VANILLA FUDGE
''OUT THROUGH THE IN DOOR''
MARCH 12 2007
61:47
**********
01 - Immigrant Song 03:17 (Jimmy Page, Robert Plant)
02 - Ramble On 04:27 (Jimmy Page, Robert Plant)
03 - Trampled Underfoot 04:47 (John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant)
04 - Dazed And Confused 05:54 (Jimmy Page)
05 - Black Mountain Side 03:28 (Jimmy Page)
06 - Fool In The Rain 05:33 (John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant)
07 - Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You 07:03 (Traditional)
08 - Dancing Days 04:47 (Jimmy Page, Robert Plant)
09 - Moby Dick 06:05 (John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page)
10 - All Of My Love 06:14 (John Paul Jones, Robert Plant)
11 - Rock And Roll 04:19 (Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham)
12 - Your Time Is Gonna Come 05:45 (Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones)
**********
Carmine Appice – drums, lead vocals on ''trampled under foot'' and ''dancing days'', backing vocals, percussion
Tim Bogert – bass guitar, backing vocals
Vince Martell – guitars, lead vocals on ''rock and roll'', backing vocals
Mark Stein – lead vocals, backing vocals, keyboards
Additional personnel:
Teddy (Zig Zag) Andreadis – bass voice on ''dancing days''
Tom Vitorino – backing vocals
**********
REVIEW/AMG
Greg Prato
Throughout the years, there have been oodles and oodles of Led Zeppelin tribute albums. And many of these releases feature hard rock bands that merely replicate Zep classics note for note, karaoke-style. In 2007, along came Vanilla Fudge's "tip of the cap" to Bonham-Jones-Page-Plant, titled Out Through the In Door. Unlike most other bands that have covered Zep, Vanilla Fudge actually have some honest to goodness history with the group they're paying homage to, as Zep supported the Fudge on one of their earliest U.S. tours, back in 1969. And it's common knowledge among drummers that John Bonham studied -- and perhaps even borrowed a thing or two from -- the Fudge's powerhouse drummer, Carmine Appice. What makes Out Through the In Door work -- unlike many other Zep tributes -- is that Vanilla Fudge inject their own style and approach to the tunes, and aren't afraid to stray a bit from the original compositions. One case in point is "Ramble On," which gets much more soulful (especially in the chorus), and another is the nice touch provided by Mark Stein's organ flourishes on "Fool in the Rain" -- while both elements collide in an impressively haunting reading of "Dazed and Confused." Few Zep tribute albums -- or even most classic rock tribute albums in general -- work as well as Out Through the In Door does.
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Steve Huey
Vanilla Fudge was 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. In early 1966, the group recorded a set of eight demos that were released several years later as While the Whole World Was Eating Vanilla Fudge, credited to Mark Stein & the Pigeons.
Vanilla Fudge [1967]
Inspired by the Vagrants, another band on the club circuit led by future Mountain guitarist Leslie West, 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 and had since moved into protest folk) to catch their live act. Impressed by their heavy, hard-rocking recasting of the Supremes' "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 hoped, but the band toured extensively behind its covers-heavy, jam-oriented debut album Vanilla Fudge, which gradually expanded their fan base. Things started to pick up for the band in 1968: early in the year, they headlined the Fillmore West with the Steve Miller Band, performed "You Keep Me Hangin' On" on The Ed Sullivan Show, and released their second album, The Beat Goes On. 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. The band supported it by touring with Jimi Hendrix, opening several dates on Cream's farewell tour, and late in the year touring again with the fledgling Led Zeppelin as their opening act.
Near the Beginning
In 1969, the band kept touring and released their first album without Morton, the expansive, symphonic-tinged Near the Beginning. After part of the band recorded a radio commercial with guitarist Jeff Beck, the idea was hatched to form a Cream-styled power trio with plenty of individual solo spotlights. 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, Rock & Roll, 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 up with Jeff Beck in the aptly named Beck, Bogert & Appice. Appice went on to become an active session and touring musician, working with a variety of rock and hard rock artists. Vanilla Fudge reunited in 1984 for the poorly received Mystery album, and, over the course of the next two decades, Vanilla Fudge would regroup for tours. These reunions often had differing lineups, always anchored by Carmine Appice and usually Tim Bogert, although the latter opted out of an early-'90s incarnation. At the turn of the millennium, the group -- featuring Appice, Bogert, keyboardist Bill Pascali, and guitarist Vince Martell -- launched a more serious comeback heralded by the 2002 album The Return. Several other minor switches in lineup followed in the next few years and, in 2007, they now featured Mark Stein on vocals/keyboards instead of Pascali. This is the group that released Out Through the in Door in 2007. This proved to be the group's last album. More tours followed as did the revolving membership, with the most notable departure being Bogert in 2011. He was replaced by Pete Bremy and Vanilla Fudge launched a "farewell tour" in 2011, a tour that was still ongoing in 2013.
