Customer Reviews

Rock N Roll Soldier: Anthology 1970 - 2004

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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The first two discs contain tracks selected from Chris' solo albums from the last three decades. There's rock from the seventies and romantic songs from the nineties. Spicy hot stuff like "Miss You Fever" contrasts with the icy cold "Ain't No Big Deal". The third disc contains some live recordings and some previously unreleased tracks such as Peter Green's "Man of the World", and every Chris Farlowe fan will love to hear him sing this song.

Chris Farlowe is a (British) national treasure. For my money, his "Out of Time" is one of a handful of timelessly classic rock 'n' roll cuts from the sixties. Give it a listen through headphones if you haven't heard it in a while (or ever) -- a terrific blend of voice, London fatback soul sax (who knew there was such a thing?) and a Spector-like wall of sound.

In the years since, Farlowe has had his downs and ups, but for the last decade he has been back with an artistic bang, giving exciting shows in tiny venues -- do yourself a favor, check him out if you're ever in Europe -- and producing one great blues-tinged album after another. It's a crying shame that he has to function out of the limelight as a cottage industry, because his recorded output since the early nineties deserves to be the envy of Ray, Nina, Aretha, Joe Cocker and even Clapton. How the guy manages such great song selection and production values on a shoestring budget is a mystery.

"Rock 'n' Soldier" covers all the Chris Farlowe bases admirably. If it's too expensive for you, beg, borrow or steal a copy of the now hard-to-get "Waiting in the Wings."

I've never forgotten "You're out of touch?", I think it's called, since it was a hit many, many moons ago. This album is great too. He's still a master at his trade.

If you read the review of 'M.Wren' here you'll find his refering to a 3 cd set. Amazon does this cross referencing thing which is confusing. This is a 'best of' that 3 cd box set.

The U.S. release is ONLY 16 tracks BUT has the SAME packaging as the much more inclusive (and better) 3 cd IMPORT with 46 tracks!.

Farlowe has an amazing voice AND a facinating musical career. His voice is so emotive and powerful that over the years when he became a member of a band those albums he contributed to have become "the Chris Farlowe era".

That's no small order when you consider 2 of those bands, ATOMIC ROOSTER and COLOSSEUM.

His vox remindes me of a funky mix of Tom Jones, Mark Stein (Vanilla Fudge) and James Brown. He is the definitive blue-eyed soul shouter with a lengthy pedigree. A more apt title for Chris Farlowe might be 'Rock 'n Soul Soldier.

Check out the Import version for the REAL box set (3cds worth, 46 tracks)...NOT this misleading 1 disc 'best of that box'.

Minus 1 star for deceptive packaging.