‘When the Train Comes Back’ – Chicken Shack / Fleetwood Mac

1968 BBC performance, Album version, Single Version, Fleetwood Mac (BBC1-TV “Black, White & Blues”)

Christine Anne Perfect was born in Bouth, Lancashire on July 12, 1943

Her Father was a concert violinist and music lecturer at St. Peter’s College of Education in Birmingham.  Her Grandfather was an organist at Westminster Abbey. 

Her Mother was a folk singer, as well as a professional psychic and faith healer.

            She was trained in classical piano starting at the age of four, but at fifteen she switched her allegiance to rock ‘n roll after her brother brought home a Fats Domino songbook. 

            Perfect earned a scholarship at Moseley College of Art in Birmingham to study sculpture.

            Once enrolled, she played piano in a skiffle band that she and some of her fellow students had formed called The Bobcats.

            After graduation, having adding guitar and harmonica to her portfolio, Perfect teamed up with Spencer Davis (a teacher at Whittington Oval Junior School at the time).  At first, the two would busk, with Davis playing 12-string guitar (thus explaining the additional instruments on her resume – hard to busk on piano).  The two eventually became semi-regulars at the Golden Eagle pub in Birmingham, England.

Band line-ups were extremely fluid on the pubs and clubs circuit of the West Midlands and Perfect received an invitation from Andy Silvester to join him in the band, Sounds of Blues, that he was playing in with Stan Webb.  Christine accepted, playing bass and harmonica.

            The band made quite a name for themselves locally, booking a standing Sunday gig for a full year at the Dudley Liberal Club.

            They also enjoyed full houses at the “Blues Nights” hosted by the Seven Stars pub in Stourbridge. 

            Personnel changes continued apace with Phil Lawless brought in to play bass and Christine moving permanently to piano.  At some point, Alan Morely would come to replace Rob Elcock behind the drum kit.

            Sounds of Blues were together for just short of a year, before it was dissolved in the Spring of 1965.

            Webb, Silvester and Morely formed a trio that they called Chicken Shack and made their debut on New Year’s Eve, 1966 at the Ritz in King’s Heath.

As for Christine, she moved back to London hoping to find work as a graphic designer. 

            Her art school diploma qualified her to work as a window dresser; and she found employment at the posh Dickins & Jones.

Andy Silvester had maintained a correspondence with Christine after the dissolution of Sounds of Blue and would periodically inquire if she would like to get back together with the group. 

His questioning may have intensified as the band came to believe that they needed to diversify the band’s sound. 

Finally, in April of 1967, his persistence paid off and Perfect turned in her notice to Dickins & Jones and took a train back to Birmingham. 

            Perfect’s return to the fold coincided with the band booking a six-week residency at Hamburg, Germany’s famed Star Club beginning that June.

They would be sharing the bill with The Sound of Syke and The Boston Show Band.

            The three bands would alternate hour long sets beginning at 7:00pm, with some nights going until 3:00am the following morning.

            There were also days where they started at 4:00 in the afternoon, playing for those too young to be allowed in once the bar was open.

            In an interview published in Uncut magazine in 2022, Christine McVie was asked if she remembered anything of those days; she laughingly replied “Not very much!..I was pissed all the time!  It was a rave!  The nightlife was amazing!”

            She also mentions that with the rotating sets, the music could “…get a bit stale”

            Mike Vernon first became instrumental in their progress, when having traveled to Germany to hear them play, he and his wife became the band’s de facto management.  When the band was back in England, hey pulled off a minor coup getting the band onto the Sunday bill for the Seventh National Jazz & Blues Festival at the Windsor Racecourse.  A heady debut.

            Within a few months of their debut Vernon handed off managerial responsibilities to focus on his newly formed Blue Horizon label; Chicken Shack would be an early signing.

            Around this time, the final piece of the puzzle fell into place with Dave Bidwell coming in to take the drum seat.

            The band cut their first single in December of 1967 and hit stores in January of 1968.

            Before the single was in the stores, Chicken Shack had booked their first BBC Broadcast on January 09, 1968.  They performed six songs, with five being broadcast on January 28, 1968.

Chicken Shack

Stan Webb: vocal & guitar /

Christine Perfect: vocal & piano /

Andy Silvester: bass / Dave Bidwell: drums

BBC Session, Recorded January 09, 1968 –

 Broadcast January 28, 1968

Available on: Stan Webb’s Chicken Shack

From The Vaults 1968 – 1974 (Talking Elephant 2017)

“Going Up, Going Down – The Anthology 1968 – 2001” (Castle Music 2004)

When the Train Comes Back (C. Perfect) (BBC version) (3:10)

When the Train Comes Back – the second Christine Perfect original from the session, (she also performed her song from their debut single, ‘It’s Okay With Me, Baby’) for this show.

As strong, if not stronger, than the song that will be the A-side of their debut single, this one moves with authority to an almost martial beat, powered by Perfect’s organ work and Webb’s stinging guitar work. 

Webb’s  guitar work is integral to the number, stitching itself through the song’s fabric.

Here again, Perfect mainly plays organ; paired with Silvester’s bass to set the pace.

I say “mainly plays organ” as a piano rumbles in like thunder from 1:05 to 1: 34, like the shock wave of another train barreling past on the opposite track.

The piano would have had to have been added as an overdub.

Webb then steps in with a spiky solo, just under thirty seconds, a fine fit for the bristling tension of the number.

For some reason, there is a one-second burst of applause at the head of this number; it may be to cover the fact that the opening notes appear to be missing.  I have no reason to believe that this is a “concert” recording.

