Vanilla Fudge – Vanilla Fudge

Decent debut & early experimental example of ‘60s heavy metal/psych-ish interpretations of already popular yet diverse rock tunes full of loud keyboard passages, dramatic vocals & power drumming. Produced by the legendary Shadow Morton.
Some say this is where Heavy Metal begins.

it's a more professional dynamic of the early psychedelia wave than Shadows of Knight or Blues magoos. after you listen to Nuggets, and curious about the gaps between the garage blues rock, come spend some serious time with Vanilla Fudge. For me, this band is the answer between 1967 what happened? to 1970 Oh, this is how the albums happened the way they did.

They keep me hanging on. Their best album effort --- when compared to Renaissance, Near the Beginning, The Beat Goes On, and Rock and Roll. They did it their way.

I sold my mofi 45 rpm because this pressing went toe to toe with it. Great price and its 33 1/3!

Cleaned up surprisingly well after a couple of washings in the Spin Clean, and now it sounds pretty great for such an old record.

I was in my second year at USC and heard this on our local LA underground FM station and I was hooked on 'em...How they took current hits and blended them from track to track was so good and it was nice trip for me to sit back in my blacklight world and groove with the Fudge...Even all these years later it works...So much stuff from that era didn't make the musical trip through time but Vanilla Fudge certainly hopped on that music train and went all the way to today...and for that I am quite pleased...

Is this the 2016 remaster, I can't find any information online regarding this issue being another remaster?

This is a winner in every field. Actual cardboard cover, artwork looks nice isn’t pixelated or washed out, poly lined inner sleeve, the white vinyl looks quite nice and the sound is amazing! And in mono it’s a total ripper all day. Highly recommend grabbing this one!

From the MFSL Facebook page, some comments made by mastering engineer Rob LoVerde:

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Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
June 3, 2020 ·
Why Vanilla Fudge? Why Mono?

by Rob LoVerde

Since the beginning, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab has typically sought to acquire recordings with stellar sonics. It is generally felt that, if the master tape of a recording sounds fantastic before we even come into the picture (Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side Of The Moon", Steely Dan's "Aja", Beck's "Sea Change", to name a few) then our process will only help that recording speak more clearly to the audiophile.

And, while that is a logical, tried-and-true philosophy, it is just as exciting and rewarding to apply our mastering techniques to recordings which may not be status symbols of high technological refinement. Although, some recordings may not reach the sonic heights of certain studio masterpieces, they are surely worthy of our attention and preservation.

Vanilla Fudge's self-titled debut album, a new addition to our catalog, could be considered as an example of that type of recording.

Recorded at Ultra-Sonic Recording Studios in 1967 (the address, 149 N. Franklin Street in Hempstead, NY now houses a laundromat), Vanilla Fudge's first album was produced and "directed" by Shadow Morton and recorded by Joe Veneri & Bill Stahl. The results of those recordings were certainly brash and exciting, but one would hardly describe the resulting sound as pure or polished. High sound pressure levels and overloaded equipment clearly ruled the room at these sessions. But, it is what the creators of this album intended and, therefore, is to be entirely respected.

Vanilla Fudge delivered this LP in both mono and stereo. Since 1967 was the last full year of mono LP production in the U.S., the mono mix became scarce only a short while after its release. The fact that the complete mono album has never been issued in any digital format would be a good enough reason for Mobile Fidelity to select it, instead of the stereo album, for our reissue. However, there is an even better reason, which guided our decision.

The album's biggest hit, "You Keep Me Hanging On" was only mixed to mono at the conclusion of its performance. Additionally, the last section of "Take Me For A Little While", when the background vocals shouting "Please!" appear, was only mixed to mono, as well. Clearly, mono was still the boss during the making of this record.

Once we decided to present this album in its mono format, it was then time to audition and evaluate the master tapes. Luckily, the masters still survive and in very good condition. As always, the goal was to play them back utilizing our proprietary technology and our customary exacting approach, precisely capturing all of the musical information that was recorded. Interestingly, during our mastering process, it was discovered that the master of "You Keep Me Hanging On" contains more than a few splices; edits made to piece together different parts to create the whole. Even more interesting, the different pieces of tape were recorded at differing azimuth calibration at the record head during mixing. For optimal results, our tape playback machine was re-calibrated, as necessary during transfer, in order to "trace" the azimuth settings of the original tape recorder, allowing us to capture phase-accurate, full-bandwidth reproduction.

So, while this is not a recording to compare with 1967's "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", what we are offering to you is Vanilla Fudge's classic first album, its sound fully intact, mastered directly from the original mono master tape played back to perfection. Nothing added or removed.

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab is thrilled to present our latest release on 180-gram, 45 RPM double LP and Hybrid SACD to fans who have been listening to this legendary album for over 50 years and to a new audience who will, hopefully, appreciate it today. Just last year, Quentin Tarantino featured "You Keep Me Hanging On" in the final act of his great film, "Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood". With coverage like that, we feel that there has never been a better time to check out the Fudge.

Rob LoVerde
Mastering Engineer
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
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Link: https://facebook.com/MobileFidelitySoundLab/posts/why-vanilla-fudge-why-monoby-rob-loverdesince-the-beginning-mobile-fidelity-soun/3035271986569633/

is this version stereo or mono?because it's not mentioned anywhere