Customer Reviews

20 Beat Classics

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Its a shame that Georgie Fame (and his seminal band the Blue Flames) has not enjoyed more recognition in the US for his talents and contribution to the music industry. Georgie (real name Clive Powell)is one of those cats who is more influential than famous. Check out 'Yeh Yeh" - lyrics by the legendary Jon Hendricks, music by Mongo SantaMaria) which was a monster hit in Britain in 1964. Or Georgie's version of Willie Dixon's "I Love the Life I Live" -- no doubt the best version of this tune ever recorded. Now, a quick trivia question. The drummer's style sounds familiar, doesn't it? Listen closely.Why that's Mitch Mitchell! Yep. Mitch left the Blue Flames in October of 1966 to join the Jimi Hendrix Experience. You can't go wrong with this CD. And while Georgie has done somne great stuff over the last 20 years (he's been Van Morrison's music director since about 1990 while recoding some great albums with the likes of Robben Ford and Ben Sidran, for example. John Mclaughlin-- pre Mahavishnu-- was Georgie's rhythm guitar player in late Sixties for another) the stuff on this disc-- all originally recorded between 1964 & 1966) will grab you, suck you in, blow your mind and make you a devotee of this jazz/blues giant.

If you weren't there, you wouldn't know. But Fame was the undisputed king of the R&B club scene, with a fanatical following. Why wasn't he a bigger star? Too sophisticated, too musical for an era that was gravitating to loud guitars and crass 'blooze' jamming. In contrast, there was nothing crass or gormless about Fame and the Blue Flames. Listening to this CD brings it all back. Until he popped up as Van Morrison's music director, I'd honestly thought he'd died. [And you should check out the 1990s CDs he appears on with Morrison, they're great]. Now what we need is for some record company to have the intelligence to re-release the whole catalog -- 'Live At The Flamingo', his early ska sides, 'Fame At Last,' 'Sweet Thing'. High spots of this record include an amazing 'Ride Your Pony,' and 'Funny How Times Slips Away.' One thing that made me smile: it's amazing how much this resembles some of Elvis Costello's output. I'm thinking of 'Punch The Clock,' but also some of his recent 'soulful' work. That, BTW, is a compliment, to both.

To most Americans who have heard of him, the name Georgie Fame brings to mind his cheesy novelty hit Bonnie and Clyde. Others, who are more musically advanced, know of him as a sideman for and a producer of some memorable Van Morrison albums in the 1990s. But few of us ever knew him as a star in his own right. I bought 20 Beat Classics on the strength of an amazon recommendation and my curiosity about a musician who added much to the continuing success of the legendary Morrison. On the first listen I was less than impressed, but on subsequent listens the CD began to grow on me. Sure its primitive, at times it is even lame, but at other times it is excellent. Fame covers a lot of ground here, touching on compositions by artists as varied as James Brown and Willie Nelson. My favorites are the rocking Yeh Yeh, the jazzy Moody's Mood For Love, a very soulful rendition of Nelson's Funny How Time Slips Away, In The Meantime, Blue Monday, and I Love the Life I Live. The lowlight is My Girl and the switching of some lyrics in an otherwise decent rendition of Papa's Got A Brand New Bag. These should be listened to in the spirit of the times in which they were recorded. When heard from that perspective, Fame comes across as a hip musician whose play was very much on the edge in its day. If you liked the sounds of Them, the Kinks, and the Yardbirds you are almost sure to like this fine assortment of good-time rockin' blues.

Growing up in the 1960s we all knew "Yeah, Yeah" and "Get Away" but Georgie Fame has a lot of other good stuff out there. I made and effort to collect all his old American and British albums. I have this CD on an album and it is excellent. I really like "Sitting In The Park" a great song by Georgie Fame. I wish that "Last Night" from the American album "Yea, Yea" was on this CD, it is a great five minute rocker.

If you haven't heard Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames before it would be worth your time and money to check out this CD.

You might also want to check out "The Bonnie & Clyde" album that is on Epic records. That album has a great cover of "When I'm Sixty-Four" on it.

I know you will like Georgie Fame if you like British Invasion Music, if you don you probably won't like this CD.

I've had this collection on tape for many years, having earlier had much of the content on vinyl. About to buy the CD for reasons of practicality.

It really is a sublime collection and a constant reminder of just what a good band GF & The Blue Flames were in the mid-60's. As an Englishman now living in New Zealand I'm surprised to read that Georgie is so little known in the US.

For anyone really keen, you can try tracking down a VHS tape "Ready Steady Go - Volume 1". GF & BF's play Yeh Yeh live, at a time (1964) when very little live music was performed on British TV...........and the whole band really cooks. Coincidentally, the same tape will also provide the VERY first TV appearance by Georgie's more recent musical mate Van Morrison (singing with THEM), aged 18 at the time I believe.

Georgie is still going strong. I saw him perform less than two weeks ago (7 April '07) here in NZ. The voice is as strong and tuneful as ever (at 64) and the Hammond still rocks. Long may it remain so. He'll be at Montreux this year also.

I remember Georgie Fame and the 'Blue Flames' well from my pre-Beatles youth. He has a strong sense of rhythm and of musical adventure and works with both jazz and latin materials as well as with blues and up-tempo numbers. I am not surprised that he made a good career as a music director for other bands. His boyish appearance on the album cover is pretty much of a piece with his vocal deliveries: he seems more of a 'cover' singer than a groundbreaker. Having said that, I found 'Yeah, yeah, yeah' buzzing in my head for days after rehearing it. Listeners can learn from hearing him working with different material in an engaged and intelligent way.

This is a great CD compilation of Georgie Fame's (Clive Powell) early work. A lot of this was released on Imperial in the U.S.A. He wasn't really a rocker; he had jazz leanings, and a great voice and band. His 'Sweet Thing', 'Sitting In the Park', My Girl', Funny How Time Slips Away' (not on this CD, unfortunately), 'Yeh Yeh', 'Get Away', are just some of the great tunes on this compact disc. By the way, 'Bonnie and Clyde' (on Epic in the States) is a fun album. Georgie has some back catalog CDs that are worth checking out. One on the Island label, called 'Georgie Fame' is good as well.

In 1968 my brother was leaving for California (we lived near Chicago then), and he wanted to discard his LPs. I said, 'Absolutely not!' I took the records and two were Imperial LPs of Georgie Fame. I have them here as I write this review. Hey, get his music while you can! He still performs, but I'm glad I've kept those LPs!

This compilation covers Georgie Fame early period 1964-66. Apart from two track his first studio-album "Fame at Last" is here in its complete. The rest of the compilation consists of selected tracks from his two 1966 albums "Sound Venture" and "Sweet Thing" and of course some of the great non-album single tracks, such as "Yeh Yeh" and "In the Meantime".

Fame is a great singer - lovely smokey voice - and with the right material he's simply irresistable. His early single hits like "Yeh Yeh", "Get Away" and "In the Meantime" are as danceable as ever - seems like music like this is not recorded any more.

Just as charming as the singles are album tracks like "My Girl", "Sitting in the Park" or "Sweet Thing".

Everything is musically perfectly performed by the great Blue Flames though some tracks like "Funny How Time Slips Away", "Let the Sunshine In" and "Pink Champagne" may come out a little like fillers.

Great original music as well as classic 60's R & B covers. His smooth style holds up to multiple listenings.