Roger Chapman

From the early days with Family, Roger Chapman was always the most unique and individual vocalist around in the UK. That gravel and schist voice. His phrasing and the vibrato that he could turn on or off at a moments notice. All marked him out as something special.
After Family and Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers he went solo and this 5 CD boxset collects all of his first two solo albums for Acrobat as well as the ‘Live In Hamburg’ album, an extra live album and a bunch of outtakes and bonus tracks.

‘Chappo’, originally released in ‘79, is powerful Blues based rock but, as you expect from Chapman, it is filled with quirky rhythms and some superb playing. He assembled a top line up to back him on the album including Geoff Whitehorn and Micky Moody on guitars, Henry Spinetti on drums, Billy Livsey on keyboards and Dave Markee on bass plus guest spots by Peter Hope-Evans (harmonica) and Ray Cooper (percussion). The album features a full horn section.
The version of ‘Hang On To A Dream’ is superb, harrowing and deeply sentimental and of his self-written tracks ‘Shape Of Things’ and ‘Who Pulled The Nite Down’ are fan favourites through the years.

The second of the solo albums is ‘Mail Order Magic’ and by this time he had a regular band – The Shortlist – featuring Geoff Whitehorn - Guitar, Tim Hinkley - Keyboards, Poli Palmer — Synthesizer, John Wetton — Bass. There was no full time drummer but he used Les Binks, Mitch Mitchell and John Halsey at different time in the recording process for the album.
There is more of a ‘band’ feel to the album and it feels more of an album of its time than the previous one although the songwriting is top notch and the playing is very strong.

There is a wealth of live material in the boxset as well as bonus material and the booklet is excellent, featuring a really informative interview with. The remastering for this edition is, as usual with Esoteric releases, top notch.

A very good collection and a great reminder of one of our best vocalists.