SPIRIT OF '67

Haven´t got any idea before this day also Vanilla Fudge made comeback and even four new albums! Of course it isn´t any surprise, because most of the old bands have done it. 1967 is one of my favorite music years, so I was curious, but also suspicious to hear this album. Vanilla Fudge was those bands whose album my brother had in his shelf in the eighties when I really started to listen music. "Near the Beginning" became soon one of my big favorites, so I bought also "Renaissance". I understood later, that Vanilla Fudge really created the base of heavy metal, specially those very high vocals were their invention, not Deep Purple´s or Uriah Heep´s. As many bands in rock history, they were ahead of their time, so those others put to account their invention a bit later. Anyway band has returned many times from the eighties, but not still achieved lots of attention. In this album there were three original members, only bass player Tim Bogert left 2009 and his place was given to Pete Bremy.

At first it sounds to me Vanilla Fudge had decided to make funk versions of every piece in this album. What really irritates from the beginning is plashing drums, totally out of sixties spirit. In "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" you can´t recognise the song from anything else except lyrics. It´s very boring groove piece. "The Letter" was originally unknown song to me, so I listened also The Box Tops version of it. Original wasn´t the greatest song in the world, but anyway it has good sixties sounds instead of pompous sounds in Fudge version. First it was pain to hear "I Can See For Miles" as funk version because it´s one of my favorites from the Who-songs. When first shock is over, this piece sounds decent and becomes the best one in this album. The Doors classic "Break On Through" starts promising. It´s the first one that really has in the beginning psychedelic feeling. But of course there comes those plashing drums in the middle and in the end song is more Whitesnake than the Doors or anything from the 1967.

"The Tracks Of My Tears" is again unknown to me. Both Johnny Rivers and this album version are really mediocre, so you can wonder, why they pick this song. "I´m a Believer" is the first one that has arranged in the same method as they did in 1967. But again they sound more Whitesnake than Vanilla Fudge. "Gimme Some Lovin" is made as rhythm and blues song. Not bad, but again it sounds like Coverdale and co. Finally in "For What It´s Worth" they achieve something that made them interesting in the sixties. Their version of that really hippie song is really dark and all the way totally different song, reminding their great version of Donovan´s "Season Of the Witch". Sadly they return to "Whitesnake"-mood in "Ruby Tuesday". If they had done something to those plashing drums, their version of "Whiter Shade Of Pale" would have been decent. "Let´s Pray For Peace" is only own piece in this album, it´s sympathetic ballad with it´s universal message.

It´s sad my suspicios were right. When thinking only music in this album, this really is only one stars album. But guys anyway play really good, so that rises it into two stars. I believe they had fun in the studio, but I think best solution would have been this had been never released. There are old artists like Faust, Roy Harper, Gong, Magma, Van Der Graaf Generator, King Crimson and Haikara, that has made really great albums after seventies. When listening this album I don´t think Vanille Fudge is. Not yet heard those other albums, I guess as old fan I have to listen them at least once. Anyway young people who haven´t got any idea of sixties music, don´t listen this album! Instead put on original albums of the Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, the Who etc. In this album there is no spirit of ´67.