Vanilla Fudge - Psychedelic Sundae 1993

The roots of Vanilla Fudge began to form 1965 in Long Island, when three young musicians left Rick Martin & the Showmen to form their own band called the Electric Pigeons. Organist Mark Stein, bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Joey Brennan put out a call to the musicians union local for a guitarist, and were introduced to Vince Martell, who had just returned from Florida and a hitch in the U.S. Navy.

With Stein's father as the band's booking agent, the group eventually shortened their name to The Pigeons and soon built a strong regional following on the East coast club circuit. One night at a club called The Action House, the bar's owner, Phil Basille, was so impressed with the group's performance, he offered to manage them. With his experience and connections in the music business, the boys quickly agreed.

By 1966, the band had moved into complex cover versions of Top 40 material that proved to be too difficult for Joey Brennan to handle. The others felt that they needed a new drummer and Tim Bogert recommended Carmine Appice, whom he had heard play at another local club. When the others heard Appice, they knew they had their man.

Basille used his contacts to have producer & songwriter George Shadow Morton come and listen to the band one night at the Action House. Morton sat and listened for a while and was headed for the door, when the band began to play their version of the Supremes' hit, You Keep Me Hangin' On. Morton sat down again, impressed by a musical style he had never heard before. Later in the same week, he arranged for the band to record the song without a recording contract. The version that we all know, was recorded in just one take.

Morton started shopping the tape around and several recording studios showed some interest. Atlantic's Ahmet Ertegun made the best offer and signed the band in the spring of 1967 to ATCO Records, under their new name, Vanilla Fudge. Ertegun insisted that the original one take recording of You Keep Me Hangin' On be pressed to disc, and released it on June 2nd 1967, along with their self-titled debut album.

The song caught on quickly and climbed the national charts to number 10, while the album, which contained similar rearranged cover tunes, went gold and reached number 6. With a monster hit to their credit, the band's touring schedule accelerated and on the 2nd of September, they were back in New York's Village Theater opening for Mitch Ryder. Returning to San Francisco, the band opened for Blue Cheer in September at the Fillmore West. A week later, the Fudge headlined for three shows at the Avalon Ballroom where the Charles Lloyd Quintet opened for them. In New York City on the 3rd of November, Vanilla Fudge opened for The Yardbirds at the Village Theater. The Fudge had rapidly achieved headliner status and now began to perform on a global level with the biggest West Coast and European bands of the day.

The dawn of 1968 saw Vanilla Fudge headlining a bill at the Fillmore East with the Steve Miller Band. A week later they performed You Keep Me Hangin' On on the Ed Sullivan television show. Trying to repeat their first success, the band attempted to take the concept of long, drawn out songs to a higher level on their second album, The Beat Goes On. The effort failed, as it lacked the originality of the first and was received poorly, by fans and critics alike. The single from the album, an original called Where Is My Mind? never caught on.

Despite their commercial failure, the band toured constantly across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. They also made several other appearances on television in 1968 including the Beat Club and Wonderama TV shows. Starting on the 17th of August in Atlanta, Ga., Vanilla Fudge did a western tour as the opening act for the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It was one of many attempts by the band to gain more exposure on the West Coast. In the fall of 1968, they opened several dates for Cream's farewell tour, as well as sharing the bill with The New Yardbirds, who would soon change their name to Led Zeppelin.

On November 15th, Vanilla Fudge's version of Donovan's Season of the Witch, hit the charts as a single, taken from their June LP, Renaissance . The album made no.20 on Billboard's chart.

On February 2nd, 1969, the Fudge again performed live on the Ed Sullivan show and released their version of Shotgun as a single the next day. The same week, Atco introduced a new album called Near the Beginning, the only Fudge LP produced by the band alone and the first LP without Shadow Morton. Another single, Some Velvet Morning was released on the 29th of April. Despite constant touring of the U.S. and Europe, neither disc sold well.

On September 25th 1969, Vanilla Fudge released their final LP, Rock & Roll. The last single wasn't released until February 3rd 1970, a remix of a Gospel rocker, Lord In The Country. On March 14th, 1970, Vanilla Fudge played their final and farewell concert at Phil Basille's Action House.

When Vanilla Fudge split, bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice remained together, forming a band called Cactus, before abandoning their creation in favour of Beck, Bogert and Appice, along with Jeff Beck. Appice also did a lot of session work, recording often with Rod Stewart. Stein worked with Tommy Bolin and Alice Cooper before forging a new career composing advertising jingles, while guitarist Vince Martell later appeared in the Good Rats, a popular Long Island bar-band.

All four original members of The Fudge reunited in 1982, and ATCO Records released the Best of Vanilla Fudge LP in that year. In 1984, the band recorded a reunion LP called Mystery, but it failed to gain much attention. In 1987 & 1988, the band did two reunion tours, and Rhino records released a compilation album, Psychedelic Sundae in 1993.

Vanilla Fudge, with drummer Carmine Appice, bassist Tim Bogert, and guitarist Vince Martell toured the United States together again in 2001 and 2002, while organist Mark Stein continued to perform on his own. By 2005, all four original members were together again for a US tour. (classicbands.com)

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Vanilla Fudge - Psychedelic Sundae - the Best of Vanilla Fudge 1967-1969
(Santa Monica, Calif. Rhino 1993)

1. You keep me hangin' on.
2. Where is my mind.
3. The look of love.
4. Ticket to ride.
5. Come by day, come by night.
6. Take me for a little while.
7. That's what makes a man.
8. Season of the witch.
9. Shotgun.
10. Thoughts.
11. Faceless people.
12. Good good lovin'.
13. Some velvet morning.
14. I can't make it alone.
15. Lord in the country.
16. Need love.
17. Street walking woman.
18. All in your mind