Jump to content

News from JimmyPage.com - Chris Farlowe & The Thunderbirds - 1961 12-track Demo Recording Produced by Jimmy Page


ChartRoomMedia

Recommended Posts

Chris Farlowe and The Thunderbirds:
The Beginning…

Historic Demo Recording Produced by Jimmy Page Coming April 30

Legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist and producer’s first official production available now for pre-order via JimmyPage.com

Exclusive Stream of “Money” Track Premiere Available now via RollingStone.com

Available now for the very first time, Chris Farlowe and The Thunderbirds: The Beginning…presents a 12-song demo recording produced by legendary guitarist and producer Jimmy Page. Recorded in 1961 at RG Jones Sound Studio in Morden, London, this historic session marks the launch of a highly successful career for Chris Farlowe.

It was also the very first official turn in the producer’s chair for Jimmy Page who went on to capture the timeless studio and live performances of Led Zeppelin that today serve as a blueprint for all modern rock recordings that followed in their formidable wake.

For both, it all started with “The Beginning…”

These revelatory performances, available for pre-order now and scheduled for exclusive worldwide distribution via JimmyPage.com on April 30, brilliantly capture the spirit of adventure and excitement of the London music scene in the early 1960s.

In his liner notes accompanying “The Beginning…” Farlowe summarized his first encounter with Page and the session by stating, “We would play anywhere just for the buzz and it was at one of these gigs that we met a very young boy called Jimmy Page, who liked my band and my guitarist Bobby Taylor. Jimmy suggested that he wanted to record a demo album of the band, so he booked the RG Jones studio in Morden, London, and now after 56 years, it is to see the light of day.”

And what a musical storm they conjured! As Page points out in his liner notes for the album, you’d never know that Farlowe and his band mates were in a recording studio for the first time. “The band settled into their recording role immediately and an album was recorded that day. The guitar and bass were recorded by direct injection and the band listened to their progress via headphones…They adapted really quickly to this method, the individual performance exhibits the style and class that this band had and Chris Farlowe’s performance is absolutely extraordinary.”

 

The band’s tightness and musical telepathy is apparent from the get-go with two hard driving instrumentals to kick off the recording. The opening track, Entry of the Slaves, features Bobby Taylor on guitar who is described by Page in the liner notes as, “the coolest stylist, both in his image and his playing, that I had seen in a guitarist who was in an unsigned band.” The incendiary Spring is Near follows and showcases the rhythm section’s individual and collective talents with both Johnny Warne on bass and Johnny Wise on drums contributing thrilling solos.

 

On track three, Farlowe steps up to the mic and tears into a powerful version of the Ray Charles classic What’d I Say. Next up are spirited versions of the rock and roll classics Let the Good Times Roll, Sticks and Stones, Kansas City and I’m Moving On. Each track is powered along by Wise and Warne, and feature cracking guitar solos from Taylor.

 

The volume and tempo comes down, but the intensity remains high on the soulful ballad Just a Dream, which features an emotional and heart wrenching vocal turn from Farlowe. On this track, The Thunderbirds provide brilliant dynamics and atmosphere to set the perfect mood behind Farlowe’s vocal.

From here, the recording shifts gears again with Money driven along by a rumbling beat on the tom-toms from Wise and more gorgeous guitar work from Taylor. Farlowe’s howling vocal breathes new life and fire into this timeless rock and roll standard.

On Matchbox, The Thunderbirds lay down a powerful and respectful homage to the great Carl Perkins classic with a groove that chugs along like a freight train barreling down the track, with every strum, pluck and beat brilliantly captured by Page on tape.

Next up, Farlowe and The Thunderbirds make Don Gibson’s Hurtin’ Inside their own with Taylor’s fiery licks and Wise’s snare drum work perfectly complimenting Farlowe’s soulful delivery and his incredible range.

A spirited version of Bobby Parker’s Watch Your Step closes out the proceedings with Farlowe deftly pushing the band along, climbing up his range effortlessly into falsetto and ad-libbing brilliantly into the fadeout.

Page’s complete satisfaction with what he was able to capture on tape that day is abundantly clear. “I’m really pleased to be able to make this musical document available for the first time to give an idea of the musical cauldron that was going on in London in 1961, a few years before the Chicago Blues renaissance and The Beatles.”

These recordings on The Beginning…marked the first collaboration between Page and Farlowe who went on to work together when Page was a session musician and Farlowe was on Immediate Records. Page featured on the hit single Out Of Time. In 1982, Farlowe featured on Page’s Death Wish II soundtrack, and again when Farlowe made a guest appearance on Page’s 1988 solo album Outrider.

Chris Farlowe and The Thunderbirds: The Beginning is now available for pre-order at Jimmy Page.com in advance of its April 30 release date. The release is available in two editions: Standard and Deluxe. The 1-LP, 1-CD set is available signed and numbered by Chris Farlowe and Jimmy Page in a limited edition release bringing the signatures of two music legends together for the very first time.