This recording is available on both the “From the Vaults” collection and another compilation titled “Going Up, Going Down…The Anthology 1968 – 2001” (Castle Music 2004)

Both releases have taken the track from the same source.

            Chicken Shack would cut the number in the studio during the third session for their debut LP in February of 1968.

Chicken Shack

Stan Webb: vocal & guitar /

Christine Perfect: piano & vocal /

Andy Silvester: bass / Dave Bidwell: drums 

Recorded February 07, 1968 – CBS Studios,

New Bond Street, London

Released on 40 Blue Fingers, Freshly Packed and

Ready To Serve (Blue Horizon 1968)

‘When the Train Comes Back’ (C. Perfect) (album version) (3:33)

‘When the Train Comes Back’ – when this song was performed for the BBC just under a month earlier, the song was underlined by a accusatory wash of organ.

This was dramatically broken up after the second stanza when Perfect overdubbed a rumbling piano which darkened the number like a stormfront.

With this recording, the tempo is given a statelier pace, Perfect’s piano locking in with Bidwell’s drums, describing a forced march, adding to the sense of inevitability; the singer is being let go.

Webb’s break is almost doubled in length from the BBC performance and Christine’s piano is restricted to maintaining the rhythm

Webb’s guitar work is effectively restrained, underlining the melancholy of the number.

This is one of the highlights of the LP.

            The album would make it to Number 12 on the album charts in the U.K. and the future seemed bright, but Vernon writes of his frustration trying to get the band back into the studio to work on a follow-up.

            In April, Perfect did a guest session with Fleetwood Mac, but Chicken Shack did not return to the studio until June.  They recorded two numbers, both credited to Perfect and Webb, but these would not see release until their second LP.

            Their second single would not see release until the end of September.  Both the A & B sides were credited solely to Webb and it sank without a trace.

            Their third single would be released at the end of December and this time, Perfect takes the lead on both numbers.  The B-side was a new song, a cover of a Shakey Jake Harris song titled ‘Hey Baby’ and for the A-side, Vernon pulled ‘When the Train Comes Back’ from the first LP and added horns.

Chicken Shack

Christine Perfect: vocal & piano /

Stan Webb: guitar /

Andy Silvester: bass / Dave Bidwell: drums /

Additional musicians: (probably)

Johnny Almond: tenor / alto saxophone /

And / or, Steve Gregory: tenor saxophone /

And or, Buddy Beadle: alto saxophone

Original track recorded February 07, 1968 –

CBS Studios, New Bond Street, London

Horns recorded: date not known

Released as A-side, Blue Horizon single,

December 13, 1968

Available on: The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions (Blue Horizon 2006)

Chicken Shack – When the Train Comes Back (single version) (3:33)

‘When the Train Comes Back’ (single version)– the horns transform the number.  Their warmer sound blends with Perfect’s voice, bringing a glow to the honeyed tone that her piano alone could not.

The piano is in fact, pushed way down in the mix here; the dominant instruments now are the horns and Webb’s guitar, and as with Perfect’s vocals, the horns enhance the sound of Webb’s guitar.

One is left to wonder if Perfect re-recorded her vocals to the horn lines as they flow so naturally. 

And where the ending of the song without the horns seems a bit arbitrary, just petering out, the horns now cushion the closing, like feeling the weight of the finished pages in your left hand as one closes a book. 

Beautifully done. 

That said, I still feel that the up-tempo ‘Hey Baby’ should have been the A-side.

            Perfect performed the number twice for the BBC but after that the number seemed to disappear.  The latter performance, from May 1968 seems to have been lost).

            There is an interesting clip of Perfect performing the number in the documentary “Black, White & Blues” shot in 1970 shortly before Fleetwood Mac were to begin their first American tour without Peter Green. 

            It is likely that the footage was hot shortly after it was decided that Perfect would join Fleetwood Mac (at least for the tour).  The band had just finished recording “Kiln House”, to which Perfect had contributed background vocals on a few numbers (as she was still signed to Blue Horizon as a solo artist and could be credited with having played on the LP).

Christine Perfect

w/ Jeremy Spencer & Danny Kirwan

Christine Perfect: vocal & Hohner electric piano /

Jeremy Spencer: slide guitar & Danny Kirwan: guitar

Recorded June – July 1970 (exact dates not known)

Available: “Black, White & Blues” (YouTube) or

Christine McVie’s Fleetwood Mac Live at the BBC 1970 – 71(1960’s Records 2025)

Christine Perfect w/ Jeremy Spencer & Danny Kirwan – When the Train Comes Back (incomplete) (1:18)

When the Train Comes Back (C. Perfect) – In this filmed clip, Perfect is again playing the organ; she is playing outside Kiln House, in late evening twilight, enhancing the melancholy mood of the number.

With her, stand Danny Kirwan and Jeremy Spencer, playing electric guitar accompaniment.

The footage picks up mid-song, with Perfect singing the second verse and Spencer mainly duplicating Webb’s guitar lines on slide guitar.  Perfect follows this with the song’s last (fourth verse – a reprise of the second) and brings the number to an end.

Kirwan cannot really not be heard in the clip, which is a shame.

               1960’s Records released a compilation titled “Christine McVie’s Fleetwood Mac Live at the BBC 1970 – 71” that contained three of the numbers from the BBC broadcast.  In the film, none of the performances were complete, I have not been able to find running times for the tracks on the LP to see if these are complete recordings.  If anyone has the LP and can tell me, I would appreciate it.

               There are at least five concert bootlegs in circulation from the “Kiln House” band’s tour, but none have a performance of this song.  Whether it was ever played or even considered for inclusion in the set is not known, but it seems like a lost opportunity.