Music Blog

White Soul At Half-Speed

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

This is Week 46 of Glyn’s Mixed Music Bag and we are
being asked to choose a song by a group or solo artist whose
name begins with the letters U, V or W. This is my choice.

Vanilla Fudge was one of the first American groups to infuse psychedelia into a heavy rock sound to create “psychedelic symphonic rock”, an eclectic genre which would, among its many offshoots, eventually morph into heavy metal. Although, at first, the band did not record original material, they were best known for their dramatic heavy, slowed-down arrangements of contemporary pop songs which they developed into works of epic proportion.
Originally, Vanilla Fudge was a blue-eyed soul cover band called the Electric Pigeons, formed in New Jersey in 1965 with organist Mark Stein, bassist Tim Bogert, drummer Joey Brennan, and guitarist & vocalist Vince Martell. They built a following by gigging extensively up and down the East Coast and earned extra money by providing freelance in-concert backing for hit-record girl groups. In early 1966, the group recorded a set of eight demos that were released several years later as “While the World Was Eating Vanilla Fudge“.
After drummer Joey Brennan moved out to the West Coast, the Electric Pigeons immediately drafted drummer and vocalist Carmine Appice, a seasoned veteran of the club scene.
In early 1967, The Electric Pigeons manager, Phil Basile, convinced producer, George Morton to catch their live act. Impressed by their heavy-rocking, trippy and psychedelic version of The Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On“, Morton offered to record the song as a single. This resulted in a deal with the Atlantic subsidiary Atco, which requested a name change. The name Vanilla Fudge was chosen because they were white guys singing and playing with the soul of Motown. The band toured extensively behind its covers-heavy, jam-oriented 1967 debut album, Vanilla Fudge, which rose up the charts to # 4 without the aid of a big hit single.
In 1968 Vanilla Fudge released their second album, The Beat Goes On; the LP climbed into the Top Twenty as did Renaissance, one of Vanilla Fudge’s best albums. They toured with Jimi Hendrix and headlined with groups such as Cream, Janis Joplin, and Jefferson Airplane; late in the year they toured with the fledgling Led Zeppelin as their opening act.
Exhausted from constant touring, Vanilla Fudge decided that their late 1969 European tour would be their last. Following the release of their final album, Rock & Roll, they disbanded in early 1970. They reunited in 1984 and recorded a new album, Mystery, which had Jeff Beck as a guest artist. At this point I’d like to add that after Jeff Beck met Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice in 1967, they were keen on performing together and the supergroup of Beck, Bogert and Appice was eventually formed; they were together from 1972-1974.
In the summer of 2006, the original Vanilla Fudge reunited to tour with The Doors of the 21st Century … a rock band formed by two former members of the Doors, Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger. It culminated in a VH-1 special, “Decades of Rock“.
In August of 2007, they performed at Radio City Music Hall with Deep Purple, another opening act for Vanilla Fudge in the 60s.
On October 15, 2006, Vanilla Fudge was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame by Felix Cavaliere (The Young Rascals) for their contribution to music history. Other inductees were Billy Joel, Joan Jett, and Twisted Sister to name a few. Also in 2006 they recorded a tribute to their old friends Led Zeppelin by creating their own interpretations of their music on their CD, Out Through The In Door.
Vanilla Fudge celebrated their 50th year anniversary in 2017 and is still rocking the world with concerts in the USA and Europe.

“You Keep Me Hangin’ On” is undoubtedly Vanilla Fudge’s biggest hit. Originally a soul-pop ballad released by The Supremes in 1966, the song is about trying to get out of a bad relationship. The signature guitar part comes from a Morse Code-like radio sound effect. Vanilla Fudge recorded a rock version of the song in 1967. It peaked at #6 on Billboard Hot 100. The single version is almost three minutes long with the album version coming in at over seven minutes.
The Supremes’ writers, particularly Brian Holland, were very positive about Vanilla Fudge’s rendition of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” and praised the rock version for its unique arrangement. Years later, in a 2009 interview with Record Collector, the song’s writers, Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland, declared they had officially approved the Vanilla Fudge version in 1968. “I thought it was one of the greatest arrangements I ever heard,” said Brian Holland.

Per tradition, ladies first. Here are The Supremes with their hit, “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”.

Now let’s listen to what Brian Holland said was “one of the greatest arrangements I ever heard“. From 1968, this is the original long version of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by Vanilla Fudge.

Mixed Music Bag 2024 – week 46 – Not over but Undertones

Big thanks to Glyn Wilton for hosting Mixed Music Bag every week. Please be sure to follow the link and check out Glyn’s site.

Thanks for joining me today and spinning some tunes.

See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2024

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy (The Sicilian Storyteller), The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.

26 thoughts on “White Soul At Half-Speed”

  1. The Supremes don’t measure up to Vanilla Fudge, IMO. I love VF’s psychedelic take on this song! 💖 (I was never a Supremes fan anyway.) How cool that you saw them in their heyday, Nancy! Another band I missed, but they’re still touring somewhere I bet…

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    1. Thanks to the Fillmore East, which I’ve mentioned many times, we were able to see more super bands perform in a few short years than we would over a 10 year period! It was a great time to be alive and into the music scene.

      I never liked the Supremes, especially Diana Ross; if not for her banging Berry Gordy, I doubt she’d have become the mega star she is!

      VF is still touring, Debbie; you have time!

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      1. Yes, the Fillmore East was a famous venue and how great that you lived near there! If you ever write a memoir about those years, I would read it. 🙂 I agree with your assessment of Diana Ross, although I thought her performance in the movie “Lady Sings The Blues” was pretty good. I’ll keep an eye out for VF touring info. Thanks!

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        1. At the time, I thought Diana Ross did a good job in the movie …. until I saw The United States vs. Billie Holiday starring Andra Day. She embodies Billie Holiday in a way I never saw before. she is incredible and this is one hell of a powerful movie. There’s another new flick I want to catch with Audra McDonald as Billie; it’s supposed to be exceptional. When you see real quality entertainment like that, everything else falls by the wayside.

          I’ve thought about doing something on the Fillmore; it would take a lot of work and research …. not sure I’m up for that.

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    1. It is a totally different sound but still the same song; the obvious distinctions between the two are the speed and the psychedelic vibe. VF was the only group to do remakes like this and they blew us away.

      We saw Fudge at the Fillmore East in October, 1969. I know they performed Shotgun and Take Me For A Little While but I don’t remember You Keep Me Hangin’ On. Still, great show, just like all the show at the Fillmore.

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  9. A real piece of classic rock. The Supremes’ version was like most of what they did: ‘soul’ music devoid of any feeling. Vanilla Fudge really helped you feel the pain in the lyrics – for me theirs is the better version, by miles. I looked it up: it peaked at #18 here, and was their only UK chart entry.

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    1. Of all the Motown girl groups, I liked the Supremes the least. There were others who worked harder, sounded better and still had to claw their way to success. Only a few remain. Their sound was raw and unpolished; you could hear the grit and feel their need to make it. Not so with the Supremes … slick from day one but they had an in, didn’t they? The first time we heard VF’s version, we were blown away. Yes! This is what that song is supposed to sound like!

      Great comment, Clive. Thanks! 😊

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      1. Totally agree with you. Diana Ross was pop music’s equivalent of working the casting couch but there were many making far better music than them. VF is still the definitive version of this for me.

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