Chris Farlowe, born 13 October 1940 in Islington, North
London is an English rock, blues and soul singer. He is best known for his hit
single "Out of Time", which rose to #1 in the UK Singles Chart in
1966, and his association with Colosseum and the Thunderbirds.
Born John
Henry Deighton in Islington, North London, in 1940, he reached his early teens
just as the skiffle boom was breaking in England, and was inspired by Lonnie
Donegan to enter music. His first band was his own John Henry Skiffle Group,
where he played guitar as well as sang, but he gave up playing to concentrate
on his voice, as he made the switch to rock & roll. He eventually took the
name Chris Farlowe, the surname appropriated from American jazz guitarist Tal
Farlow, and was fronting a group called the Thunderbirds, as Chris Farlowe
& the Thunderbirds.
They built
their reputation as a live act in England and Germany, and slowly switched from
rock & roll to R&B during the early years of the '60s. Their debut
single, "Air Travel," released in 1962, failed to chart, but the
following year, Chris Farlowe & the Thunderbirds (whose ranks included
future star guitarist Albert Lee) were signed to EMI's Columbia imprint,
through which they issued a series of five singles thru 1966, all of which got
enthusiastic critical receptions while generating poor sales.
In 1966, with his EMI contract up, Farlowe was
snatched up by Andrew Oldham, who knew a thing or two about white Britons who
could sing R&B, having signed the Rolling Stones three years earlier, and
put him under contract to his new Immediate Records label. Immediate's history
with unestablished artists is mostly a story of talent cultivated for future
success, but with Farlowe it was different -- he actually became a star on the
label, through the label. His luck began to change early on, as he saw a Top 40
chart placement with his introduction of the Jagger/Richards song "Think,"
which the Rolling Stones later released as an album track on Aftermath.
That summer,
he had the biggest hit of his career with his rendition of the Stones'
"Out of Time," in a moody and dramatic version orchestrated by Arthur
Greenslade, which reached number one on the British charts. Farlowe had enough
credibility as a soul singer by then to be asked to appear on the Ready,
Steady, Go broadcast of September 16, 1966, a special program featuring
visiting American soul legend Otis Redding -- he'd covered Redding's "Mr.
Pitiful" on an Immediate EP, and now Farlowe was on stage with Otis (and
Eric Burdon), and got featured in two numbers.
That was to be his peak year, however. The
subsequent single releases on Immediate, including his version of the Stones'
"Ride on Baby," failed to match the success of the first two singles,
and he last charted for Immediate with "Handbags and Gladrags,"
written for him by Manfred Mann's Mike d'Abo. The label, always in dire
financial straits, tried repackaging his songs several different ways on LP,
but after 1967 his recording career was more or less frozen until the label's
demise in 1970. After that, Farlowe's story became one of awkward match-ups
with certain groups, including the original Colosseum on three albums, and Atomic
Rooster (post-Carl Palmer).
Following a
car accident that left him inactive for two years, he made an attempt at
re-forming the Thunderbirds in the mid-'70s, and "Out of Time" kept
turning up in various reissues, but he saw little new success. Farlowe was
rescued from oblivion by his better-known contemporary (and fellow Immediate
Records alumnus) Jimmy Page, appearing on the latter's Outrider album in the
'80s, which heralded a BBC appearance that brought him back to center stage in
the public consciousness for the first time in two decades.
Farlowe
followed this up with new albums and touring with various reconstituted '60s
and '70s groups, and although he never saw another hit single, his reputation
as a live performer was enough to sustain a career -- nor did the release of
his Ready, Steady, Go appearance with Otis Redding on videotape and laser disc
exactly hurt his reputation; indeed, that was the first time many Americans
appreciated just how serious a following he'd had in England.
His recent albums,
including The Voice, have gotten respectable reviews, and his Immediate Records
legacy was finally getting treated properly in the 21st century, as well. Along
with Manfred Mann's Mike d'Abo and Paul Jones, Farlowe remains one of those
voices from 1960s England that -- with good reason -- hasn't faded and simply
won't disappear.
