History barely remembers their collaborations, but Fame and Price deserve a rewrite.
Having both forged careers in the 1960s, both solo and fronting bands, Georgie Fame and Alan Price were found together for a few brief episodes in the early 1970s.
They are best known together for the 1970 song Rosetta ("...are you better, are you well, well, well"), a rambunctious song about an equally boisterous woman. But they produced two albums*, a residency on The Two Ronnies... and 1974's gem, Don't Hit Me When I'm Down. One of history's great forgotten pop songs, it is unlikely to have been a significant hit anywhere - and sadly never made it to CD - but it was so infectious the tune remains with me today. It follows a strong tradition of the day, of white boys infusing a dose of obscure reggae rhythm to an otherwise white song (1973-74 was positively littered with these, which merits a whole extra post).
Watching them live, still young but well experienced, they displayed an ease and enjoyment together. Their voices were so similar that they switched vocals verse by verse -moreover, switching lead and harmony - so smoothly that if you weren't watching them, it would be hard to tell the difference.
The scant legacy is a handful of videos that must have been culled from The Two Ronnies. They took few risks with this gig, presenting mainly covers, but again at ease and consummate.
And the whole Fame/Price experience must have been a blithe interlude for Alan Price, who had a notable body of work both before and afterwards, including - again in 1974 - the marvellous Jarrow Song, about a 1936 unemployed worker's march to London from Jarrow, Price's home town. Much respected since then (full discography here), too much overlooked for his time with Georgie Fame.
Discography - Georgie Fame and Alan Price
Rosetta/John & Mary (1971, CBS) UK#11, Aus#91, Wellington,NZ#15
Fame and Price, Price and Fame Together (1971, CBS): Rosetta/Yellow Man/Dole Song/Time I Moved On/John And Mary/Here And Now/Home Is Where The Heart Is/Ballad Of Billy Joe/That's How Long My Love Is/Blue Condition/I Can't Take It Much Longer
Follow Me/Sergeant Jobsworth (1971, CBS)
Don't Hit Me When I'm Down/Street Lights (1974, Reprise) Wellington NZ#10
*For the life of me, I can't locate the other album. It certainly wasn't Superhits, which cobbles together some tracks from the first one plus a few of Fame's.
4 comments:
I have been trying to get a copy of don't hit me when I'm down for ages having only heard it on the radio once in 1973. I only remember the words "lost in confusion" and the reggae beat. Is it possible to upload it onto youtube?
I like your optimism :)
I had the single once... but I don't know what happened to most of my old records. That's what comes of skipping the country...
"I was happy as a bumble bee when it finds itself surrounded by clover..."
Late night browsing on the internet (via my phone, lying in bed) and came across this 11 year old blog post. I'm sure by now you're aware that "DON'T HIT ME..." has been released on CD as one of the bonus tracks on the reissue of the "TOGETHER" lp. What you may not know is that yes, FAME & PRICE/PRICE & FAME did in fact record a 2nd studio lp which was to be titled "PRIME CUTS", but Reprise shelved the album (which was to be released in the summer of '73) after the failure of the "DON'T HIT ME..." single (released Spring of '73), as well as Alan then being busy with the promotion of the "O LUCKY MAN!" soundtrack that summer which would preclude him from doing any touring with Georgie to promote the "PRIME CUTS" release. Sadly, that album is still in the vaults somewhere, although a couple of cuts made it on the Georgie Fame box set "THE IN CROWD".
Thanks for the info. Will that second album ever see the light of day?
I have an ongoing conversation with a friend over how people made a living in those days. Those who didn't have high or steady album sales can't have been getting much return from recordings in the UK, and must have been reliant on tv, gigs and touring.
Some reissues do happen, but I suspect they're as much aficianado projects as anything else - it can't be too easy to even cover costs from a Fame And Price reissue, let alone send much in the way of royalties their way. I'm guessing streaming will, perversely, be a low-cost route to a reissue, especially if the artists have little expectations of returns anyway.
Here's hoping. There's a lot of treasure to uncover from this era if the economics is there.
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