good.

They were never challenging higher high-fliers such as Fleetwood Mac, despite learning to fly in the pop world at around the same time in the hazy, crazy, spaced out days of the mid-Sixties. Their - mainly Stan's - bluesy music has stood the test of time and trends and the band still has a loyal following world-wide, particularly Germany.

This 36-track anthology double album traces their highs and not so highs from 1968 to 2001. Guitarist Stan has been described as an eccentric, but gifted, musician and never flew the coup when blues bands went off the boil as the Seventies dawned and Led Zeppelin set the cat among the chickens. Stand-out tracks include old favourite I'd Rather Go Blind, When The Train Comes Back, Midnight Hour and Poor Boy with its four-bar break of double-tracked bass. Solid British Blues.

Updated: 09:07 Thursday, June 17, 2004