Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band - BBC Sessions (1966-1969)

Have you ever heard of Geno Washington? I had, but almost entirely because I knew he was the subject of the Dexys Midnight Runners song "Geno," which was a Number One hit in Britain in 1980. He was an American black man who was a soul singer in Britain in the 1960s. He had quite a few BBC sessions, enough for this album here, though I believe all these performances remain unreleased.

Washington had a pretty interesting history. In the mid-1960s, Britain felt in love with American soul music, but there almost no American soul singers living in Britain. Washington was serving in the US Air Force, and happened to be stationed in England. He started as a stand-in for various local bands when their regular singers didn't show up. He did so well that he was invited to join a band, which became the Ram Jam Band. Sensing opportunity, he decided to stay in England when his time in the military ended. 

To be honest, his music wasn't really great, as it mostly consisted of covers of big soul hits that didn't differ much from their originals. But he became a huge concert draw. A live album, "Hand Clappin, Foot Stompin, Funky-Butt... Live!" was released in 1966. It turned out to be one of the best selling albums in Britain for several years. It only got to Number Five in the album charts, but it was a very steady seller, staying in the Top Ten for three months. A very similar live album was released a year later, and also did very well. In addition, there were about four minor hit singles.

However, musical trends were changing quickly at the time. Soul music fell out of favor starting in 1967, replaced by psychedelic music, then other trends, like hard rock, prog rock, and blues. The Ram Jam Band broke up in 1969, and Washington returned to the U.S. He quit the music business altogether and instead studied hypnotism and meditation. He resumed a music career in the mid-1970s, and continues performing all the way until today (as I write this in 2024). Apparently, his concerts now combine a hypnotism show, followed by a set of music.

Here's his Wikipedia entry, if you want to know more:

Geno Washington - Wikipedia 

The sound quality of all the songs here is excellent. However, you'll notice over half have "[Edit]" in their titles. That's due to the usual problem of BBC DJs (especially Brian Matthew) talking over the music. I did my usual thing of using the audio editing program UVR5 to wipe out the talking while keeping the underlying music.

I also didn't include three songs: "I Can't Turn You Loose," "Don't Fight It," and "Hi-Heel Sneakers," That's because he did two versions of those that were nearly identical, so I only kept one. But I did keep two versions of "Land of a Thousand Dances" because they were done very differently. The first version here is done the same as the hit version made famous by Wilson Pickett, but the second one is a more interesting slow version.

This album is 57 minutes long.

01 Don't Fight It (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
02 Hi Hi Hazel (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
03 Water [Edit] (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
04 Land of a Thousand Dances (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
05 Que Sera Sera [Whatever Will Be, Will Be] (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
06 You Don't Know like I Know (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
07 Knock on Wood (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
08 I Can't Turn You Loose (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
09 In the Midnight Hour (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
10 Michael [The Lover] [Edit] (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
11 You've Got Me Hummin' [Edit] (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
12 She Shot a Hole in My Soul (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
13 Raise Your Hand [Edit] (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
14 Tell It Like It Is (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
15 Jumpin' Jack Flash [Edit] (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
16 I Can't Quit Her [Edit] (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
17 Baby Come Back [Edit] (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
18 I Got You Babe [Edit] (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
19 Bring It to Me Baby [Edit] (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
20 Hi-Heel Sneakers [Edit] (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
21 Roadie's Blues [Edit] (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)
22 Land of a Thousand Dances [Slow Version] [Edit] (Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16970777/GENOWSHTNGTN1966-1969BBSssons_atse.zip.html

I saw very few color photos of Geno Washington in his 1960s heyday. Luckily I found just one good one, which is what I used here. I don't know the details except it was taken in 1966.