Vanilla Zeppelin

Mastered from the Original Master Tapes and Limited to 2,000 Numbered Copies: Sonically Superb Hybrid SACD Presents the Record in True-to-the-Original Mono.

The mighty Fudge is back with their heaviest album to date, a collection of brilliant reworkings of classic tracks from that pivotal year in music 1967! These classic rock icons are keeping the spirit of real rock music alive with their own versions of The Box Tops The Letter, Procol Harum s Whiter Shade Of Pale, The Who s I Can See For Miles, Spencer Davis Group's Gimme Some Lovin and lots more! 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.

Boomerang's eponymous 1971 debut also proved to be their last (though a shelved second album remains stashed away somewhere), and its surprisingly stripped-down and unfettered blues-rock approach will probably surprise those familiar with vocalist/organist Mark Stein's earlier work with psychedelic overlords Vanilla Fudge. Clearly inspired by the white-knuckled intensity of Led Zeppelin's first two albums, economic hard rockers like "Juke It," "Cynthia Fever," and "The Peddler" attempted to deliver the same thrilling brand of sheer power masking barely reigned-in virtuosity. Like every other six-stringer of the day, guitar wunderkind Ricky Ramirez (press clippings claimed he was 15 at the time of this recording) was thrust into the role of guitar hero whether he liked it or not; and, despite falling well short of achieving headline status (witness his nonexistent post-Boomerang career), he handled himself convincingly enough throughout, even contributing a nifty backward solo to "Hard Times."

One of the great things about Jeff Beck is his utter unpredictability. It's also one of the most maddening things about him, too, since it's as likely to lead to flights of genius as it is to weird detours like Beck, Bogert & Appice…

Cactology is the definitive collection of music from one of the most underrated and overlooked hard rock bands of the '70s. From the opening notes of Howlin' Wolf's "Evil" (cast by Cactus as a Black Sabbath/Led Zeppelin-type monster riff sludge rocker), the listener is swept into a dark world of beer-swilling, testosterone-fueled stud boogie. On the CD's second track, the band gives Mose Allison's lightly swinging jazz/blues classic "Parchman Farm" a hyper-speed freight train treatment that shames even the Who's thunderous Live at Leeds version of Allison's "Young Man." All the while, bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice (both of whom are better-known for their work with Vanilla Fudge and Jeff Beck) add a thunderous, chops-heavy bottom end…

Steppenwolf entered the studio for their recording debut with a lot of confidence - based on a heavy rehearsal schedule before they ever got signed - and it shows on this album, a surprisingly strong debut album from a tight hard rock outfit who was obviously searching for a hook to hang their sound on. The playing is about as loud and powerful as anything being put out by a major record label in 1968, though John Kay's songwriting needed some development before their in-house repertory would catch up with their sound and musicianship. On this album, the best material came from outside the ranks of the active bandmembers: "Born to Be Wild" by ex-member Mars Bonfire, which became not only a chart-topping high-energy anthem for the counterculture (a status solidified by its use in Dennis Hopper's movie Easy Rider the following year)…

One of the great things about Jeff Beck is his utter unpredictability. It's also one of the most maddening things about him, too, since it's as likely to lead to flights of genius as it is to weird detours like Beck, Bogert & Appice…