Vanilla Ice Rock Album
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Vanilla Fudge is an American rock band known predominantly for their slow extended heavy rock arrangements of contemporary hit songs, such as their hit cover of the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On".
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.[6] In December 1966, Brennan moved on to The Younger Brothers Band and Bogert became impressed with a young drummer named Carmine Appice he had 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':
Vanilla Fudge was managed by Phillip Basile, a reputed Lucchese crime family, who operated several popular clubs in New York. Their first three albums (Vanilla Fudge, The Beat Goes On, and Renaissance) were produced by Shadow Morton, whom the band met through The Rascals.[6] When Led Zeppelin first toured the United States in early 1969, they opened for Vanilla Fudge on some shows.
The band's biggest hit was its cover of "You Keep Me Hangin' On," a slowed-down, hard rocking version[8] of a song originally recorded by the Supremes.[6] This version featured Stein's psychedelic-baroque organ intro and Appice's energetic drumming. It was a Top 10 hit in Canada, the United States, and Australia, and a Top 20 hit in the UK in 1967.
The members of Vanilla Fudge were great admirers of the Beatles, and covered several of their songs including "Ticket to Ride", "Eleanor Rigby", and "You Can't Do That".[6] The self-titled debut album quotes "Strawberry Fields Forever" at the end, with the lines "Nothing is real; Nothing to get hung about".
According to Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord, Vanilla Fudge's organ-heavy sound was a large influence on the British band Deep Purple, with Blackmore even stating that his band wanted to be a "Vanilla Fudge clone" in its early years.[9]
Vanilla Fudge played a farewell concert at the Phil Basile's Action House on March 14, 1970. After that, Bogert and Appice departed to form another group, Cactus,[6] that they had been planning since late 1969. They ended up leaving Cactus and formed Beck, Bogert & Appice with guitarist Jeff Beck in 1972.[6] Stein, left on his own, tried to keep Vanilla Fudge afloat with two new players, Sal D'Nofrio (bass) and Jimmy Galluzi (drums), both of whom had been members of a Poughkeepsie, New York, group known as The Dirty Elbows. But when nothing came from this, Stein ended up forming a new group, Boomerang, with Galluzi.
Since the band's breakup in 1970, Vanilla Fudge has reunited several times. They reunited in support of the Atco Records release Best of Vanilla Fudge in 1982. This resulted in Mystery, another album of new material, released in 1984.[6] Martell was not included in this initial reunion and Ron Mancuso played guitar on Mystery instead, along with Jeff Beck, who guested under the moniker "J. Toad". Two reunion tours followed in 1987/1988,[10] with Paul Hanson on guitar. Lanny Cordola was guitarist when the band took the stage on May 14, 1988, for Atlantic Records' 40th anniversary celebration. After that, band members went their own ways once again to pursue separate projects.
In 2005, all four original Vanilla Fudge members reunited for a tour with members of The Doors (touring as Riders on the Storm) and Steppenwolf. Pascali returned in place of Stein for some 2005 and 2006 shows before leaving to join the New Rascals. Vanilla Fudge was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006,[12] with Billy Joel, Joan Jett, and producer Shadow Morton. Fellow Long Islander Felix Cavaliere of The Rascals inducted them.
In March 2008, the original lineup of Vanilla Fudge embarked on a tour of the United States (mostly in New England). But in the summer of that year, Bogert and Appice left to concentrate on Cactus, which they had reformed in 2006. Stein and Martell continued on in 2008 and 2009 as Mark Stein and Vince Martell of Vanilla Fudge with a tour that was called "Let's Pray For Peace," with Jimmyjack Tamburo on drums and Pete Bremy returning on bass.[13] Out Through the In Door was released in the US in 2008.[14][failed verification] Stein and Martell also performed shows during this period with Steve Argy and Jimmyjack Tamburo again as the rhythm section.
In early 2011, Vanilla Fudge embarked on what was announced as their farewell tour. The lineup for the tour included Carmine Appice, Mark Stein, Vince Martell, and Pete Bremy (bass). On March 29, 2011, the band appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and performed "You Keep Me Hangin' On". This lineup has continued to tour since.
