Hotel Eingang

by William Ruhlmann Veteran British soul man Chris Farlowe, who turned 68 shortly before the release of this album, his first new studio recording in five years, is more than four decades removed from his brief period as a U.K. pop star in the mid-'60s, and he has long since reverted to the bluesy style he had used before then, back in the days of Chris Farlowe & the Thunderbirds, before "Out of Time" gave him his only chart-topper. On Hotel Eingang, he leads an effective guitar/organ/bass/drums quartet, with some occasional horns, background vocals, and a harmonica joining in. The songs either sound like old electric blues and R&B numbers or really are. "It Should've Been Me," which was a Top Five R&B hit for Ray Charles in 1954 but could've been one for the Coasters, gets a workout, for instance. On the other hand, "I've Got Your Love" comes from the pen of Boz Scaggs, who is closer to Farlowe's age, and dates from only 1997, while "Fog on the Highway" is an original by the band's guitarist, Miller Anderson, and is a statement of purpose for this journeyman performer and his accompanists. Farlowe is sometimes described as sounding like the American R&B singers who were his models, but with his foggy, phlegmy, occasionally gritty voice, he is more suggestive of other, better known British singers of his generation, say a cross between Gary Brooker from Procol Harum and Joe Cocker. Hotel Eingang is not an album that is going to re-establish him as a star, but it may assure listeners (especially in Europe, where he plays primarily) that a night out seeing him in a club is likely to be an enjoyable experience. (The title track is actually a comic reminiscence by Farlowe of his first trip to Hamburg in 1961, and to get the punch line it is necessary to know that "Hotel Eingang" means "hotel entrance" in German. In the story, the young Farlowe supposes it to be the name of his hotel when he gets lost.)