Credits:

Georgie Fame

Description:

For someone who was so popular at the height of the British Invasion, Georgie Fame’s mid-’60s catalog has been surprisingly patchily served on CD, with the exception of best-of compilations. This 24-track anthology doesn’t totally fill the gap, but does much to deepen the available selection of Fame’s material from the era beyond the hits. True, the hits collections are better than this compilation, which is missing such top-flight smashes as “Yeh Yeh,” “Get Away,” and “Sittin’ in the Park.” But you’re not turning to this CD for those hits; you’re searching for something beyond the most commonly reissued early Fame cuts, of which this disc presents a generous heap. The emphasis is on soul and R&B covers, a few of which rank among the best recordings he ever made, especially the Mose Allison-goes-R&B of “Get on the Right Track Baby,” the actual Allison cover “Parchman Farm,” the jazzy rendition of Ge