1966 Chris Farlowe – Out Of Time
The Rolling Stones released their fourth studio album in the UK in 1966. Albums in the US tended to have only five songs on each side while UK albums had 6 or 7, and as a result, it was their sixth album released in the US.
Out Of Time was one of the songs on the UK version that was left off the US version of Aftermath. What they recorded the song in March 1966, it ran five minutes and fifteen seconds. The long run time may partially explain why they omitted the song from their US album.
Chris Farlowe was born in London and played in a skiffle group and then a blues quartet in the late fifties. He became the frontman for The Thunderbirds and went solo in 1962. After a single co-written by Lee Hazlewood failed to chart in 1965, Chris began working with Mick Jagger. His cover version of a Stones’ song from Aftermath (Think) reached #37 in the UK, after which Mick chose to help Chris cover Out Of Time.
In April 1966, Mick recorded a demo of the song with new musical backing (including himself on backup vocals, Jimmy Page on guitar, and past-Beatles fill-in drummer Andy White). That 1966 recording did not get released by the Stones until much later.
Chris recorded his single by simply replacing Mick’s lead vocals with his own, and the result was a number one record in the UK. Sadly, it did not reach the US Hot 100 at all. It did, however, reach #30 on WMCA in New York City the first week of September.
In 1967, the Rolling Stones released Flowers, a second compilation album in the US that included songs from the UK albums Aftermath and Between The Buttons that had not released in the US. The album included a remixed version of Out Of Touch from Aftermath that they also cut down to only three minutes and forty-one seconds.
The version of Out Of Time that Mick recorded as a demo eventually got released in 1975 on the album Metamorphosis. That recording became a single that peaked at only #45 in the UK and #81 in the US. Perhaps that release is the reason the Chris Farlowe version sounds so familiar!
A reissue of Chris’ hit version followed in 1975 and did slightly better in the UK than the Stone’s version (#44) but again failed to chart in the US.
Chris did not have any additional big hits after topping the UK chart. He has continued recording as a solo act, as a brief member of Atomic Rooster, and as a member of several other groups. The Stones, however, don’t appear to be in any hurry to stop recording or performing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Farlowe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_Time_(Rolling_Stones_song)
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