Friday 13 October 2017

Chris Farlowe born 13 October 1940


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:

boppinbob said...

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.