Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Must have for Fame fans!, July 31, 2008
This is not exactly "Ultimate" Fame as the title of the CD suggests. However, it is certainly a must have for any real fan of Fame, especially the TV series. In order to be "ultimate" it would need to be a 2-CD set and include more songs from the Fame movie soundtrack (such as "I Sing The Body Electric"), the short-lived Fame L.A. TV series, and more songs from all of the Fame TV show albums. The bulk of the material on this CD comes from the first album entitled "The Kids From Fame." That being said, this was a treasure to find as fans of Fame have been wanting many of these songs on CD for years. I am one of those fans who was happy to see the release of these songs from "The Kids From Fame" album finally on CD.
The following is included on "Ultimate Fame"
1. Fame - Movie Soundtrack
2. Out Here On My Own - Movie Soundtrack
3 through 10 - "The Kids From Fame" album (only 2 songs from this album were not included in this collection - those being Step Up To The Mike & We Got The Power, which were actually the correct songs to omit. However, the 12-inch remixed extended version of We Got The Power would have been a nice addition too. Since We Got The Power was released on a 12-inch single, that song's omission from this CD release is a bit of a mystery to me.)
3. Starmaker (One of the best songs in the entire Fame catalog.)
4. Hi-Fidelity
5. Desdemona (My personal favorite. I love how Shakespeare is set to 80s pop.)
6. I Can Do Anything Better Than You Can (Finally, Erica Gimpel on CD! I always thought she should have been a bigger singing star than she turned out to be.)
7. I Still Believe In Me
8. Life Is A Celebration (Another highlight! Positive lyrics with a great message.)
9. It's Gonna Be A Long Night
10. Be My Music
11. Mannequin - "The Kids From Fame Again" album
12. Dancing Endlessly - "Songs" album
13 through 16 are from the Fame musical (and if you've never seen the musical or heard these songs - well, they are typical Broadway style; and that's a good thing!)
13. Let's Play A Love Scene
14. Dancin' On The Sidewalk
15. Think Of Meryl Streep
16. Bring On Tomorrow
17. Friday Night - "The Kids From Fame Live" album
18 and 19 have never been released - The two Lee Curreri penned songs making their debut release are Murphy Blues and False Alarm (reminds me a bit of Rupert Holmes' compositions) and they are nice additions indeed! Curreri, who appeared in the first seasons of Fame and also contributed greatly as a composer, was apparently instrumental in the compilation of "Ultimate Fame," as made evident in the liner notes, and he is to applauded for giving us fans what we've been wanting.
The reason I give it only 4 stars instead of 5 is because, as stated earlier, a 2 CD set with more Fame songs would have been highly welcomed. There was only 1 song each from the albums "The Kids From Fame Again" and "Songs" and absolutely no songs included from the "Rock 'N Roll World" album. Fortunately, I have all the albums on LP (in near mint condition) and, I must admit, some of the best songs were from the first album "The Kids From Fame" which are included on this Ultimate Fame release. But, it still would have been nice to have had more included and also never before released songs from later seasons which included Nia Peeples and Janet Jackson. (Recordings hopefully still exist as the songs were pre-recorded in the studio and then lip-synced during the taping of the show.) Albums from Fame were no longer being released once Nia joined the cast and that is a real shame. She was one of the greatest talents on the show. It is unfortunate that Nia Peeples' musical numbers from her days on Fame have become dust in the wind. - For those not already in the know; yes, the same Nia Peeples of "Walker: Texas Ranger" and now "The Young And The Restless" fame. (As a sidebar here: Missing songs from the later years of Fame when in syndication would not be the case if the proverbial Powers That Be would finally release the rest of the Fame TV series on DVD. As of this writing, only season 1 has been released and we fans are waiting for the future seasons of Fame on DVD!! Everything else is out. Why can't they have the complete series of Fame out too instead of just Season 1?!?) But, back to Nia - if you are considering purchasing her solo recordings but are not familiar with them...think Paula Abdul (only much better vocals!) That's the style of 80s music on her releases. Her song "This Time I'll Be Sweeter" though from "Nothin' But Trouble", is a beautiful ballad that would have fit nicely on a Fame episode.
But, for now, we have Ultimate Fame and I am greatly pleased with this addition to my collection. For the casual Fame fan, I suggest you purchase this release along with the Fame movie soundtrack and you've got most of the essentials. You may also want to search for Nia Peeples' two solo releases entitled "Nothin' But Trouble" and "Nia Peeples" which contains her hit "Street Of Dreams." Good luck on that search!
I would also suggest (if you collect LPs and are a big fan of Fame), that you search out the aforementioned LPs (you can always burn them on to a CD) and even give the "Fame L.A." TV Soundtrack CD a try. Again, good luck on the search. (You can always try the GEMM.com website for record and CD collectors. Many an out of print recording can be found there.) The 1999 Original American Cast recording of Fame is definitely optional as the necessary cuts from this musical are on "Ultimate Fame."
Anyone reading this is probably a fan already of Fame or you wouldn't be considering the purchase. If you are a fan of the TV show and loved the music and want to take that trip down memory lane - you should not hesitate to purchase this CD. However, if you know little about the Fame TV show then you may want to pass on this. This CD release will be most appreciated by true Fame fans and fans of the TV show who remember the songs. Are some of the songs a bit dated? Well, yes. Are some of them a bit corny or hokey? Well, yes. But, do they make you feel good? Absolutely! And, hey, isn't that one of the things music is supposed to do?
To conclude: If you decide to purchase "Ultimate Fame," I recommend you try to locate it from an independent seller like I did. It is a bit overpriced by Amazon. Worth it! But, overpriced!
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you are a Fame fan..., January 9, 2007
If you loved the music from Fame Tv and the concerts, then this is the disc to get. Not all the albums have this collection of songs, so this one is best of the Fame albums to get. However, if you are not a Fame fan you probably won't enjoy this it is more for the nostagia than "quality" music.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great collection from the hit show, August 28, 2008
If you remember that great show Fame, which aired around the same time Flashdance hit the theaters. It was all about the School of Performing arts. This collection will bring back great memories to a show that was destined to be classic tv.
Worth the having to anyone who loves the 80s music. Fame Soundtrack and Flashdance. Irene Carra the queen of soundtrack hits.
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~ Kids from Fame
DVD ~ Gene Anthony Ray
DVD ~ Eddie Barth
~ Irene Cara
~ Robert Creighton
- the new music site from IMDb and Amazon.
