Chappo

The singer with the wildcat voice, once a front man for Family and Streetwalkers, breaks out here with his first solo effort. With band politics out of the way, Chapman garners all the spotlight for himself while backed by an ensemble of friends. Although he keeps rock guitar close to him, Chapman abandons Streetwalkers' hard rock sound for a more varied style, including multiple keyboards and female backing vocals, and it's probably more a sign of producer David Courtney's influence (having previously worked with Leo Sayer). Singing cry-in-yer-ale ballads and tight rock songs, Chapman lays out the stylistic blueprint to which he keeps returning, even 20 years later. While Chapman's music was more embellished than before, most fans found that "the voice" still spoke to them.
Chappo at the absolute top of his game, putting all the experience garnered over many years in the business with Family and Streetwalkers to excellent effect and releasing his best and most consistent album to date. No Charlie Whitney, but Mickey Moody and Geoff Whitehorn (Whitesnake & Crawler respectively) are more than adequate replacements. Great songs, great playing, and that wonderful raspy voice all present and correct. Of course in England it all meant sweet FA, in thrall as we were to punk, but the Germans got it, and so the Chappo story continued and took a new turn.

Roger Chapman – Harmonica, Vocals
Dave Markee – Bass
Brian Odgers – Bass
Billy Livsey – Keyboards
Geoff Whitehorn – Guitar
Micky Moody – Guitar
Henry Spinetti – Drums
Simon Morton – Percussion
Ray Cooper – Percussion
Ron Aspery – Saxophone
Poli Palmer – Synthesizer
Peter Hope-Evans – Harmonica
Joy Yates – Backing Vocals
Vicki Brown – Backing Vocals
Jimmy Chambers – Backing Vocals
George Chandler – Backing Vocals