THE THIRD ALBUM
Possible tracklist
1. Iron Horse (J Christie)
2. One Way Ticket (J Christie)
3. Jo Jo's Band (V Elmes)
4. One For The Road (J Christie)
5. Positively 4th Street (B Dylan)
6. Born To Lose (V Elmes)
7. Rock'n'Roll Woman (S
Stills)
8. Fool's Gold (J Christie)
9. Witness For The Prosecution (J Christie)
10. Every Now And Then (V Elmes)
11. Tobacco Road (JD Loudermilk)
12. California Sunshine (L Lubin)
13. Mr Big Shot (J Christie)
14. Funny Things (M Blythe)
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CHRISTIE were due to release a third album in 1972 when
circumstances forced the band to go through several personnel
changes. Lem, Vic and Paul left, while Roger, Terry and Danny
joined.
A number of tracks had already been recorded
for the album, such as Jo Jo's Band,
eventually released as a single in South America. At the time,
Christie were also featuring several new songs as part of their
stage repertoire, and it is possible these would have made it
onto the album.
They included the group's well-received cover
version of The Nashville Teens' hit Tobacco
Road (which incorporated a Paul Fenton drum solo), a
bluesy, chugging original Jeff Christie piece called One
For The Road (which the band actually previewed on a
music video), and another of Jeff's
songs, One
Way Ticket.
The songs were recorded at the same time as
Fools Gold was released as a single,
so it would have been safe to assume that the song and its flipside,
Vic Elmes' Born To Lose, would
also have been on the third album (as would have Lem Lubin's
California Sunshine, the flipside
on German pressings of Fool's Gold).
The set could also have included Iron
Horse and its flipside Every Now
and Then, with the former — because of its hit status
— perhaps kicking off the album.
The line-up with Lem recorded two
cover versions for the BBC: Funny
Things (a song released by Birmingham band the Redcaps)
and Buffalo Springfield's Rock'Roll Woman.
These reflected Christie's evolving bluesy sounds and would
have been ideal inclusions on the album.
Another song the foursome performed in live
shows was Dylan's Positively 4th Street:
a piece which involved Jeff, Vic and Lem each handling different
verses. It could easily have been transferred onto album.
After Lem and Paul left,
Danny, Terry, Roger and Jeff recorded two demos — Witness
For The Prosecution and
Mr Big Shot — two R&B
numbers which would have complemented the album well.
To round it off, perhaps
Jeff's experimental Nightmare
might have been included, a song that dated back to the For
All Mankind sessions; and maybe Rockin'
Suzanna, a song recorded with Vic which later emerged
as the flipside to Most
Wanted Man In The USA.
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