Vanilla Fudge: Box Of Fudge 2010 (4 CD Edition)

 
Vanilla Fudge is an American rock band known predominantly for their slow extended heavy rock

arrangements of contemporary hit songs, most notably "You Keep Me Hangin' On". The band's original line–up — vocalist and organist Mark Stein, bassist and vocalist Tim Bogert, lead guitarist/vocalist Vince Martell, and drummer and vocalist Carmine Appice — recorded five albums during the years 1967–69, before disbanding in 1970. The band is currently touring with three of the four original members: Stein, Martell, and Appice with Pete Bremy on bass as Bogert retired in 2009.
                                                                                                                                                        

Stein and Bogert had played in a local band called Rick Martin & The Showmen. The pair were so impressed by the swinging, organ-heavy sound of The Rascals they decided to form their own band in

1965 with Martell and Rick Martin's drummer, Mark Dolfen, who was quickly replaced by Joey Brennan. Originally calling themselves The Electric Pigeons, they soon shortened the name to The Pigeons. In December 1966 Brennan moved on to The Younger Brothers Band and Bogert became very impressed with a young drummer named Carmine Appice he'd heard playing at the Headliner Club on 43rd Street in a cover band called Thursday's Children. Appice was asked to join The Pigeons and in his 2016 autobiography, Stick It!, Carmine explained the name change to Vanilla Fudge: "In April 1967 the Pigeons got signed to Atlantic Records.
                                                                                           

The band has been cited as "one of the few American links between psychedelia and what soon became heavy metal." Vanilla Fudge also is known to have influenced other major bands such as The Nice, Deep Purple, Yes, Styx, Led Zeppelin, and Uriah Heep.
                                                                                            

[Published: 2010/06/21 by Ron Hart
I was introduced to the music of Vanilla Fudge in college by a good buddy of mine who served as the music director of the campus radio station. Although I was always aware of the existence of this

Hempstead, NY-based quartet who skyrocketed to fame in the late ’60s as one of the early boons of AOR radio and helped give Led Zeppelin their first break in the States via an opening slot on their 1968/‘69 tour, I never actually heard them. That is, of course, until my boy put the needle on his crackling vinyl copy of the first Fudge LP, which is when I quickly realized why he had hailed them as “The Melvins of the Flower Power era.”
                                                                                    

In the span of two years, the band recorded five albums loaded with organ-heavy, swirling, psychedelic deconstructions of such popular hits of the time with the goal of, according to drummer Carmine Appice, “to put the lyrical quality of the song into a musical realm that fit the lyric.” Meaning that, for

instance, slowing down and extending the likes of The Supremes’ otherwise sunny, soulful smash interpretation of the 1966 Holland-Dozier-Holland single “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” to really bring out the essence of the hurtful feeling of being used by an ex-lover conveyed in the song’s words, or delivering The Beatles’ “Ticket to Ride” as a grinding, baroque blues crusher that truly unlocks the claustrophobia of the controlling, abusive relationship that Lennon and McCartney seemed to be otherwise cheerfully singing about.
                                                                       

Sam and Dave’s “Shotgun”, Donovan’s “Season of the Witch”, Sonny and Cher’s “The Beat Goes On”, Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready”, The Zombies’ “She’s Not There”, Dusty Springfield’s “The Look of Love” and Lee Hazelwood’s “Some Velvet Morning” all fell prey to the Fudge. And when

critics of the time began chastising the group for sticking to covers, Appice, organist Mark Stein, bassist Tim Bogert and guitarist Vince Martell began showcasing the strength of their collective songwriting prowess with their latter LPs, 1968’s Renaissance and 1969’s Near the Beginning and Rock & Roll, which contained such great original tracks as “Faceless People,” “Lord In The Country,” “Windmills Of Your Mind” and “Break Song”, an epic, 20-minute-long jam that shone a spotlight on the Fudge’s uncanny interplay and abominable strength as a live act with the ability to take their progressive hard rock from soft to loud to soft to ear-shattering and back again with the might of a thousand Pixies.
                                                                       

Released in a limited run on Rhino’s Handmade imprint, Box of Fudge is a gorgeously decorated four-disc box set that documents a comprehensive overview of the entirety of Vanilla Fudge’s brief-yet-

impactful career before breaking up in 1970, complete with liner notes that give a keenly detailed history of the group with input from all four original members. The first two discs offer a chronological anthology the band had never received in the past. With the exception of “Break Song,” all of the aforementioned crucial cuts from all five proper studio albums of the original lineup (including 1968’s Shadow Morton-produced The Beat Goes On) are accounted for in this first half of the collection, each one beautifully remastered for a clear, crisp play at maximum volume.
                                                                          