As of 2021, Vanilla Fudge was still performing concerts regularly. On January 13, 2021, Tim Bogert died at the age of 76 after a long battle with cancer.[15] The band did release (on September 6, 2021) a cover version of "Stop! in the Name of Love" as digital streaming content and with an official music video on YouTube, dedicated to Tim Bogert.[16]
As the 2007 concert calendar has shown, any group of geezers can reunite if the price is right. But the Jesus and Mary Chain's Jim and William Reid and Ben Lurie are the only ones who can claim to be reuniting twice. However, if they did Coachella for the money, then their other recent venture-- backing up the youngest Reid sibling, Linda, in Sister Vanilla-- appears to be for the love. Or, at least, their participation suggests a token gesture of gratitude to the one person who can probably keep the two brothers from kicking the shit out of each other.
Though Little Pop Rock is Sister Vanilla's first album, the lineup effectively formed on the Mary Chain's 1998 swan song Munki, on which Linda lent her pretty-vacant vocals to the revved-up Ramones pastiche "Mo Tucker", a sprightly performance that contrasted sharply with the femme-fatale cameos the band routinely farmed out to Hope Sandoval. Nine years later, this enthusiasm appears unabated on Little Pop Rock, on which Linda sings with the wide-eyed wonder of a fan girl who gets to front her favorite band: "Honey's Dead and Psychocandy, I listened to them all the time," she sings on "K to Be Lost", her sense of awe undiminished by the fact she's related to the guys who made them.
As it's genetically impossible for the Reid clan to sound like anything other than the Jesus and Mary Chain, it's no surprise that Little Pop Rock's acid-casual serenades-- centered primarily on the symbiotic relationship between getting high and feeling low-- could've featured on any Mary Chain album from Darklands onward. And that's a comment on both the songs' lack of deviation from the JAMC's Sunday-morning-Velvets songbook, and the songs' consistent quality and unhurried charm.
But the steady, metronomic nature of rockers like "Jamcolas" (just like the title says: the JAMC gone pop) and the cheeky Let It Bleed tribute "Delicat" is undercut by a more free-spirited approach to the album's quieter moments, like the casually anarchic piano plinking that closes the opening "Pastel Blue", a gentle acoustic lullaby wherein Linda recounts a car crash caused by her zoning out to the Pastels. How appropriate then that Little Pop Rock comes full circle with "The Two of Us", a closing Stephen Pastel duet powered by an inviting Stereolab drone that provides the proverbial exclamation point to a mutually beneficial family affair: The sister gets to live out her indie rock fantasy, while her brothers are given the opportunity to come back stoned and re-throned.
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Viji, whose real name is Vanilla Jenner, was born in Vienna to a family that greatly influenced her interest in music. Her father builds instruments for a living, her cousin was in a band, and her grandfather was a classical pianist. Her first album, So Vanilla, is the product of a lifelong and generational passion for music and creation. With the help of producer Dan Carey, Viji has created a 12-track record with refreshing 90s and 00s shoegaze rock instrumentals, setting her on the path to becoming a big name in indie music.
Vinny Martell, lead guitarist of Vanilla Fudge, and U.S. Navy Veteran, has received wide acclaim and worldwide recognition for the musicianship and originality that have etched out his place in the annals of rock history. His riff in the Vanilla Fudge chart topper, "You Keep Me Hangin' On," is ranked the number four heaviest guitar riff of all time by Guitar Magazine.
The Vanilla Fudge's symphonic rock remake of this Supremes' hit placed them at number six on the Billboard Charts in the U.S.A. and at number two on the charts in England, second only to The Beatles.
Led Zeppelin opened for them & lots; Jimi Hendrix and Vanilla Fudge toured together... The great Jimi himself once told Vinny to contact him if The Fudge ever broke up ...the Hendrix-Martell Experience, perhaps... Jefferson Airplane, Cream, Janis Joplin, The Doors, B.B. King and more & lots; all graced the stage with them...
In the twenty-first century, Vinny has reunited with Vanilla Fudge and has toured the USA, playing to packed houses... His discography includes three solo CD's, the latest a Tribute to Jimi Hendrix, as well as a new soon-to-be-released Vanilla Fudge tribute to Led Zeppelin. The Vince Martell Live Group, Vinny's solo project, has played to sold-out audiences in the tri-state area, including a recent stint with Blue Oyster Cult at The Chance Theatre in Poughkeepsie, New York...
On October 15th, 2006 the Vanilla Fudge was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame along with other prominent musical figures , such as George Gershwin, Harry Chapin, Perry Como, Joan Jett, Peter Criss of Kiss, Twisted Sister and Billy Joel, to name some...
Also in 2006, Vince reunited with the rest of the original Vanilla Fudge to record an album as a tribute to Led Zeppelin.