Kids From Fame Again

"The Kids From Fame Again" was the second album to be released by the cast of the U.S. TV series "FAME". It was released on LP (RCALP6057) and Cassette (RCAK6057) in October 1982, licensed by RCA music. It entered the U.K. charts at number 38 on 16th October 1982. 

Over the course of the next 9 months it spent 21 weeks on the U.K. charts. It's highest position was number 2, where it stayed for 2 weeks only being outsold by the first "Kids From Fame" album which was at number 1. The album achieved Platinum status in the U.K. and became the 34th best selling U.K. album of 1982 which wasn't bad considering it was released so late in the year. Only 2 albums released around the same time placed higher on the best selling albums of 1982 chart and they were greatest hits compilations by John Lennon (The John Lennon Collection) at number 10 and Abba (The Singles: The First 10 Years) at number 25.

 The album sold over 500,000 copies in the U.K.

The album was produced by Barry Fasman for The Entertainment Company. Executive producers were Charles Koppelman & Martin Bandier.  Lead Vocals were by Debbie Allen, Lee Curreri, Erica Gimpel, Valerie Landsburg, PR Paul and Gene Anthony Ray.  Lee Curreri also wrote/Co wrote 2 of the songs "Alone in the Crowd" and "Sho Sho Sho Shorofsky".

 The album had been rush released ready for the Christmas market to try and cash in on the huge and unexpected success of the first album. However, it was generally believed that overall the songs weren't up to the standard of the first album. Also none of the songs were re-recorded for this album and the original recording for the TV series were used. 

One single was released in the U.K. from the album "Mannequin" but poor sales for the single  meant no further singles were released especially as it would only be a few months before the Kids From Fame Live album was released. "The Kids From Fame Again" album was not released in America and a number of other countries, just the ones where the first album had been a huge success. 

Tracklisting:

Side A:

"Mannequin" (Henry Gaffney) Gene Anthony Ray

"Carnival" (Henry Thompson & Vanessa Dale) Debbie Allen

"I Was Only Trying To Help" (Gary Portnoy & Ruth Rosen) Valerie Landsburg

"Alone In The Crowd" (Lee Curreri) Lee Curreri

"You're The Real Music" (Barry Fasman & Steve Sperry) Gene Anthony Ray

"Sho Sho Sho Shorofsky" (Lee Curreri & Steve Sperry) Lee Curreri

Side B:

"A Special Place" (Sue Sheridan & William Goldstein) Debbie Allen

"Do The Gimme That" (Sue Sheridan & Barry Fasman) Valerie Landsburg & PR Paul

"It's Sonata Mozart" (Instrumental - Based On "Sonata In C Major", Mozart)

"Come What May" (David Wolfert & Henry Gaffney) Gene Anthony Ray

"The Show Must Go On" (Barry Fasman & Steve Sperry) Erica Gimpel

Although I was happy the cast were having success with the album releases and the songs were there for the fans to buy this album just felt like a total cash in to me and isn’t up to the same standard as the first album. This album is not on the BBC records label as the other 4 U.K. releases were its on RCA who obviously didn’t want to share the profits on this one.

 The first album had the wonderful gate-fold sleeve and cover photo but no such effort has gone into this release. It’s a standard sleeve with a standard season 1 cast photo which had been seen many times before. However the photo here is actually transposed and obviously no one at the record label realized it as the wrong way round, which to me highlights how little care was taken putting the album together. That or they thought we’d think it was a new picture. There are very few credits on the sleeve as well. The first album listed the musicians, soloists and backing singers but none of that appears on this album sleeve.

 Many songs on the first album were actually rerecorded and polished to improve them for the record release but nothing is rerecorded here it’s just the straight forward songs as used in the show. To me the standard of these songs doesn’t compare to the classics  on the first album.

 “Mannequin” written by Henry Gaffney and performed by Gene Anthony Ray was the first and only single from this album but sadly only hit number 50 on the U.K. charts. I was never really surprised about this as personally I didn’t think it was good enough to be a single. They should have gone with “Life is a Celebration” or “We’ve Got the Power” and kept this track as the b-side. However I suppose they wanted something to promote this album and after the “Starmaker” single wanted to go uptempo for this release but to me none of the uptempo songs are really good enough to be singles.

 “Carnival” written by Henry Thompson & Vanessa Dale and performed by Debbie Allen who is obviously having a good time with this song  and although I feel this is the best uptempo song on the album it’s still not up to the previous standards.

 “I Was Only Trying To Help” written by Gary Portnoy & Ruth Rosen and performed by Valerie is the best song on this album. It’s such a beautiful song and sung so powerfully by Valerie and brings backs so many good memories of a really good episode “The Crazies”.

 “Alone In The Crowd” Written and performed by Lee Curreri. It’s the ballads that work the best on this album and although for me this isn’t as good as “Be My Music" this certainly is a good song and Lee’s first solo outing on a record.

 “You’re The Real Music” written by Barry Fasman & Steve Sperry and performed by Gene Anthony Ray is pleasant enough but it’s not a song that really says anything to me.

“Sho Sho Sho Shorofsky” written by Lee Curreri & Steve Sperry and performed by Lee Curreri, who waits for his first solo song and gets two pretty much next to each other. It’s quirky and good fun but Lee seems to do the ballads the best.

 “A Special Place” written by  Sue Sheridan and William Goldstein” and performed by Debbie this is another classic fame ballad. Debbie sounds wonderful on the song and it really sums of the emotion of how I felt about the show and the cast.

 “Do The Gimme That” written by Sue Sheridan & Barry Fasman and performed by Valerie Landsburg and PR Paul. This is PR’s first and only song from the show. In real life he was supposed to have a band and be a singer but for whatever reason the show never utilized his vocals apart from here. It’s another quirky fun song but not up to the normal fame standard and PR sounds a little too squeaky for my liking.

 “It’s A Sonata Mozart” written Barry Fasman based on Sonata in C Major by Mozart.  Mozart goes pop works well as a small part of the episode “The Sell Out” but for me it doesn’t rally work on a pop record aimed at the youth market. There were other songs from the first season that didn’t get used and I would have preferred they had gone with one of them rather than use this one.

 "Come What May” written by David Wolfert & Henry Gaffney and performed by Gene Anthony Ray who features very strongly on this album with 3 solos but this is by and far the best of them. I love this song and my only complaint is that this should have been a duet with Carlo. Carlo has already recorded his shorter solo version and I think had this been on the first album they would have definitely put the 2 guys together but for this album thy didn’t bother which means Carlo along with Lori don’t feature on this album at all.

 “The Show Must Go On” written by Barry Fasman & Steve Sperry and performed by Erica Gimpel. After featuring so strongly on the first album 7 out of 10 songs this is s Erica’s only song on this album. One of my inspirations from the first season it’s a real let down that she’s not on this album more. Sadly this is one of my least favourite Erica songs too.