Additionally, disc two features the long version of “Good Good Livin’”, which was featured as a bonus

track on the Sundazed label’s 1998 reissue of Near The Beginning as well as the previously unreleased “Heartache Jam,” cut live during a session at New York City’s Mirasound Studio in January of 1969, and a pair of obligatory cuts from the Fudge’s ill-fated 1984 reunion album Mystery, a God-awful mess of slick hair-metal production that, in spite of British rock guitar great Jeff Beck sitting in under the pseudonym J. Toad, was a cornucopia of cheesy trappings that Rob Reiner had parodied in that year’s classic rock mockumentary This is Spinal Tap.
                                                                          

The last two discs, on the other hand, is a true spoil of riches for any true fan of the Fudge, as it contains a never-before-released professional soundboard recording of the band’s entire New Year’s

Eve 1968/‘69 show at the Fillmore West at the height of their powers as a live act. Not only does it include fiery concert renditions of most of their most popular cover tunes, this particular show is highlighted by a definitive version of “Break Song” on disc 3 and a caustic decimation of Bob Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone” on disc 4. Also included on that fourth disc are three lengthy previously unissued studio jams—“Love Jam”, “Movin’ On” and the monumental “VF Studio Jam”—that were recorded at Atlantic between Near The Beginning and Rock & Roll that truly emphasize Vanilla Fudge’s growth as more of a blues-based boogie band towards the end of their massive run.
                                                                     

A lot of discerning rock crits from the Lester Bangs/Richard Meltzer era of music journalism had their

fun breaking the balls of Vanilla Fudge way back when. Box of Fudge proves that the combination of time and the groundswell of sonic disciples over the last twenty years such as Kyuss, Orange Goblin, Black Mountain and The Warlocks have allowed a proper reassessment of the Fudge and their footprint on the state of heavy rock over the last 45 years. Its high time people start to recognize just how incredible “The Melvins of the Flower Power era” truly were and their importance to the genre now known as “stoner rock”. This collection is a great place to start the schooling.]
                                                                                       

Vanilla Fudge ‎– Box Of Fudge
Label: Rhino Handmade ‎– RHM2 7748, ATCO Records ‎– RHM2 7748
Format: 4 × CD Box Set, Compilation
Country: US
Released: 03 May 2010
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock

                                                                                      

DISC ONE

                                                                                        

01. All In Your Mind     3:05
02. Take Me For A Little While     3:20
03. Ticket To Ride     5:55
04. People Get Ready     6:31
05. She's Not There     4:57
06. You Keep Me Hanging On     6:46
07. Where Is My Mind     2:46
08. The Look Of Love     2:52
09. Sketch     3:01
10. The Beat Goes On     2:08
11. Come By Day, Come By Night     2:59
12. The Sky Cried - When I Was A Boy     7:39
13. That's What Makes A Man     4:29
14. Faceless People     6:06
15. Season Of The Witch     8:53

MP3 @ 320 Size: 172 MB
Flac  Size: 414 MB

DISC TWO

 

01. Shotgun     6:14
02. Some Velvet Morning     7:40
03. You Can't Do That     4:26
04. People     5:23
05. Good Good Livin' (Long Version)     5:48
06. Heartache Jam     4:21
07. Need Love     4:59
08. Lord In The Country     4:33
09. Street Walking Woman     6:13
10. The Windmills Of Your Mind     6:05
11. Jealousy     3:59
12. My World Is Empty     4:03

MP3 @ 320 Size: 154 MB
Flac  Size: 433 MB

DISC THREE

01. She's Not There (Live)     8:41
02. Shotgun (Live)     6:35
03. People Get Ready (Live)     8:36
04. You Keep Me Hanging On     7:24
05. Season Of The Witch (Live)     11:14
06. Break Song (Live)     22:15.

MP3 @ 320 Size: 157 MB
Flac  Size: 441 MB

DISC FOUR

 

01. Good Good Livin' (Live)     5:04
02. Ticket To Ride (Live)     5:48
03. Medley: (Live)     (15:50)
3a. Moonlight Sonata     
3b. Fur Elise     
3c. Eleanor Rigby     
04. Take Me For A Little While (Live)     5:08
05. Like A Rolling Stone (Live)     7:00
06. Love Jam     10:22
07. Movin' On     9:16
08. Studio Jam     12:27

MP3 @ 320 Size: 171 MB
Flac  Size: 454 MB