Fame at last

Georgie Fame was, for a long time, the epitome of cool. He has just released what may well be his last album, Swan Songs (and for some recent years he has released some pretty good records), but meanwhile Polydor have put out a collection of his early work: The Whole World’s Shaking: Complete Recordings 1963-1966. It’s all good (except maybe the one track on which Long John Baldry sings. Baldry’s strangled vocal sounds like a bad parody of Bobby Bland). Fame (aka Clive Powell) was named by impresario Larry Parnes (Billy Fury, Tommy Steele, Duffy Power &c – get the picture. Joe Brown failed to change his name to Elmer Twitch). The collection has been put together with care, unlike so many of these ventures. The book doesn’t fall to bits when you open it and the sequencing has been managed intelligently. If it’s mono, it’s mono. This is Mod central (even if the Mods had a little trouble with Fame’s big band workout, Sound Venture). I wholeheartedly recommend this one.