'60's London Swing

The Who’s 1979 film Quadrophenia did an excellent job at portraying the '60s mod subculture, though it neglected to illustrate the important role jazz played in the seminal British youth movement: especially the Hammond B3-grinding jams of Georgie Fame. Boasting a whopping 24 songs, this outstanding compilation captures the golden-voiced groover at his peak. It opens with the instantly danceable “The World Is Round,” and it’s clear from the get-go that Fame's alluring voice and heavy rhythmic approach to the organ made for uncanny chemistry. The harder-swinging “Sweet Thing” holds a magnifying glass over Fame’s inflections, revealing a golden voice that floated somewhere between young Tom Jones’ buttery smoothness and the breathy flirtations of The Zombies' Colin Blunstone. But Fame also had a knack for mashing genres with ease. “Preach & Teach” blends jazz with R&B, while “The Monkey Time” imports tinges of Jamaican ska into a big-band ensemble. And though his smash hit “Yeh Yeh” is curiously absent, the soulful and infectious “See Saw” makes up for it in spades.