Chris Farlowe Hungary for the Blues (2006)

Review:
One of the great British R&B voices, this year Chris Farlowe celebrates 50 years in the business! He has worked with Jimmy Page, Mick Jagger, Eric Burdon and remains a favourite special guest of Van Morrison’s live shows and is most famous as a solo artist for his massively successful 1966 number one single Out Of Time.

Born John Deighton in Essex on 13 Oct. 1940, Chris Farlowe began his musical career with The John Henry Skiffle Group (inspired by his hero Lonnie Donegan) but after adopting a new name the band soon evolved into the R’n’R combo Chris Farlowe and The Thunderbirds (Farlowe being a nod to guitarist Tal Farlowe). The band recorded 5 singles on EMI’s Columbia Records but success came only after a move to Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham’s Immediate label. Accordingly Farlowe got to record a lot of Jagger/Richards compositions including Think and his huge hit single Out Of Time with Jagger even sitting in as occasional producer. Also recorded on Immediate was the original Handbags And Gladrags, written by Manfred Mann’s Mike d'Abo for Chris. During 1965-1970 Farlowe was Immediate's most prolific singles artist. Subsequent years saw him play with prog rockers Colosseum and the acclaimed Atomic Rooster before reforming The Thunderbirds. Chart success was achieved once again in ’75 with the re-release of Out of Time and the 80s, 90s and 2000s saw Chris guest on albums such as Jimmy Page’s celebrated Outrider as well as release his own albums The Voice, Glory Bound and 2003’s Farlowe That.

Hungary For The Blues was recorded live at the Gastroblues Festival Parks, Hungary on June 18th 2000, while tracks 13 & 14 were recorded live at Charlys Musickkneipe, Oldenburg on October 8th 2004. Joining Chris on Hungary For The Blues are Norman Beaker (Guitar), John Price (Bass), Paul Burgess (Drums, ex-10cc), Lenni (Saxophones) and Dave Baldwin (Keyboards), except for tracks 13 & 14 which feature Damian Hand (Saxophone) and Andy Kingslow (Keyboards).