In his own time on Immediate Records, British soul shouter
Chris Farlowe's output was sliced and diced and re-compiled so many times that no one even remembers the names of his original albums for the label (not that those were any better or more coherent -- Immediate founder
Andrew Oldham was always so busy trying to exploit
Farlowe any way he could, as one of the two or three best-selling talents on his label).
Out of Time, subtitled "The Immediate Anthology," is the solution, its 49 songs drawn equally from
Farlowe's singles, B-sides, EPs, and LP tracks, with the quality of the performances the only real deciding factor. The first half-dozen songs here could sell even the skeptics on
Farlowe's talent, his renditions of "In the Midnight Hour," "Mr. Pitiful" and "Treat Her Right" are among the most convincing white soul you're ever likely to hear from either side of the Atlantic, and they also explain precisely how
Farlowe was able to share a stage with
Otis Redding (the equivalent of visiting royalty) on Ready, Steady Go (when
Farlowe covered his first
Stones' song, "Satisfaction," he used an arrangement that made it sound more like
Otis than like the
Stones). The only disadvantage is that the hits are, of necessity, spread out to two platters, but if it were solely the hits one were concerned with, then one would be getting one of those compilations, instead of this jewel, the next-best thing to a
Chris Farlowe box set. The sound is never less than excellent -- and good and loud -- and the annotation is very thorough. This set makes the perfect companion to
Rock 'n' Roll Soldier: Anthology 1970-2004.