Four-Disc Boxed Set Spotlights Vanilla Fudge Live And In The Studio With An Extensive Collection Of Album Tracks And Rare Singles, Along With An Unreleased 1969 Concert Recorded At The Fillmore West And Unissued Studio Jams

Pre-Order Next Week Exclusively At Rhino.com, Ships In Late April

LOS ANGELES – For a brief moment in 1967, Vanilla Fudge stood at the swirling center of the pop-music universe, satisfying fans searching for transformative musical experiences with its symphonic psychedelic rock. Sweetened by intricate vocal harmonies and classical flourishes, The Fudge’s innovative mix of rhythm and blues shone brightly as a new era of heavy music was dawning at the start of the 1970s.

Organist Mark Stein, bassist Tim Bogert, lead guitarist Vince Martell, and drummer Carmine Appice recorded five albums in two years. They toured relentlessly, winning converts with radical reworkings of hits like The Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hanging On” while “raising” the bar for after-show escapades. Rhino Handmade devotes equal time to The Fudge’s influential studio and live legacies with a four-disc boxed set that combines album tracks and rare singles with unreleased recordings. Due to ship in late April, BOX OF FUDGE is available next week for pre-order exclusively at Rhino.com. Presented in an elaborately designed, foil-wrapped package, the set is offered for a price of $79.98 and also comes with an 11x17 replica Family Dog poster from one of the band’s shows.

The first two discs flow mostly in chronological order, beginning with Vanilla Fudge’s earliest recordings, including the band’s first single with Atco, “Take Me For A Little While.” It continues with selections from the group’s self-titled debut, The Beat Goes On (1968), Renaissance (1968), Near The Beginning (1969), and Rock & Roll (1969), plus two songs from Mystery, the band’s brief 1984 reunion. Along with gathering a number of singles, the collection also marks the debut of the previously unreleased “Heartache Jam,” originally recorded in 1969.

The final two discs spotlight Vanilla Fudge onstage in its prime with an unreleased recording of the band welcoming the arrival of 1969 with a New Year’s concert at the Fillmore West. Recorded shortly before the quartet’s fourth album was released, the show draws on The Fudge’s early days for “People Get Ready” and “Ticket To Ride” as well as its forthcoming album Near The Beginning with “Shotgun” and an epic version—more than 20 minutes—of “Break Song.”

The collection concludes with “Love Jam,” “Movin’On,” and “VF Studio Jam,” a trio of previously unreleased tracks recorded in New York at Atlantic Recording Studios just months before the original quartet splintered.


BOX OF FUDGE
Track Listing

Disc 1
1. “All In Your Mind”
2. “Take Me For A Little While”
3. “Ticket To Ride”
4. “People Get Ready”
5. “She’s Not There”
6. “You Keep Me Hanging On”
7. “Where Is My Mind”
8. “The Look Of Love”
9. “Sketch”
10. “The Beat Goes On”
11. “Come By Day, Come By Night”
12. “The Sky Cried – When I Was A Boy”
13. “That’s What Makes A Man”
14. “Faceless People”
15. “Season Of The Witch”

Disc 2
1. “Shotgun”
2. “Some Velvet Morning”
3. “You Can’t Do That”
4. “People”
5. “Good Good Livin’” (Long Version)
6. “Heartache Jam”*
7. “Need Love”
8. “Lord In The Country”
9. “Street Walking Woman”
10. “The Windmills Of Your Mind”
11. “Jealousy”
12. “My World Is Empty”

Disc 3
1. “She’s Not There” (Live)*
2. “Shotgun” (Live)*
3. “People Get Ready” (Live)*
4. “You Keep Me Hanging On” (Live)*
5. “Season Of The Witch” (Live)*
6. “Break Song” (Live)*

Disc 4
1. “Good Good Livin’” (Live)*
2. “Ticket To Ride” (Live)*
3. Medley (Live)*
a) “Moonlight Sonata”
b) “Fur Elise”
c) “Eleanor Rigby”
4. “Take Me For A Little While” (Live)*
5. “Like A Rolling Stone” (Live)*
6. “Love Jam”*
7. “Movin’ On”*
8. “VF Studio Jam”*

*Previously unreleased

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I feel sorry for the guy at the factory who's gonna have to pack these up for shipping.

The greatest hits format of the first two discs is somewhat rare for Rhino Handmade, is it not?

I'm not going to buy this, but very cool that they're still making stuff along these lines.

Would probably check it out as a 2-cd issue for discs 3 and 4, but with the excellent Sundazed reissues of the original catalog with bonus rarities (as well as the nice German Atlantic Records series digipak remaster of "Mystery", i think with a bonus track), discs 1 and 2 are entirely unnecessary.

Then i'd say, well, for a more casual fan, 1 and 2 are a decent overview for a non-completist (although one could argue that the entire 1st LP should have been included, "Eleanor Rigby" and "Bang Bang" are glaring ommissions IMO). But then, what interest would a casual fan necessarily have in the 2 cds of rare live and studio stuff?

