THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,803) Vanilla Fudge — “Where Is My Mind“
Vanilla Fudge “wrote some excellent psych tunes of their own” (Trotsky, https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=6795), including this non-LP A-side that reached #73 — a “powerful slice of heavy psych” that “captures all of the band’s somewhat exaggerated sturm und drang in two-and-a-half minutes of tormented, haunted psychedelia, definitely sourced from the dark side of Aquarius.” (eduardorivadavia, https://www.tumblr.com/vinylspinning/169186598752/the-vanilla-fudge-where-is-my-mind-the-lookalike)
Steve Huey gives us the Fudge:
Vanilla Fudge were one of the few American links between psychedelia and what soon became heavy metal. While the band did record original material, they were best-known for their loud, heavy, slowed-down arrangements of contemporary pop songs, blowing them up to epic proportions and bathing them in a trippy, distorted haze. Originally, Vanilla Fudge was a blue-eyed soul cover band called the Electric Pigeons, who formed in Long Island, New York, in 1965. Organist Mark Stein, bassist Tim Bogert, and drummer Joey Brennan soon shortened their name to the Pigeons and added guitarist 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 girl groups. . . . Inspired by the Vagrants [see #1,063], another band on the club circuit . . . the Pigeons began to put more effort into reimagining the arrangements of their cover songs. They got so elaborate that by the end of the year, drummer Brennan was replaced by the more technically skilled Carmine Appice. In early 1967, their manager convinced producer George “Shadow” Morton (who’d handled the girl group the Shangri-Las [see #1,203] and had since moved into protest folk) to catch their live act. Impressed by their heavy, hard-rocking recasting of the Supremes’ [see #762]”You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” Morton offered to record the song as a single; the results landed the group a deal with the Atlantic subsidiary Atco, which requested a name change. The band settled on Vanilla Fudge, after a favorite ice cream flavor. “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” didn’t perform as well as was hoped, but the band toured extensively behind its covers-heavy, jam-oriented debut album . . . which gradually expanded their fan base. Things started to pick up for them in 1968: early in the year, they headlined the Fillmore West . . . performed “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” on The Ed Sullivan Show, and released their second album . . . . Despite its somewhat arty, indulgent qualities, the LP was a hit, climbing into the Top 20. That summer, Atco reissued “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” and the second time around it climbed into the Top Ten. It was followed by Renaissance, one of Vanilla Fudge’s best albums, which also hit the Top 20. In 1969, the band kept touring and released their first album without Morton, the expansive, symphonic-tinged Near the Beginning. . . . Exhausted by the constant touring, the band decided that their late-1969 European tour would be their last. Following the release of their final album . . . Vanilla Fudge played a few U.S. farewell dates and disbanded in early 1970. Bogert and Appice first formed the hard rock group Cactus, then later joined Jeff Beck in the aptly named Beck, Bogert& Appice.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/vanilla-fudge-mn0000311674#biography
1,804) Pesky Gee! — “Where Is My Mind”
Vanilla Fudge’s song “was soon covered by obscure British outfit Pesky Gee, before they morphed into Satan-worshipping hippies Black Widow . . . so I’m obviously not the one who heard these dark vibes”. (eduardorivadavia again) PG’s version is a “[h]eavy psych pummeler merging into prog” (happening45, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIWsRvOtzLo) Jon “Mojo” Mills says that some of PG’s LP “was downright bad . . . but when they got the mix right they were superb, as on . . . [‘Mind’, which] has a driving rhythm, a unique use of horns, and sees the beginning of the band’s fascination with sinister subject matter and horror vocalization.” (https://www.allmusic.com/album/exclamation-mark-mw0000028057) MercyfulFate thinks PG’s “Mind” “is “better than vanilla fudge”. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIWsRvOtzLo) What the fudge? I love both versions!
Eduardo Rivadavia tells us of Pesky Gee:
Leicester, England’s Pesky Gee! are perhaps remembered more for the band that they became — notorious Satan-worshipers Black Widow — than for their actual music. Taking their name from a song in another local group’s repertoire, Pesky Gee! were originally formed as a soul band before constant gigging slowly pushed them toward a more experimental and progressive style of rock & roll. . . . A cover of . . . “Where Is My Mind” was chosen as their first single in March 1969, but . . . it failed to chart . . . . [PG] record[ed its] . . . album . . . in a single, one-night, four-hour session. Issued in June of the same year, the record sadly fared no better than their single, and the impatient Pye soon showed them the door. Feeling that this particular incarnation had run its course, and simultaneously observing the general populace’s growing fascination with forbidden topics like black magic and the occult, Pesky Gee! decided to re-invent themselves as a theatrically Satanic outfit by assuming the fittingly conspicuous name of Black Widow.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/pesky-gee%21-mn0000309069#biography
David Atavachron notes that PG’s album Exclamation Mark on Pye Records was “intended to simply be ‘!’ but for a record company mix-up”. (He adds that “By 1969 when they released the[] . . . album they had become what could be described as progressive rhythm ‘n blues with a heavy sound . . . . [T]he band was a quite competent ensemble that jammed as well as they covered others’ material but with a distinct prog and jazz-rock inclination.” (http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=3444)
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