Fanny Ansleme

Fanny had already stepped into some big shoes by being the first all-female rock band signed to a major label, but with the release of 1972’s Fanny Hill, they took things to a new level, recording at Abbey Road with producer Richard Perry and famed Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick (the album includes a Beatles homage with a cover of “Hey Bulldog”). And the result was Fanny’s most varied and ambitious album, sporting a beautiful mix of ballads and rockers and a mature, socially conscious lyrical approach.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of Fanny’s 1970 debut album. For the first time, a group of women (sisters June and Jean Millington, Alice De Buhr and Nickey Barclay) wrote and sang their own songs, played their own instruments and, perhaps most importantly, rocked just as hard as any male band out there. And, as the first all female band signed to a major label (Reprise) and with superstar producer Richard Perry at the board, these four women became perhaps L.A.’s biggest “buzz band,” landing repeated bookings at the Whisky-a-Go-Go with a who’s who of rock’s glitterati in attendance. But, without a reference point with which to review them, the rock press was less than kind, often dismissing them as a novelty act. Fanny would have to become that reference point, and so they did for the generations of female rockers to come after them, from Joan Jett to Girlschool to Courtney Love and beyond. They were truly the Godmothers of Chick Rock.

With this first album for NoMadMusic, double bassist Florentin Ginot displays all his virtuosity in a daring reinterpretation of the violin repertoire of Bach and Biber. More accustomed to the role of continuo, the double bass shines here in a new light, which in turn tinges these works with a roundness and warmth that is typical of the instrument's basses. Accompanied by Fanny Vicens (keyboard) and Caroline Delume (theorbo and guitar), this opus opens up new perspectives on the double bass repertoire!

With the release of Fanny's 1973 album Mother's Pride, Real Gone Music concludes its reissue campaign of the groundbreaking female rock group's classic Reprise catalog. And while there might be some argument as to whether or not we have saved the best for last - all four Reprise albums the band put out have their champions among Fanny followers - there is no question that we have saved the biggest for last, as this expanded edition clocks in with no less than eight bonus tracks! Indeed, Mother's Pride is perhaps the most controversial entry in the Fanny catalog, as Todd Rundgren agreed to produce the album on the condition that he and he alone oversee the album mix. The result was a record that cemented Fanny's popularity in the U.K. but failed to make a dent in the charts here in the States. Like our previous Fanny reissues, this release features track-by-track annotation from the band as well as rare photos. Another seminal '70s rock record from everybody's favorite "forgotten" all-female rock group, supplemented with rare demos and lost tracks!

The first album to bring together all of Fanny Mendelssohn’s four piano sonatas, written over the course of almost 20 years, and including the ‘Easter Sonata’ rediscovered in 2010.