Hucklebuck (The Chicks) (LP 4248 - 4251)

The Chicks  The Sound of The Chicks (Vinyl, Viking Records, 1965) ****  

The Chicks  The Chick's 2nd Album (Vinyl, Viking Records, 1966) ***  

The Chicks  C'mon Chicks (Vinyl, Polydor Records, 1968) ****  

The Chicks  The Best of The Chicks (Vinyl, Music for Leisure Records, 1970) ****  

Genre: NZ Music, pop 

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records, Vinyl Countdown, Viking Haul

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Tobacco Road (The Sound of The Chicks)

Gear costume: Friends (C'mon Chicks)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: The Chicks (sisters Judy and Sue Donaldson) are one on my earliest musical memories. There they are on my TV on C'mon - THE NZ music show of the sixties. Go Go boots, big hair, very short skirts, one blonde, one brunette and somehow both beaming in from a distant planet. In reality they were 20 minutes across town.

The Sound of The Chicks is their debut album. It's 1965 and The Beatles songs are a strong presence - followed by everything British. So, there are three Beatle covers (done well as it happens) and a lot of energy/enthusiasm for what is presented to The Chicks to sing on the other nine tracks. 

 

Throughout the album, it's a remarkably assured performance from both Chicks (Sue as lead vocalist was 14) that still sounds fun in 2026. Try having a listen to The Hucklebuck and marvel at their youthful joy which beams out of the speakers still.

The Chick's 2nd Album followed the debut quickly. In those days even The Beatles thought they'd only have a couple of years before the bubble burst, so Viking got cracking with a second album. It does sound a bit hurried and not as fresh as The Sound of The Chicks. 

No Beatle covers this time but songs that inspired the Fabs like Motown hits, Be Bop A Lula and Roll Over Beethoven get a run. The Donaldson's had no control over the songs chosen for them, so some work better than others. The highlights is a ripper version of Heat Wave.

Their C'mon Chicks album in 1968 aims to update the sound for the times. Ray Columbus writes the liner notes and indicates how 'there's something for everyone' from folk to ballads to 'wild soul'. The urge to see them become overall entertainers means we end up with the dire Show Me as well as the good stuff.

It's the soul genre which suits them most in my opinion and provide most of the highlights - If You Think You're Groovy, Some Things You Never Get Used To and Think. Their versions of The Beach Boys' Do It Again and Friends are also terrific.

There are quite a few compilations in their discography. I only have the one - The Best of The Chicks. It has a cross section of their talents, mainly ballads, but strangely all the selections come from their last two albums (C'mon Chicks and A Long Time Comin').

Where do they all belong? Still searching for a copy of their 1970 album - A Long Time Comin'. Suzanne's career has been covered here.