Tracklist: 

1.) Entry of the Slaves

2.) Spring is Near

3.) What’d I Say

4.) Let the Good Times Roll

5.) Sticks and Stones

6.) Kansas City

7.) I’m Moving On

8.) Just a Dream

9.) Matchbox

10.) Money

11.) Hurtin’ Inside

12.) Watch Your Step

Media Contact

Chart Room Media

bill@chartroommedia.com

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, woz70 said:

If you listen really carefully you can hear the sound of a barrel being scraped.

Ouch. Maybe it's an omen that in 2017, the year of the "new music", we start with a recording from 1961. A bit of foreshadowing that "What'd I say" cover, given Page was on the Brenda Lee cover of the track 3 years later.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, 76229 said:

Ouch. Maybe it's an omen that in 2017, the year of the "new music", we start with a recording from 1961. A bit of foreshadowing that "What'd I say" cover, given Page was on the Brenda Lee cover of the track 3 years later.

:hysterical:
The new music is coming next year....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, the-ocean87 said:

Wait, Jimmy doesn't even play on this??

Well, no he doesn't play per se, but the mic placement is all Jimmy.  They don't place-em like that anymore.   

And working the controls--it's a masterpiece.  Sure to go down in history as a landmark in .....knob-work.

OH!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a cool piece of history! and it sounds great. Here, you can listen to "Money" on soundcloud without having to see who's buying ads on RollingStone.com. 

That's one mean version of "Money" - I'll take it over the Beatles version any day, beginning with today.

After this, I hope he's able to pull that yardbirds project he's been talking about together.  I have a feeling there might be some stuff no one's ever heard there, too.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Mercurious said:

What a cool piece of history! and it sounds great. Here, you can listen to "Money" on soundcloud without having to see who's buying ads on RollingStone.com. 

That's one mean version of "Money" - I'll take it over the Beatles version any day, beginning with today.

After this, I hope he's able to pull that yardbirds project he's been talking about together.  I have a feeling there might be some stuff no one's ever heard there, too.

Thanks for posting the link. Sounds like it's from about 66, not 61. Very cool.   Jimmy Page should have done more with Chris Farlowe post Zeppelin. I thought The Firm was a little too safe and basic.. Didn't really care for what Chris did on Outrider either, but i love Who's To Blame... and he has a great blusey powerful voice. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, the chase said:

Thanks for posting the link. Sounds like it's from about 66, not 61. Very cool.   Jimmy Page should have done more with Chris Farlowe post Zeppelin. I thought The Firm was a little too safe and basic.. Didn't really care for what Chris did on Outrider either, but i love Who's To Blame... and he has a great blusey powerful voice. 

Wasn't wild about Farlowe's contribution to Prison Blues (mainly lyrically), but I really liked his vocals on Blues Anthem and loved his work on Hummingbird, one of my very favorite post-Zep performances by Jimmy.  This is cool, JImmy is clearly doing things that turn him on, and ONLY things that turn him on.  Good for him!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Chap said:

Well, no he doesn't play per se, but the mic placement is all Jimmy.  They don't place-em like that anymore.   

And working the controls--it's a masterpiece.  Sure to go down in history as a landmark in .....knob-work.

OH!

 

LOL
 

I wonder what he will find next. Maybe a tape of his neighbours dogs barking from the 50s:lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

An exclusive stream of "Let the Good Times Roll" from The Beginning...is available now along with an extensive interview with Chris Farlowe at DangerousMinds. To hear the track and read the interview, please click here:

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/chris_farlowe_on_the_birth_of_british_blues_plus_exclusive_audio_of_jimmy_p

Enjoy.



Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's the text of the press release announcing the exclusive stream of Let the Good Times Roll via Dangerous Minds.

Exclusive Stream of "Let the Good Times Roll" from Chris Farlowe and The Thunderbirds:
The Beginning…
Available now via Dangerous Minds

Second Track Premiere from Historic 12-Song Demo Recording
Produced by Jimmy Page Coming April 30

"Let the Good Times Roll," personally selected by legendary guitarist and producer Jimmy Page, is available now as an exclusive stream via Dangerous Minds. It is the second track premiere from Chris Farlowe and The Thunderbirds: The Beginning… - a 12-song demo recording produced and financed by then 17-year old Page.

During the recording of "Let the Good Times Roll" and the other 11 tracks on the demo, Page deftly captured all of the energy of a Chris Farlowe & The Thunderbirds live set. Farlowe described the band's eerie and primal sound, and one of its primary influences, during an interview with Dangerous Minds.

"Someone was talking to me the other day, and they said it sounds like voodoo, like Bo Diddley sort of stuff. And I said, "Yeah, it’s got a little Bo Diddley feel to it. Yeah, you’re right." Of course, we liked Bo Diddley as well, when we were kids, you know, so he’s probably an influence as well on the guitar player (Bobby Taylor). And the drummer (Johnny Wise), especially, the drummer’s great. He does some great stuff on that, and he was only 20 years old."

Chris Farlowe and The Thunderbirds: The Beginning is now available for pre-order at Jimmy Page.com in advance of its April 30 release date. The release is available in two editions: Standard and Deluxe. The 1-LP, 1-CD set is available signed and numbered by Chris Farlowe and Jimmy Page in a limited edition release bringing the signatures of two music legends together for the very first time.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...