NEAR THE BEGINNING
Vanilla Fudge
•Proto-Prog
From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website
3.23
| 66 ratings | 12 reviews | 14% 5 stars
Good, but non-essential |
Studio Album, released in 1969 Songs / Tracks Listing 1. Shotgun (6:12) - Vince Martell / guitar, vocals
Artwork: Jim Visconti with Robert Kahn (photo) and to Quinino for the last updates Edit this entry |
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VANILLA FUDGE Near the Beginning ratings distribution
(66 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of rock music(14%)Excellent addition to any rock music collection(38%)Good, but non-essential (33%)Collectors/fans only (11%)Poor. Only for completionists (5%)
VANILLA FUDGE Near the Beginning reviews
Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings
Collaborators/Experts Reviews
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Prog Folk
PROG REVIEWER
PROG REVIEWER
The extraordinary ("Some Velvet Morning") and the worse ("Break Song") are featured on the fourth album of the Fudge.
The former is a magnificent psyche and soft jewel with brilliant vocals from our dear friend Vince. It is by far my favourite song form this offering. All the psyche magic is working pretty good during this melodic and beautiful track.
As usual, one gets a fantastic instrumental intro and the vocals are so delicate and beautiful. Another one of their great cover work. A style in which they really excel. A great psychedelic anthem.
On the contrary, the latter is just a useless and loooooooooong jam session starting bluesy and ending nowhere. It is very difficult to go through these twenty-three minutes+ (and I 've done it several times.) to try and find what was all the fuss about it.
At times, the super wild guitar and the incredible rhythmic section is producing some explosive parts but this live track is rather self-indulgent. Of course, lots of live albums from the era (and this fact will last for several years, just listen to "Made In Japan") features such solo. And you'll get them all here.
While not displaying these instrumental solo, the "song" reverts to this bluesy mood I just dislike (but you might know that I am not at all into blues).
These musicians are of course excellent but the bass solo is pretty boring actually. This number is only worth for its wild guitar break and the drum solo. Otherwise, it is pretty boring. Press next. Ooooops, it is the last "song" of the album.
In between, "Where Is Hapiness" written by Carmin Appice is on the plus side as well. Heavy rock at its best. This track would benefit from a good remastering work when (or if) available. Wild beat and instrumental parts combined with aerial vocals are very close to the very good "Renaissance" album.
On the contrary, the soul oriented opening track "Shotgun" is not my cup of tea. But again, this musical genre is not mine at all.
This is my last review of the year on PA. It was great fun to post all these reviews on this site in 2007. Just a bit sad that it doesn't end on a higher note.
Three stars thanks to "Where Is Happiness" and of course the brilliant "Some Velvet Morning".
PROG REVIEWER
PROG REVIEWER
PROG REVIEWER
Unfortunately, with this album they lost all the character and atmosphere and presented a rather generic psychedelic rock record crammed to the gills with somewhat aimless noodling. Break Song, in particular, is a side-length live jam that just consists of wanky solos of a type we've all heard before dozens of times (including an absurdly overlong drum solo) which more or less encapsulates all the worst aspects of that particular performance format.
This is an album which time has not treated well; it's dated extremely badly, particularly now that if you wanted you could get similar live jams from better performers in massive quantities at a very reasonable price. Thanks, guys, but no thanks.
PROG REVIEWER
Latest members reviews
Near the end of the psychedelic movement many bands recorded jams to show the individual skill of their members. Some bands chose to record studio jams (Love - da Capo; Captain Beefheart - Mirror Man (this was meant to be released on the second Beefheart record as a double record)), whereby othe ... (read more)
Report this review (#906498) | Posted by the philosopher | Tuesday, February 5, 2013 | Review Permanlink
Vive la differance! Vanilla Fudge have made a career out of re-interpreting other people's works. Seemingly, they have succeeded in creating a name by doing so. Honestly, it's hard to go wrong with re-heating some already familiar songs. For my part, I am not the least interested in that and over ... (read more)
Report this review (#869190) | Posted by BORA | Friday, November 30, 2012 | Review Permanlink
Vanilla fudge is once more in the likes of so many island based groups, lacking focus and reflecting scattered songs. The album by Atco was unprofessionally recorded and taints this album. The album begins with a very basic title yet the drumming stands out as much more progressive but not much ... (read more)
Report this review (#306301) | Posted by thewickedfall | Saturday, October 23, 2010 | Review Permanlink
What a great, great album. In my opinion the definitive VF LP to own. The half live, half studio format, balances it just perfectly. The band's playing is just amazing. It's so powerfull, passionate and clever! The 3 studio tracks are far heavier than anything they have done before. Shotgun is ... (read more)
Report this review (#112164) | Posted by kingdhansak | Thursday, February 15, 2007 | Review Permanlink
I've heard that album for the first time 15 years ago when someone lent it to me. Nowadays, I still remember long sections of the album... without to have ever listened to it, so much it turned in my bedroom... I'll soon have it again, and I'm sure I'll really enjoy to hear it one more time aft ... (read more)
Report this review (#48495) | Posted by spide | Monday, September 26, 2005 | Review Permanlink
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