Chris Farlowe & Roy Herrington featuring The Rhythm 'N' Blues Train

Chris Farlowe & Roy Herrington featuring The Rhythm 'N' Blues Train - Live in Berlin - 1991 - Backyard Records

Chris Farlowe (born in Essex, England, on 13/10/1940) remains one of the great underrated and underappreciated British soul & blues influenced singers. Chris' musical career started in the early '60's with the "Lonnie Donegan" style John Henry Skiffle Group. In the early 1960s, under the pseudonym Little Joe Cook, Chris released a R&B single "Stormy Monday Blues" which led people to believe he was a black singer. Around 1963 or 1964 'The Thunderbirds' were formed which included Chris Farlowe, plus the great guitarist Albert Lee, and keyboardist Dave Greenslade. The band's five singles on the UK Columbia label met with no success. When Andrew Loog Oldham, the Rolling Stones' manager established the famous Immediate label, he signed Chris Farlowe. Chris recorded many Jagger/Richards songs and some of his records were produced by Jagger. Out of 11 singles five had covers of the Jagger/Richards songs on them. The third single, "Out Of Time" made it to number one. Many people regard Chris'version of "Stormy Monday Blues (parts 1 and 2)", featuring Albert Lee on guitar, as one of the most distinguished, pre-eminent British blues recordings. Chris was also part of the great British jazz rock band, Colosseum, and the 1971 "Colosseum Live" album is a great example of early '70's British jazz rock. "Live in Berlin" was recorded at Berlin/Franz Club, Germany on 17th & 18th of October 1991. The album is is a great blues/R&B album from the lesser known blues guitarist Roy Herrington from the small former coalmining town of Featherstone, Yorkshire, England. ("they say the blues is black"). Roy has been on the road for over 20 years with various R&B artists including Spencer Davis, Gene Conners and the Route 66 Allstars, as well as his own band. Roy´s guitar style was influenced by artists like Pat Martino, Link Wray, Barney Kessel and Buddy Guy. Roy penned two songs, Chris one. The remaining seven tracks are covers of blues/R&B standards by artists including Willie Dixon, T-Bone Walker, and Michael Price and Dan Walsh. "Born in West Yorkshire" is a nine minute long guitar virtuoso piece by Roy but his guitar work throughout the album is terrific. The album also includes a great version of Chris singing "Stormy Monday Blues". This album has been called "The best blues album ever made by a Yorkshireman." Try and listen to the Roy Herrington Band's 2003 "Hip Bone" album, and Chris Farlowe's "Out of the Blue" album. Search this blog for more related releases

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1. BORN IN WEST YORKSHIRE - Herrington
2. CROSSCUT SAW - Ford, Ingram, Moss (Music): Peterson, Sanders, Walker (Lyrics)
3. THRILL IS GONE - Benson (Music): Petite (Lyrics)
4. SHAKEY GROUND - Bowen (Music): Hazel & Boyd (Lyrics)
5. CHRIS`SHUFFLE - Farlowe
6. AIN´T NO LOVE - Price (Music): Walsh (Lyrics)
7. CLOSER TO YOU - Herrington
8. SUPERSTITIOUS - Dixon
9. STORMY MONDAY - Walker
10. GIVIN`T UP FOR YOUR LOVE - Williams (Music): Mason (Lyrics)

MUSICIANS

Rhythm'n'Blues Train:-
Roy 'The Boy' Herrington - guitar & vocals
Bernd Rosenmeier - guitar
Christoph Neher - bass
Martin Scholz - keyboards, vocals
Mickey Neher - drums, vocals
with
Chris Farlowe - vocals

CHRIS FARLOWE BIO (WIKIPEDIA)

Chris Farlowe (born John Henry Deighton, 13 October 1940, Islington, North London, England) is a successful English pop, R&B and soul singer. Farlowe's musical career began with a skiffle group, The John Henry Skiffle Group in 1957, then The Johnny Burns Rhythm and Blues Quartet in 1958. He met lead guitarist Bob Taylor (born Robert Taylor, 6 June 1942, London) in 1959 and he joined the band Taylor was in (The Thunderbirds), recording five singles for the Columbia label, without much success. He then moved to Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate label and recorded another eleven singles, five of them cover versions of Rolling Stones songs; ("Paint It, Black", "Think", "Ride On, Baby", "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", "Out of Time"). His most successful was "Out of Time" which was number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in 1966. His next four singles were also well received. The most famous was "Handbags and Gladrags" (which was written by Mike d'Abo), later covered by Rod Stewart and more recently by the Stereophonics). As an English R&B star of the early 1960s, Farlowe released one single, "Stormy Monday Blues", under the pseudonym, 'Little Joe Cook', which helped perpetrate the myth that he was black. His association with jazz rock group Colosseum began in the 1970s, recording a live album and three studio albums Daughter of Time, Bread and Circuses and Tomorrow's Blues (2006). Farlowe continues to tour extensively throughout the UK and Europe with band Colosseum, and also with his own band. Farlowe also deals in antiques and has a showroom in Islington. In 1972 he joined Atomic Rooster and is featured on the albums Made in England and Nice and Greasy. He also sang on three tracks of Jimmy Page's Death Wish II soundtrack 1982 and Outrider album in 1988. In the beginning, Farlowe was backed by the band 'The Thunderbirds', which featured guitarist Albert Lee and Dave Greenslade, (later with him again in Colosseum), Bugs Waddell (bass), Ian Hague (drums) Bernie Greenwood (sax) and Jerry Temple (percussion).