New Vanilla Fudge Album - Tribute to Led Zeppelin(!!??!!)

[JohnO]

One of music's greatest mysteries may have just been solved!!! Like me, you may have wondered - Has there ever been any music that's more ponderous, more slothful, more, dare I say it, self-indulgently mind-numbing than that of Led Zeppelin? (Well, maybe Pink Floyd.....or maybe the Moody Blues, or.....Rush?)

And you may have thought - well, what about Vanilla Fudge, that awful 60s band who took every song they touched and just bludgeoned it to death six ways from Sunday?? And you'd have a point there!

Well, the Fudge just put out a new album in late June - "Out Through The In Door" - 12 Led Zeppelin standards, opening with "Immigrant Song", and closing with "Your Time Is Gonna Come"...thankfully, no "Stairway To Heaven", which, I'm sure, the Fudge would slow down to the point that they'd never finish it!

Has anyone heard this gem yet? It's only available as a Japanese import so far, and I just ordered a copy.

Vanilla Fudge were last seen/heard from doing a comeback album several years ago (with 3 of the original 4 members), covering/destroying 'N'Sync and Backstreet Boys tunes, as well as "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (co-written by VF drummer Carmine Appice during his days with Rod Stewart's band).....

[Eric Carmen]

JohnO, You have given me my "chuckle of the day." I don't think ALL of the Zepps' music was "mind-numbing." Actually, I quite like some of it. But I'd have to agree with you about Pink Floyd and Vanilla Fudge.

I'm not quite sure how I would characterize the music of Vanilla Fudge, since it sort of melds a few tasteless categories together into one thoroughly distasteful whole. Brooklyn Lithium Metal? Whatever it is, I shudder to think what they'd do to the Led Zepp catalogue. Brrrrrrrrrr.

[Eric Carmen]

Who in the heck was in Vanilla Fudge anyway? All I remember is Carmine and that Bogart fellow. If I close my eyes, I can see them playing at some little club in Jersey, a converted bowling alley. The Satellite Lounge. I think there was one of those in every town in the Northeast quadrant of the U.S. And I think the 'Berries played all of them. Sad, but true.

[Raspyrock]

Yeah --- who IS Vanilla Fudge anyway??

Different music for different moods --- after

a task saturation 3-headed monster day at work

( or dealing w/ family holiday's ) mind-numbing can be good JohnO -- it has it's place.

How 'bout a little diversity here so we can sing Kumbaya at the end of the day!

[hollies65]

My brother had the Fudge album with 'Hangin On' on it. It was the worst thing I'd ever heard. Worse than Ultimate Spinach.

[Eric Carmen]

I would rather plunge a syringe full of novacaine into my cerebral cortex than have to listen to a Vanilla Fudge album. That, too, would be "mind-numbing," but without having to listen to really putrid music. "Set me free why don't you baaaaabe....." Aaaaaagh!!!

[JohnO]

Eric - Vanilla Fudge was (and, on occasion nowadays, still is) - Tim Bogert (bass), Carmine Appice (drums), Mark Stein (keyboards) & Vince Martell (guitar). I think Carmen A's the only guy who's been in every version of the band. They've employed at least another 4-5 guitarists (notably Derek St. Holmes of Ted Nugent's band...speaking of tastelessness!), at least 1 other bassist, and several other keyboard players.

Agree about Zeppelin - I thought their first LP was excellent at the time (when they were considering calling themselves the New Yardbirds)....the mind-numbing material started with L.Z. II, and they went mega-mega-platinum at that point.....and would have been foolish to tamper with success too much. I saw them live 4 times in the early 70's, and mind-numbing is a good description.....although Vanilla Fudge was much, much worse! IMO, They should have been arrested and locked up just for destroying "Ticket To Ride," "Eleanor Rigby," and "She's Not There" on their debut LP!