**********
WEBSITE
**********
TO THE TOP
**********
''OUT THROUGH THE IN DOOR''
MARCH 12 2007
61:47
**********
01 - Immigrant Song 03:17 (Jimmy Page, Robert Plant)
02 - Ramble On 04:27 (Jimmy Page, Robert Plant)
03 - Trampled Underfoot 04:47 (John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant)
04 - Dazed And Confused 05:54 (Jimmy Page)
05 - Black Mountain Side 03:28 (Jimmy Page)
06 - Fool In The Rain 05:33 (John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant)
07 - Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You 07:03 (Traditional)
08 - Dancing Days 04:47 (Jimmy Page, Robert Plant)
09 - Moby Dick 06:05 (John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page)
10 - All Of My Love 06:14 (John Paul Jones, Robert Plant)
11 - Rock And Roll 04:19 (Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham)
12 - Your Time Is Gonna Come 05:45 (Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones)
**********
Carmine Appice – drums, lead vocals on ''trampled under foot'' and ''dancing days'', backing vocals, percussion
Tim Bogert – bass guitar, backing vocals
Vince Martell – guitars, lead vocals on ''rock and roll'', backing vocals
Mark Stein – lead vocals, backing vocals, keyboards
Additional personnel:
Teddy (Zig Zag) Andreadis – bass voice on ''dancing days''
Tom Vitorino – backing vocals
**********
REVIEW/AMG
Greg Prato
Throughout the years, there have been oodles and oodles of Led Zeppelin tribute albums. And many of these releases feature hard rock bands that merely replicate Zep classics note for note, karaoke-style. In 2007, along came Vanilla Fudge's "tip of the cap" to Bonham-Jones-Page-Plant, titled Out Through the In Door. Unlike most other bands that have covered Zep, Vanilla Fudge actually have some honest to goodness history with the group they're paying homage to, as Zep supported the Fudge on one of their earliest U.S. tours, back in 1969. And it's common knowledge among drummers that John Bonham studied -- and perhaps even borrowed a thing or two from -- the Fudge's powerhouse drummer, Carmine Appice. What makes Out Through the In Door work -- unlike many other Zep tributes -- is that Vanilla Fudge inject their own style and approach to the tunes, and aren't afraid to stray a bit from the original compositions. One case in point is "Ramble On," which gets much more soulful (especially in the chorus), and another is the nice touch provided by Mark Stein's organ flourishes on "Fool in the Rain" -- while both elements collide in an impressively haunting reading of "Dazed and Confused." Few Zep tribute albums -- or even most classic rock tribute albums in general -- work as well as Out Through the In Door does.
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Steve Huey
Vanilla Fudge was 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. In early 1966, the group recorded a set of eight demos that were released several years later as While the Whole World Was Eating Vanilla Fudge, credited to Mark Stein & the Pigeons.
Vanilla Fudge [1967]
Inspired by the Vagrants, another band on the club circuit led by future Mountain guitarist Leslie West, 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 and had since moved into protest folk) to catch their live act. Impressed by their heavy, hard-rocking recasting of the Supremes' "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 hoped, but the band toured extensively behind its covers-heavy, jam-oriented debut album Vanilla Fudge, which gradually expanded their fan base. Things started to pick up for the band in 1968: early in the year, they headlined the Fillmore West with the Steve Miller Band, performed "You Keep Me Hangin' On" on The Ed Sullivan Show, and released their second album, The Beat Goes On. 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. The band supported it by touring with Jimi Hendrix, opening several dates on Cream's farewell tour, and late in the year touring again with the fledgling Led Zeppelin as their opening act.
Near the Beginning
In 1969, the band kept touring and released their first album without Morton, the expansive, symphonic-tinged Near the Beginning. After part of the band recorded a radio commercial with guitarist Jeff Beck, the idea was hatched to form a Cream-styled power trio with plenty of individual solo spotlights. 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, Rock & Roll, 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 up with Jeff Beck in the aptly named Beck, Bogert & Appice. Appice went on to become an active session and touring musician, working with a variety of rock and hard rock artists. Vanilla Fudge reunited in 1984 for the poorly received Mystery album, and, over the course of the next two decades, Vanilla Fudge would regroup for tours. These reunions often had differing lineups, always anchored by Carmine Appice and usually Tim Bogert, although the latter opted out of an early-'90s incarnation. At the turn of the millennium, the group -- featuring Appice, Bogert, keyboardist Bill Pascali, and guitarist Vince Martell -- launched a more serious comeback heralded by the 2002 album The Return. Several other minor switches in lineup followed in the next few years and, in 2007, they now featured Mark Stein on vocals/keyboards instead of Pascali. This is the group that released Out Through the in Door in 2007. This proved to be the group's last album. More tours followed as did the revolving membership, with the most notable departure being Bogert in 2011. He was replaced by Pete Bremy and Vanilla Fudge launched a "farewell tour" in 2011, a tour that was still ongoing in 2013.
**********
WEBSITE
**********
TO THE TOP
**********