Mark Stein says Vanilla Fudge's 'The Beat Goes On' was the 'biggest disaster of the 1960s'

I like Voices In Time as well as the musical time travel Phase 2. The jamming on the Beat Goes On was ok, no disaster of the 60s style at all, but out of step with what was going on at the time.

 

Mark who?

 

Interesting. Now I may have to listen to it again.

 

If they threw one or two full songs in with the sound collages, it would improve the album and make it an acceptable psychedelic hot mess. It doesn't help that I don't like the song "The Beat Goes On" much in the first place.

 

That was an interesting read. I had no idea that this was viewed as such a disaster. Some of the parts seem a little ham-fisted or amateur but overall it doesn't seem too bad to me. This album is nowhere near the top of the best of 1968 (a great year for music in my opinion) but there are 1960s albums that I think sound way worse than this.

 

I see that you're talking about the CD. The LP did come out in two different mixes which the band can't even explain but the only tracks that were different on the 2 LP versions were "The Windmills of Your Mind", "Lord in the Country" and "Street Walking Woman".

 

Yes you are quite correct ~ Bob Irwin mastered the rarer of the two,
and added the (previously unissued) studio vers. of Break Song for the Sundazed CD.

I've also been meaning to check out
Spirit of '67 (2015) , as it features three of the four original members.

 

I'd offer 4/7/72, somewhere around 8 PM GMT in London, when the Good Old Grateful Dead started their Europe '72 tour. Then again, I'm just playing along. I think Grand Funk hit stride in Summer '71 and the GD was doing some good stuff from '69-'71. But I don't totally disagree with the original point. For the '60s, other than Dylan and the Airplane, I can't see much in U.S. music that comes close to the stuff coming across the pond (Zappa's Hot Rats excluded as well). But it wasn't until '72 that Zappa really hit on the good stuff for me. Of course, there are Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name and "Jefferson Starships's" Blows Against the Empire too. But not enough for me to think that '72 wasn't a transitional year in terms of US vs. UK.

 

I've got multiple copies of all the Fudge titles with both versions of Rock & Roll, and a sealed copy of TBGO, (maybe being still sealed is a good thing?) One of my favorites right around the turn of the decade was Bloodrock's first lp. A DJ used to play "Melvin Laid An Egg" at our school dances.......... and I've had a copy in my possession ever since.....(47 years?)

 

I bought it when it came out and played it all the time for about six months. For some reason I loved it at 13 or 14 years old

 

But that was the marketing by Columbia . The album itself was amazing.

 

I have never heard the album, i just have a best of. I really like the Fudge. What made them for me was the drums. Carmine was HEAVY. Very different from other American bands. What they lacked for me, as implied in the article, was songwriting. Many bands had it all but didn't have the songwriting through the years. The Brill Building type thing would have been good for these guys. Cool band. Really makes me wanna hear the record. I love the Shangrilas, and Shadow had big big part in them. Just out of curiosity i'd like to hear it.

 

"Spirit of '67" is a very solid album. The songs are done a bit truer to the original versions in most cases and aren't the extreme reworkings that The Fudge would do earlier in their career. The singing and playing are top-notch. Excellent versions of "The Letter" and "Ruby Tuesday" feature Mark on piano instead of the familiar Hammond B-3. Their take on The Doors' "Break on Through" is the most radical change-up on the record and it's terrific.

 

Would this tennis stadium be located anywhere near the John McEnroe Music Conservatory?

 

Cheers for the favorable mention,
@Bob J ~ I 'm either picking up (if the store near me still has it) or ordering a copy tomorrow ! It's great to know they've still got the chops !

 

I'll be curious to know what you think when you listen to it. Hope you won't feel like I steered you in the wrong direction. I think it's a good one.

 

Of course, I agree. I did say "the handling" of it. That's what I'm saying...

 

I've been on this forum for 15 years, and this is the most ridiculous post I have ever seen. Yeah, forget The Byrds, Beach Boys, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, The Mamas And The Papas, The Rascals, The Four Seasons, Love, all of Motown & Stax, Spector---all CRAP!! Only Iggy mattered.

 

Oh, as to the actual thread topic, TBGO IS the most disastrous follow-up release in the history of all recording. Of course, I own a copy.

 

You wouldn't happen to be James Williamson (one of the few Stooges still alive) incognito, would you?

 

Eh?

 

and CCR....VU....

 

If Vanilla Fudge's "The Beat Goes On" is the biggest disaster of the 1960s, how come I lived through the 1960s without ever hearing about it?

 

i dunno. but as an aside, ive been listening to THE COMPLETE ATCO SINGLES the last couple weeks and its fantastic. .. cant get enough

 

I had a copy of "The Beat Goes On" and I hardly consider the biggest disaster of the 1960's. It was a psychedelic experiment that probably didn't meet the public acceptance that the band hoped it would receive. They had just come off a successful album "Vanilla Fudge s/t. Aside from the song "You Keep Me Hanging On" that album was not that special in my opinion.The rest of the album were their versions of other peoples material. The Beat Goes On had its own kooky psychedelic charm. We use to play it all the time but we never compared it to something like Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. The record is what it is.

I get a little tired when it hear band members trying to rewrite their history by blaming this or that record for the demise of their band. Vanilla Fudge was a good band with a lot of musical competency and Mark Stein had a great voice in my opinion. However, their downfall was that that were "not" great songwriters and that was their problem. You can't continue being successful when all you do is cover other peoples material. If anything, The Beat Goes On was their most innovative record it that aspect.

Vanilla Fudge had more than their share of 15 minutes of fame. They should look back on their career as being one of the lucky ones. In my opinion, there were better bands that didn't share the success that Vanilla Fudge had.