[JohnO]

Another great musical mystery to me was - What in God's name did Jeff Beck see in Bogert & Appice to make him wait years (post-Cactus for those two) to form BBA with them??? BBA's only album was damn near as bad as anything Vanilla Fudge ever did - actually, they cut another, unreleased one, which is just as bad!

[JohnO]

In case anyone's interested in the LZ tunes that Vanilla Fudge covered on their latest recorded musical extravaganza:

1. Immigrant Song

2. Ramble On

3. Trampled Under Foot

4. Dazed And Confused

5. Black Mountain Side

6. Fool In The Rain

7. Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You

8. Dancing Days

9. Moby Dick

10. All My Love

11. Rock And Roll

12. Your Time Is Gonna Come

And while I'm on the subject of bizarre tribute/cover albums, I just found out that Leslie West & Mountain are releasing "Masters Of War" later this month - all Dylan covers!!! Equally bizarre, but I'm guessing it won't be as tastelessly bad as "Out Through The In Door"....

[Raspyrock]

I would rather plunge a syringe full of novacaine into my cerebral cortex than have to listen to a Vanilla Fudge album. That, too, would be "mind-numbing," but without having to listen to really putrid music. "Set me free why don't you baaaaabe....." Aaaaaagh!!!

LOL --- Crackin' me up before 9 a.m. -- you're good!!

[JohnO]

Yeah, "Brooklyn Lithium Metal" pretty much hits the nail on the head! (I can see Amoeba Music out West - all 3 locations - creating a separate section for this genre....)

[hollies65]

The ONLY album I can think of that was as bad as that Fudge album was Lou Reed's 'Metal Machine Music'. I remember plunking down 4.99 for that record...without hearing it! If you are familiar with the album...you know how pissed I was. I still like it better than the Fudge record...which I think I hate more than anything I've ever heard.

[JohnO]

Yeah, but there was only 1 Metal Machine Music from Lou R....but the Fudge kept putting out albums on a regular basis, each one worse than the last! I believe they put out 5 albums between 1967 and 1969, before breaking up for the first (but regrettably, not last) time. Who could forget their 2nd full-lengther, "The Beat Goes On," with VF recounting the history of pop music? (and doing snippets of such classics as "Old Black Joe," "Don't Fence Me In" and "Day Tripper"?)

Here's an excellent quote from Mark Stein about their new Zeppelin covers album -

"Basically, we rearranged some songs — we're doing a lot of their stuff Vanilla Fudge style. Some of the arrangements are slowed down, and some speeded up but I think we've done the songs justice."

Highly doubtful.......I do, however, see this as a potential classic along the lines of William Shatner's bizarre albums or Sebastian Cabot's album of Bob Dylan covers.....(which, I believe, has just been issued on CD for the first time...)

[tgp]

As always, this is all subjective. I happen to love the Raspberries AND Vanilla Fudge. As for knocking the band, since they had two Top 40 singles (two less than the Raspberries) and five Top 40 albums (four more than the Raspberries) according to Billboard, SOMEONE must have liked them (including Sopranos creator David Chase, who featured "You Keep Me Hangin' On" prominently in the show's finale.)

[JohnO]

".....SOMEONE must have liked them..."

True, but that's rather obvious, no? Otherwise, would we even be posting anything about them (or would we have even heard about them)?

This goes back to an exchange I had on this board once upon a time, in a thread about artists whom we considered the most overrated. A fellow poster asked me if I liked anyone who had ever had a hit single, since the nominees I had listed were all commercially very successful. My reply - Hey, before you can ever be "overrated", it's kinda necessary to be successful first (and highly regarded by at least some, if not many)!

(For what it's worth, I probably have most Vanilla Fudge LPs on vinyl....bought them when they came out. So I am very familiar with their music....but that doesn't mean they're one of my favorites now, or that I can't poke fun at them for recording Led Zeppelin or Backstreet Boys songs....I'm sure they've got a good sense of humor about their lack of success with the critics over the years....at least, I hope so!)

[ira]

Years ago the great comedian Robert Klein made fun of the old "Kraft Cheese" recipe commercials that used to appear during Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall and other shows in the 60's...

