Vanilla Fudge

Vanilla Fudge | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B000002IAK
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,835 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: VANILLA FUDGE
Title: VANILLA FUDGE
Street Release Date: 07/07/1987
Domestic
Genre: OLDIES

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Creative, and innovative, February 12, 2002

By 

Hans Pfaall (Connecticut, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vanilla Fudge (Audio CD)

Perhaps Vanilla Fudge is not for everybody because of their unique style and strange vocals, but the truth of the matter is that they were original. This writer sees the album as possibly the first progressive rock release. There are quasi-classical introductions and interludes throughout, predating Yes, Emerson, Lake and Palmer and the like. The originality is remarkable, despite the fact that they only covered well-known pop songs of the day. The Beatles Ticket to Ride, the Zombies She's Not There, and the Supremes You Keep Me Hanging On, are the songs that may interest fans of heavy metal. The Fudge gave them a slowed down, dramatic treatment with the heavy organ, active bass, pounding drums, and fuzzy psychedelic guitar. Their version of the Impressions People Get Ready is quite effective with the band's unique vocals, and church styled organ. The only possible weak spot would have to be Sonny Bono's Bang Bang. It has the feeling of a corny soap opera at times, but there are passages between the high-pitched vocals that are extremely heavy. Take Me For a Little While is an effective soul/pop fusion, and was probably the most normal sounding cut. The album ends with a most disturbing, psychedelic, and climactic version of Elanor Rigby, which truly captured the flair the band had for dramatic intensity. This album contains the Fudge's only top 40 hits, Hanging On(#6), and Little While(#38), but the Fudge should really be seen as an albums band. This album is one of Vanilla Fudge's best, and recommended. NOTE: Some reviewers have made the incorrect assumption that the band was nothing more than a studio creation thrown together by the record company. Actually, they were an established band for some time before this album, known as Mark and the Pigeons, influenced by the Long Island Sound of the Rascals, and Vagrants.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars sonic psychedelia, November 1, 2004

By 

Don Schmittdiel "running_man" (Clinton Twp., MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vanilla Fudge (Audio CD)

How many bands could produce an album that reached number three on the national charts consisting entirely of covers of classic compositions ranging from The Beatles, to The Zombies, to Sonny Bono, to The Supremes? That's exactly what Vanilla Fudge accomplished in 1967, "the Summer of Love", with their debut album. The organ heavy/heavy organ arrangements remained on the Top 100 for a remarkable 200 weeks.

'Vanilla Fudge' consists of Vince Martell on guitar, Mark Stein on organ and vocals, and the rugged rhythm section of Tim Bogert on bass and Carmine Appice on drums, who would in the 1970's team with Jeff Beck to form the minor supergroup (how's that for an oxymoron?) 'Beck, Bogert, and Appice'.

This groundbreaking album opens and closes with John Lennon/Paul McCartney compositions. The bombastic 'Ticket To Ride' features organ riffs that sound like a skateboard running over the keys. The band made up for whatever was lacking in their musical expertise through volume and intensity, and this track is the perfect example of that. An elegant funeral dirge-like arrangement of 'Eleanor Rigby' concludes the disc, with a last-second homage to 'Strawberry Fields' titled 'ELDS'. There are three other shorter-than-30 second blips on the disc, along with a couple announcements of tonal offerings from the engineer that lace the set with an atmosphere of experimental psychedelia. These brief tracks are titled 'WBER', 'STRA', and 'RYFI'. Lord knows what they stand for, but you can play them as anagrams for things like 'SLED', 'BREW', 'FIRY' and either 'RATS' or 'STAR'. Knock yourself out.

Other tracks covered on the disc are 'People Get Ready', sounding like a psychedelic church hymn, not up to par with 'The Chambers Brothers' version released the same year, or Curtis Mayfield's own original, but given it's unique treatment by The Fudge is still worthy of its six and one-half minutes. 'She's Not There' also doesn't approach The Zombies original, but it's an interesting cover nonetheless. The intro to Sonny Bono's 'Bang Bang' is something of an insane asylum's version of several childhood rhymes, and the song itself has a haunted feel to it. Great Halloween music.

The major classic on the disc is the white man's psychedelic take on The Supreme's 'You Keep Me Hanging On'. The song is one of two singles released from the album, and it rose to a deserving number eight on the national charts in August of 1968. Everything is right on this number (making it "right on" I suppose...), from the organ to the lead and background vocals, and especially Martell's nuanced lead guitar touches. The second single from the collection, 'Take Me For a Little While' was the band's sequel to 'You Keep Me Hanging On', and rose to number thirty-eight on the charts in October of '68. At 3:27 it's the shortest song on the album, while 'Eleanor Rigby' is the longest, timing out at 8:03. Most of the running times are beefed up by the band's penchant for extended, slowly emerging instrumental introductions. It's not uncommon for the band to stretch these covers into the five, six, and seven minute range, so that the seven major tracks total over 40 minutes of music.

There is nothing like this album. 'Vanilla Fudge', along with 'Creedence Clearwater Revival' were the two great cover bands of the 1960's, and this debut album is far and away their finest effort. Unfortunately the liner notes are nothing to write home about here, a serious shortcoming for far too many classic rock discs.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We Played Vanilla Fudge, March 30, 2004

By 

William Brighenti (New Britain, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vanilla Fudge (Audio CD)

When I was young (gad, I'm 56 already), our band listened to this 33 rpm album over and over to mimick their renditions of previous hits, particularly "You Keep Me Hanging On," "Ticket to Ride," "Bang, Bang, You Shot Me Down"....Vanilla Fudge had a very unique sound, an experience (of course, psychedelic), with a suspenseful beginning in each song, building up to a dramatic climax....It was definitely listening music, whether stoned, tripping, or just fantasizing out to the infinite limits of the galaxy: definitely not dance music. The songs sound as original and different as the first time I heard the album nearly 40 years ago....LOL!