Carmine Appice

Vanilla fudge: you just keep me hangin on

Ah, those Guilty pleasures. You know, the things that people do that make them feel just a little better, even though they know they're not so good for them. Or maybe its something you don't want to admit because it's a tad embarrassing.  It might be sleeping until noon on Saturday, then spending the day in your PJ's, killing a quart of chocolate ice cream in one sitting, or, watching "Dancing with the Stars".  We all have our little secrets.  I'll come clean,  for me it's fudge, and not the kind my grandson makes with my wife at Christmas. For my money, the best fudge comes in Vanilla.

And there ain't nothing I can do about it…….. Vanilla Fudge; the rock and roll world interpreted into psychedelica. You dig, or you don't.  It's not often that what is in essence a cover band catches anybody's attention, but, there are few cover bands that offer the kind of unique interpretation Vanilla Fudge gave to a pantheon of 1960's rock and roll music. The Beatles, Donovan, Sonny & Cher, Smokey Robinson, The Impressions, The Zombies, and, The Supremes, band members Carmine Appice, Tim Bogert, Vince Martell and Mark Stein  covered them all, and more.  Little original music is found in their discography.

Originally formed by Joey Brennan, Stein, Martell and Bogart, as "The Pigeons", following the 1966 replacement of Brennan by Carmine Appice, the band renamed itself "Vanilla Fudge", and  were discovered, and subsequently managed by reputed New York mobster Phillip Basile.  Between 1966 and the groups disbandment in 1970, Vanilla Fudge released 9 singles and 5 Studio albums, not a bad body of work, for a band whose only real hit was a remake of "You Keep Me Hangin' on", a 1966 #1 hit for the Supremes, which managed a less respectable #6 for the Fudge.  Nonetheless, If the psychedelic genre is your cup of tea,  you can't help being mesmerized by the flood of organ music, heavy drumbeat and long psychedelic guitar solos, all performed in flashy melodrama.

After a 1970 farewell performance at Basile's Action House club, Vanilla Fudge members all departed to pursue other interests.

Perhaps Vanilla Fudge should have left well enough alone.  Instead, there were several 1980's & 90's reunions, and the band took their oldies show on the road in 2006.  Along with the oldies circuit, came several "best of" and undistinguished live albums, which continued their habit of covering other bands, but by this time it was The Backstreet Boys & Rod Stewart.  The band which had been a reflection of the 1960's youth culture had become irrelevant.

In 2006. Vanilla Fudge was elected to the Long Island Husic Hall of Fame.  In 2007 The Fudge were back in the studio to record "Out Through The Door", a Zeppelin cover album.  Led Zeppelin had opened for Vanilla Fudge in 1968 & 69.

Vanilla Fudge:  You Keep Me Hanging On

ATCO #6495 (RELEASED LATE 1967)

Goldmine record album price guide values original copies of You Keep Me Hanging on, with sleeve, in near mint condition, at $12.00

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

Dennis Barker is publisher of the New Century Collector, a monthly Utah based collector's newspaper, which features collecting news, along with antiques advertising and articles related to the field. Distributed throughout Utah and parts of Idaho, the publication can be picked up free from most antiques shops within their distribution area.  The current issue, along with past issues can be read at our website www.newcenturycollector.com

 

Carmine Appice

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