(Don Pardo type stentorian voice)...

"Why not take this beautiful piece of London Broil and pour some Kraft BLECCHHH! all over it".

My "take" on Vanilla Fudge" is similar....

"Why not take a great,lively "Motown" song like "You Keep Me Hangin' On" and squeeze ALL the joy out of it ".

"Vanilla Fudge"...A recipe for disaster".-Ira.

[ira]

By the way...Does anyone remember Klein's "Child of the 50's" Album?-Ira.

[Lee Marshall]

I thought V.F.'s You Keep Me Hangin' On was Terrific. [the short/hit version that is] T'was like 2 entirely different songs. New ideas and concepts were being experimented with at the time. The light/heavy...heavy/light thing was brand spankin' new.

Led Zeppelin

Iron Butterfly

Vanilla Fudge

[Have to admit...MOST of the time I didn't like Diane Ross's voice. Sounded like an oboe to me.]

Can't say that I liked A LOT of Iron Butterfly or Vanilla Fudge stuff...but they both had their moments.

The night I saw the Turtles BLOW I.B. away at Massey Hall in Toronto...in a show billed as the Battle of the Bands... I kind of wrote them off as half-assed wannabees.

Can't say that about the boys in V.F. They had chops. [just a lousy producer]

[tgp]

Is that the same Robert Klein who's been doing that annoying "Can't stop my leg" bit for 100 years?

[ira]

Yup-Guess you don't like him as I do.-Ira.

[JohnO]

Well - The new Vanilla Fudge album of Led Zep covers arrived from Germany yesterday........so how is it? Not as bad as it certainly could have been, but calling most of it "bombastic" wouldn't be off base.

It's the original 4 band members playing on this new gem, and the main offender is keyboardist Mark Stein, who can't seem to resist interjecting mostly inappropriate sounds from his synthesizer (just play the organ, dammit!), or, as primary lead vocalist, trying to interpret Robert Plant thru the eyes of a male opera diva! They don't, for the most part, slow anything down too much (surprise!), and they've kept their group harmonies (admired and emulated by other bands over the years such as Grand Funk RR) to a minimum.....and they still clearly have tons of chops, but.....I can't help but wonder what's next - VF doing Queen classics, perhaps? (Pink Floyd? The Moodies?)

P.S. I also received my copy of a new import CD containing the "classic" recordings of the Legendary Stardust Cowboy from the late 60's - early 80's.....much more entertaining than the Fudge's new one, even if it's mostly incoherent gibberish! (The LSC makes the likes of Hasil Adkins and Charlie Feathers seem like King Crimson.....well, maybe not Hasil.....)

P.P.S. In anticipation of anyone defending their long-time and heart-felt love for Vanilla Fudge...fine, I assume you've bought their latest CD to support the band?

[tgp]

Sure did. And as someone who has defended the Fudge, I have to say the Zep tribute kinda sucks. Too much Zep and not enough Fudge if you know what I mean.

[JohnO]

Yep, agreed.

[BadfingerBarb]

I really liked the Fudge's cover of "You Keep Me Hanging On" but the rest was pretty boring.

I'm confused, John. If you don't like the Fudge, why are you buying the cd?

I met Carmine a few years ago; very nice fellow but what really shocked me was his size. He's as big as a bear.

[JohnO]

"I'm confused, John. If you don't like the Fudge, why are you buying the cd?"

Let's just call it a morbid sense of curiosity, the concept of the Fudge covering Led Zeppelin (who I also, for the most part, don't care for...). Also, Tim & Carmine both have a great sense of humor, and don't tend to take themselves all that seriously.....hence, their covers of Backstreet Boys and 'N'Sync classics on their last CD.

P.S. Besides, I do have all of the old Fudge albums on vinyl - bought them when they came out, but....horror of horrors - my taste in music actually changed a bit over the years!!! (a totally foreign concept to some, but there you go....)