Seems like they may have boxed themselves (pun intended) out of purchases from both ends of the fan spectrum by making this a 4-cd box instead of two separate 2-cd sets. I'm very much into vintage VF, but won't be biting on this deal as a 4-cd box. Hey Rhino, any openings in your marketing strategies department?

Looks from the photo like the upcoming deluxe of the Stooges' first will have the same tight-slited inner pouch housing for the cds, just like the Big Star box. It was so gratifying to have scuffs on 2 of those 4 cds after the $50 purchase, keep up the good work! Was able to exchange a scuffed cd from the Monkees "Birds Bees" box (no protection within the mini LP cover), and even though it only took a month and two calls to cust. service (in India, natch), it was well worth the wait when a replacement cd arrived, with a couple of (although less prominent) scratches on it. My days of collecting are rapdily drawing to a close.

I HATE the cardboard packaging with no tray or inner sleeve.

The bean counters win again (or do they??)

I'm in all the way.

I'm a newbie to Vanilla Fudge. I think I have one comp of theirs.

You haven't really lived until you've listened to their covers of NSync and the Backstreet Boys.

I'm interested in this box but not at $80.

I don't see any mention of a stereophonic studio version of "You Keep Me Hangin' On". I'd swear that there was a stereo version being played on the radio in the late 60's and early 70's, but when the CD came out, it was monophonic. And when I listened to a used vinyl LP soon after, it was monophonic, too.

"You Keep Me Hanging On" was a live in the studio, first take, direct-to-mono demo which predated the group's Atlantic recording contract. The longer album version was created by recording additional segments and editing them in.

Wow. YKMHO is by far my favorite VF track.

That sums up my feelings.

Handmade separated their Cactus releases into two sets. One with the studio recordings (ALL of them IIRC, not just some of them like this VF set) and a second disc with the live recordings.
That allowed me to get what I wanted (studio) and skip what I didn't want (live).

Unfortunately in this case I'll be skipping it too.
Which is a shame because in general I appreciate that Handmade is still around releasing these niche products.
This one just doesn't fit the bill for me.

I don't know if you are being ironic here, but I really love their cover of Backstreet Boys' "I Want it That way", and I don't even like Backstreet Boys themselves.

There's enough rare material on this set to interest me. VF are still touring, believe it or not. Hope to see them live one day.

I wonder which versions of "Street Walking Woman" & "The Windmills of My Mind" will be used? I had the "Rock N 'Roll" album at the time of release on 8-track cartridge, and shortly afterwards on L.P., and can say with certainty, that the take of "Street Walking Woman" on the Repertoire "Rock n' Roll" CD was the one that was on my ATCO 8-track cartridge & L.P. The take on the Sundazed "Rock n'Roll" CD was new/strange/inferior to me. As for "The Windmills of Your Mind" , I can't say for certain which mix/edit was on the original 1969 release, since my 8-track cartridge & vinyl L.P. of "Rock N'Roll" are long gone.

I would be very interested in your thoughts on this release, when you get it.

Agree totally. It sounds like a joke, but the NSync and the Backstreet Boys covers are great. Also agree with the posts about splitting this set into two 2-disc sets. I wouldn't hesitate to pick up discs 1 & 2 of this, but have little interest in the other discs, especially at $80 for the set.

I'm an unrepentant fan of the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, as well as vintage Vanilla Fudge. I had no idea that VF were doing covers of BSB, but now I totally totally need to hear them. Are these live recordings, or are there studio versions? The idea of VF covering boy bands isn't really that far removed from the band doing a cover of the Supremes in '67. Like BSB and NSYNC, the Supremes (and the other Motown acts of the 60s) were a tightly managed mass-audience pop group who sang pop songs crafted and quality-controlled by professional songwriters and producers - Vanilla Fudge just took "You Keep Me Hangin' On" and turned it into an apocalyptic sludgefest. "I Want It That Way" is a fantastic pop song - would love to hear it given the same treatment.

I'll definitely give my reaction to it. I'm looking forward to it.

I am a huge VF fan. I saw them for the first time in 1967 when they opened for The Who (Who Sell Out had just been released). The Fudge killed that night, and Pete Townshend said they were a tough act to follow. I saw them again on Thanksgiving Day 1968, and they played stuff from Near The Beginning, which was released a couple of months later. BTW, Three Dog Night was the opening act.

As others on this Forum, I would have put the set togther differently. For example, I would have included the mono version of Bang Bang, which is longer than its stereo counterpart. I also would have included all of the single edit versions and other rarities. I don't think that casual fans will be interested in this set, so many of the commonly available tracks could have been replaced with tracks of interest to collectors. I'm hoping that the familiar tracks were remastered. Having said that, I'm still happy that this set is being issued. While the cost may seem high to some, Rhino Handmade has typically charged $20 per disc for its releases.

The boy band cover/s are on a recent Vanilla Fudge album, and as with all Vanilla Fudge reunions, the group has only two or three original members. There must be a problem between Mark Stein & Vinnie Martell, because renuions must have one or the other....but not both.

Marillion did an "interesting" Britney Spears cover on a recent live album.........