VANILLA FUDGE — Near the Beginning (review)

VANILLA FUDGE — Near the Beginning album cover

Album · 1969 · Hard Rock

3/5 · 2024-06-16
siLLy puPPy

VANILLA FUDGE only existed for a mere four years but in that short time developed an extraordinary wide range of expressing itself through its five album run that began with its psych-soaked renditions of classic pop songs and then followed by a leap of faith into the world of the avant-garde. After regaining traction, the band sallied forth delivered a solid masterpiece of 60s acid rock before going off the deep end and sputtering quickly into irrelevance as the sounds it nurtured into creation had been adopted and improved upon by an explosion of fertile talent that really took off in 1969.

NEAR THE BEGINNING was the band’s fourth album but in retrospect would’ve suitably been titled “Near The End” as the band’s momentum which peaked on “Renaissance” was clearly derailed leaving the band a victim of its own whims and shortcomings. One of the biggest developments in VANILLA FUDGE’s career was the fact that after three albums, the band decided to self-produce and take full creative control into its own hands. While on one side NEAR THE BEGINNING showcases the band’s developing taste for harder and heavier rock as showcased on the feisty opening cover of Jr. Walkter & The All Stars top 10 hit “Shotgun” however without a producer who served as an intervening force to keep the band focused, this fourth album emerged as an interesting but highly disheveled collection of tracks.

Clearly restless and ready to jump headfirst into the world of hard rock, NEAR THE BEGINNING opens with an adrenalized hard rock version of “Shotgun,” the 1965 hit single that peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and led the way for similar Motown artists to capture the soul market in the 1960s. An unlikely opening track to say the least, “Shotgun” succeeded in showing that VANILLA FUDGE was indeed a multi-faceted band that refused to be pigeonholed into any particular style of music but also displayed a complete disregard for the organ-fueled psychedelic magic that had come to full fruition on “Renaissance.” The six-minute track sounds woefully out of place as a VANILLA FUDGE remaking and basically sounds like one of those tracks you throw in as a bonus cut when finding extra tidbits for a re-issue of some sort.

The band surprisingly features two covers as the first tracks, the second being the hit “Some Velvet Morning” recorded by Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra. The band returns to its expected stylistic approach that featured a slowed down build up fortified with trippy organ runs and the accompanying guitar, bass and drum combo effect. Unlike the traditional symphonic pop style of the original, VANILLA FUDGE transmogrifies this classic song into a veritable slice of psychedelic acid rock which to be honest wouldn’t have sounded out of place on the the debut album as it takes the exact same approach topped off with the exquisitely divine vocal harmonies contrasted by the bombast of the crushing organ, guitar, bass and drum rock heftiness. In this process it leaves the song almost unrecognizable in comparison to the original, a knack VANILLA FUDGE was wise to continue since it appears that it was its greatest strength.

After eking out 7 1/2 minutes of a the classic Hazlewood / Sinatra pop hit, the track is followed by the Appice original “Where Is Happiness” which opens with some trippy avant-garde freakery with strange organ noises frenetically conjured from an unseen realm and slowly develops into a melodic musical score that sounds very much like a continuation of the previous track with the same lackadaisical build up, Mark Stein’s emotive and emphatically emphasized lyrical delivery and a slow build up as the guitar, bass and drum chomp at the bit to get on with the heavier action to come. That very action emerges as an energetic display of beefed up bass, sporadic jazzy drumming and a sizzling guitar soloing sequence with a tinge of Middle Eastern influences to exude an exoticism unheard of in the band’s usual repertoire. Probably one of the best songs of the band’s career actually.

The album’s second side is another head-scratcher curveball delivers by the band. It consists entire of the live recording “Break Song” which was performed at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The track pretty much just showcases the band’s ability to jam, improvise and engage in extended solos. Everyone gets a crack with some nice moments of guitar, others of bass and a rather droll drumming sequence that outstays its welcome. This track really seems pointless and drags down the entire album’s momentum, well what there was of it. Also the band jettisoned its trademark build up techniques as well as its vocal harmonizing. In fact this track exudes a sense of the generic and pretty much comes across as one of those type of “milk it for all its worth” performances of a typical 60s blues rock band that didn’t have the talent to inject anything innovative. This track unfortunately doesn’t highlight the VANILLA FUDGE sound but rather detracts considerably. A studio version was recorded but nixed in favor of this for some reason but personally i like the studio version better. It is featured on the remastered editions of the following album “Rock & Roll.”

Basically NEAR THE BEGINNING was a followup album that had just been thrown together without much care for an album experience. There are really only two interesting songs here and a decent if not outstanding Motown cover. The live track is listenable but not amazing or even remotely successful in delivering what you would expect from VANILLA FUDGE. It seems like the point of this album is to announce the band’s freedom from any controllers and that it just wants to do what it wants. Unfortunately that didn’t translate into a compelling album. In retrospect A NEW BEGINNING signified a transfer of the band’s innovation on the first three albums into a quick downfall that would give the baton to a new breed of rock musicians who would take the band’s unique approaches and gestate them into some of the most exiting and dynamic sounds of the 1970s. While seemingly the end, VANILLA FUDGE had one more album in them. While highly influential for so many VANILLA FUDGE was indeed “Near The End."