The Atco Recordings

Featuring Mark Stein, Vincent Martell, Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice, Vanilla Fudge were originally known as The Pigeons and gained notoriety thanks to their radical, slowed down and heavy interpretations of current hits. They signed to Atco Records, a division of Atlantic in April 1967 and changed their name at the insistence of Atlantic founder Ahmet Ertegun to Vanilla Fudge. Their radical cover version of The Supremes’ hit “You Keep Me Hanging On” was issued as a single in June 1967. Dominated by the hard hitting approach of their rhythm section and the powerful Hammond organ playing of Mark Stein it became a US top 10 hit.

The band’s self titled debut album was released in August 1967 and was a psychedelic rock tour de force, featuring a 7 minute version of "You Keep Me Hanging On", it also featured imaginative cover versions of compositions by The Beatles, The Zombies and Curtis Mayfield among others. Over the next 2 years, Vanilla Fudge would record a series of albums that would evolve from psychedelic rock to heavy rock and influence many emerging bands, among them Deep Purple, before disbanding in 1970.

This forthcoming 9 CD boxed set has been remastered from the original Atco tapes and features the albums "Vanilla Fudge" and "The Beat Goes On", in both mono and stereo versions, and "Renaissance", "Near The Beginning" and "Rock & Roll". It also features a complete concert recorded at the Fillmore West on New Year’s Eve 1968 and 1969 over 2 CDS' and a host of session outtakes and singles. The set also features an illustrated booklet with new essay featuring exclusive interviews with Mark Stein and Carmine Appice.

Cherry Red Records, September 27th, 2024.