Showing posts with label Hummingbird. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hummingbird. Show all posts

Monday, October 26, 2015

On This Day 26 October

Never out of time when it comes to Jimmy Page's music
1987 26 October On This Day Jimmy Page recorded Blues Anthem with Chris Farlowe

  • 1968 Led Zeppelin - Bristol, England at Bristol Boxing Club 
  • 1987 Jimmy Page with Chris Farlowe, Blues Anthem for Outrider recorded
  • 1988 Jimmy Page Outrider Tour - East Rutherford, NJ at Brendan Byrne Arena
  • 1995 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - New York, NY at Madison Square Garden (day 1)
1966:
Mick Jagger and Keith Richard wrote Chris Farlowe's biggest hit, Out of Time.  Jagger produced it as well as sang backup vocals, with Jimmy Page on guitar.  

"Funnily enough I didn’t like the song at first. I saw myself as an r’n’b and blues singer, and it seemed too “pop” to me. But Mick said, wait until you hear it with a full orchestra behind it. And he was right – it’s a great song. I’ve still got photographs of the recording session.’
~ Chris Farlowe, The Merceysider Magazine interview 2014

The orchestra was okay. Kind of overdone, if you ask me. But Jimmy Page - he was the secret weapon. More would have been better.


Jimmy Page's Gibson Cromwell acoustic guitar used to record Out of Time (1966)

Jimmy Page with Gibson Cromwell acoustic guitar
1968:
There isn't much info about this Led Zeppelin appearance, but Mick Farren (1943-2013) of The Deviants talked about the show.

"We supported Led Zeppelin at one of their first gigs at the local Bristol boxing club and the audience hated us and despised them. Somebody threw a beer glass at the stage and Sid Bishop, our guitarist, unfortunately threw it back and cut somebody's head open. When Led Zeppelin came on, they got through number and a half until the fire extinguishers, buckets, bricks and everything was being thrown at them.

"All these farmboys with brown suits and haircuts who had come into town looking to get laid marched in. Page and Plant were cracking up in the dressing room after we'd come off, saying how terrible we were. But they had gotten the same treatment because by now it had gotten way out of hand. We had to huddle inside the van while the kids bounced up and down on it and we didn't escape until 2 in the morning when it was safe to go home."

1988:
Chris Farlowe sang on three tracks from Jimmy Page's Death Wish II soundtrack (1982), as well as Hummingbird, Prison Blues and Blues Anthem on Outrider.

1995:
Jimmy Page & Robert Plant's American tour was sponsored by Miller Genuine Draft (Miller Brewing Company), a portion of the proceeds from the sponsored tour to benefit the Second Harvest National Food Bank Network. It's not clear to me whether every venue in 1995 was covered or only the first leg of the tour. Part of the deal was the Miller Genuine Draft Led Zeppelin Memorabilia truck that was supposed to show up at each venue, and 50 "Miller Genuine Draft Page/Plant guitars" were to be autographed and donated to the cause.  The brewing company guaranteed a minimum $100,000 for Second Harvest.

1995 Robert Plant & Jimmy Page, Madison Square Garden




♪  Out Of Time (Jimmy Page, Chris Farlowe 1966) YouTube
♪  Hummingbird (Jimmy Page with Chris Farlowe, Outrider 1988) YouTube
♪  Prison Blues (Jimmy Page with Chris Farlowe, Outrider 1988) YouTube
♪  Blues Anthem (Jimmy Page with Chris Farlowe, Outrider 1988) YouTube

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

On This Day 22 April

In 1960 (or was it 1961?) Jimmy Page persuaded Chris Farlowe and The Thunderbirds to record at RG Jones - a demo Studio in Putney.

In 2019 On This Day says the Farlowe studio session was in 1961


1960 Jimmy Page at RG Jones Studio with Chris Farlowe
  • 1961 Jimmy Page - produces Chris Farlowe's Money
  • 1985 The Firm, Market Square Arena, Indianapolis IN
1961
R.G. Jones is one of the longest running studios in Britain.  The facility was located at Morden Manor when Jimmy Page was there with Chris Farlowe (it was moved to Wimbledon in 1969 where it operated until 2001). The studio produced demo records for the Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, David Bowie, Springfields, Englebert Humperdink, Tom Jones, the Bee Gees and others.

Jimmy Page's On This Day says the studio session happened in 1960 and in 1961, depending on which On This Day you are looking at.  However, let's go with 1961.  Page, at that point 17 years old, would go on to work for Immediate Records for several years as the label's in-house producer.

Chris Farlowe sang on three tracks from Jimmy Page's Death Wish II soundtrack (1982), as well as Hummingbird, Prison Blues and Blues Anthem on Page's album Outrider (1988).

Farlowe is considered by some to be one of the most underrated British soul & blues influenced singers ever.  I consider Outrider to be one of the most underrated albums ever.  


♪ Money (Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds 1960 or 1961) YouTube
♪ Hypnotizing Ways (Oh Mamma) (Death Wish II 1982 YouTube 
Prison Blues (Outrider 1988 YouTube