Studio Daze: Chris Farlowe's "Out of Time"

As part of his role as an in-house producer and A&R man with Andrew Loog-Oldham's Immediate Record Label, Jimmy Page worked and played guitar on one of the great hits to come out of Great Britain in the 1960's, Chris Farlowe's "Out of Time".

Chris Farlowe was born in North London on October 13 1940. Inspired by the master of the Skiffle genre Lonnie Donegan, and formed his own group Johnny Burns Rhythm and Blues Quartet in 1958. It was through their mutual love of skiffle that Farlowe and Jimmy Page first crossed paths, "Chris was somebody who I first saw in about 1957, in the heats of the British Skiffle Championship, where he sang "All By Myself - a Johnny Burnette number that was rockabilly and not skiffle and he was extraordinary." Johnny Burns Rhythm and Blues Quartet did not last long and soon after their demise, he joined the band The Thunderbirds with guitarist Bob Taylor, recording five singles for Columbia Records. 

Jimmy later caught up with Chris Farlowe again while he was in The Thunderbirds and would remark later, "I had seen him play with his band 'The Thunderbirds' at the Ebbisham Hall in Epsom and he was truly one of the shining lights of the Southern music scene in the in the late '50s and very early '60s." Around this time he was performing under the pseudonym Little Joe Cook which lead the general public to assume that he was black. Eventually, Farlowe decided to strike it out on his own as a solo artist and was signed to Immediate Records by Andrew Loog-Oldham, manager of the Rolling Stones. Farlowe would go on to record eleven singles for Immediate, five of which were covers of The Rolling Stones penned songs including "Paint It, Black", "Think", "Ride On, Baby", "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and of course "Out of Time".

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards

"Out of Time" was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and was first released on The Rolling Stones' album Aftermath; The song was not included on the U.S. version of the album but was later added to the album Flowers. Looking to capitalize on maximizing profits and reinforce Jagger and Richards' songwriting credits, Loog-Oldham offered "Out of Time" to Chris Farlowe to record and release. Mick Jagger acted as the producer for the session which took place on June 17, 1966. Jimmy Page worked as the rhythm guitarist on the session and was to recall in an On This Day feature on his website, "I played acoustic guitar on Chris Farlowe's "Out of Time" and you can hear it soloing in the middle of the song. It's a Jagger/Richards composition and Farlowe's version is brilliant." Ultimately the song rocketed up the charts and reached number one on July 28, 1966 and remained there for one week. "Out of Time" would be the biggest hit of Chris Farlowe's career.

Jimmy Page would work with Chris Farlowe again for his work on the soundtrack to the film Death Wish II and again in 1987 for his solo album "Outrider" on the songs Prison Blues and Blues Anthem (If I Cannot Have Your Love, I'll Sing the Blues).

The Guitar Jimmy Page Used to Record "Out of Time"