Since 2015
Farlowe has appeared on stage a number of times alongside Van Morrison. (Compiled
mainly from a bio by Bruce Eder @ All Music)
1 comment:
Chris Farlowe - Out of Time The Immediate Anthology (1965-69)
For Disk 1 go here:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/i3qa9oh49qk69z3/CFarloweCD1.rar
1. The Fool (Naomi Ford, Lee Hazlewood) - 3:02
2. Treat Her Good (Deighton) - 1:58
3. In the Midnight Hour (Steve Cropper, Wilson Pickett) - 2:19
4. Mr. Pitiful (Steve Cropper, Otis Redding) - 2:33
5. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) - 2:28
6. Who Can I Turn To? (Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley) - 2:31
7. Think (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) - 3:37
8. Don't Just Look at Me (Andrew Loog Oldham) - 2:44
9. My Colouring Book (Fred Ebb, John Kander) - 3:01
10.Lipstick Traces (Naomi Neville) - 3:18
11.Summertime (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin, DuBose Heyward) - 4:37
12.That's No Big Thing (Dixon, Emerson) - 3:29
13.Don't Play That Song (Ahmet Ertegun, Betty Nelson) - 3:30
14.Looking for You (Doctor Ragavoy, Jerry Ragovoy) - 2:24
15.It's All over Now, Baby Blue (Bob Dylan) - 3:39
16.I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself (B. Bacharach, H. David) - 2:32
17.Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu (H. "Piano" Smith, J. Vincent) - 2:30
18.Why Don't You Change Your Ways (Lutcher) - 3:28
19.My Girl Josephine (Fats Domino) - 2:13
20.Yesterday (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) - 2:30
21.Out of Time (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) - 3:14
22.Baby Make It Soon (Andrew Loog Oldham, Eric Woolfson) - 2:17
23.Ride on Baby (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) - 2:55
24.Headlines (Greenslade, Andrew Loog Oldham) - 3:25
25.What Becomes of the Broken Hearted (James Dean, Paul Riser, William Weatherspoon) - 2:40
For Disc 2 go here:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/8d9x4qx9ts8dedy/CFarloweCD2.rar
1. We're Doing Fine (Horace Ott) - 2:38
2. Life Is But Nothing (A. Rose, Donald Ross Skinner) - 4:06
3. Paint It Black (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) - 3:00
4. Cuttin' In (Johnny "Guitar" Watson) - 2:59
5. Open the Door to Your Heart (Darrell Banks) - 2:34
6. North South East West (Farlowe, Lee) - 3:55
7. You're So Good for Me (W. Bell, A. Loog Oldham, A. Rose) - 2:15
8. It Was Easier to Hurt Her (J. Ragovoy, C. Richard, B. Russell) - 3:08
9. I'm Free (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) - 2:23
10.I've Been Loving You Too Long (Jerry Butler, Otis Redding) - 2:57
11.Reach Out (I'll Be There) (Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland) - 3:15
12.My Way of Giving (Ronnie Lane, Steve Marriott) - 2:34
13.Yesterday's Papers (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) - 2:38
14.Moanin' (Jon Hendricks, Bobby Timmons) - 2:33
15.What Have I Been Doing (Vincent Crane) - 3:53
16.Handbags and Gladrags (Michael d'Abo) - 3:58
17.Everyone Makes a Mistake (Vincent Crane) - 2:03
18.The Last Goodbye (Michael d'Abo) - 2:52
19.Paperman Fly in the Sky (Vincent Crane) - 2:47
20.I Just Need Your Lovin' (Vincent Crane) - 3:13
21.Dawn (Hammond, Waddell) - 3:49
22.April Was the Month (Vincent Crane) - 3:54
23.Moanin' (Jon Hendricks, Bobby Timmons) - 2:30
24.Paint It Black (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) - 3:35
A big thank you to Marios @ Rockasteria Blog for original links.
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