Mark Stein & his encounters with Hendrix & Tommy Bolin

[westen44]

I wasn't interested in everybody he discussed, but some of them such as Hendrix and Bolin, definitely yes. 

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/vanilla-fudge-mark-stein-jimi-hendrix-tommy-bolin

Note:

Speaking of Tommy Bolin, I've recently been listening to the 1969 Zephyr album with Tommy Bolin.  Of course, I liked Bolin.  But I'm not a big fan of Zephyr's singer who sounded way too much like Janis Joplin for my taste.  I just never much liked the Janis Joplin sound.  However, if given the choice, I would choose Candy Givens over Janis Joplin, although at least to my ears, they sound kind of similar.  I would have been interested in hearing the Zephyr performance when they opened up for Jimi Hendrix at the Denver Pop Festival.  I mentioned this on another thread once before.  But every bootleg I've heard of Hendrix is of low quality and I've never bothered with them.. 

[uwe]

I like Candy Givens' voice, though I couldn't listen to her all day. The similarities with Janis are obvious, but Candy also has a certain innocence still in her voice - Janis sang like she had experienced a lot of things, I actually find listening to her less demanding than listening to Candy. And I hear more archaic (or 'real') country in Janis' voice. But to the casual listener, yeah, they do sound very similar.

But Candy could do more than just turbo voice Janis impersonations, she also had a distinct Carol King influence:



Mark Stein's connections to Deep Purple weren't just via Tommy Bolin: Vanilla Fudge were early DP Mk I's musical role model, as Ian Paice once said "we wanted to outfudge the Fudge, I don't hink we ever did". Like the Fudge, fledgling Purple attempted these grand rearrangements, this one even found grace with John Lennon who liked the version:



And in 1975, Mark Stein was one of the many keyboarders that auditioned with Blackmore's fledgling Rainbow.

I think history has been unkind to Vanilla Fudge and they have very much been forgotten which is unfair - their band sound was as influential as, say, Cream's, at least for keyboard-oriented bands. Without them, I doubt there would have been an Iron Butterfly, a Bloodrock, a Deep Purple, a Kansas, a Warhorse or an Uriah Heep. My pet theory why they were forgotten is that they mostly didn't write their own material - the same fate as The Hollies, Three Dog Night, Rare Earth, early Doctor Hook & the Medicine Show or Manfred Mann's Earth Band, who all excelled in doing "better-than-the-orginal"-covers, but dried up when it came to writing own songs. Having your own canon of songs written by yourself provides longevity for a band. Weirdly, the same doesn't apply for solo artists or no one would still be talking about Elvis or Frank Sinatra today.

Still, their iconic slo-mo arrangement of You Keep Me Hanging On was regularly carbon-copied by other bands:

[westen44]

Candy Givens did have a slightly lighter tone to her voice which I do prefer over Janis Joplin's.  I've never actually disliked Janis Joplin.  I even felt some sympathy for her.  Like, for instance, the way she was treated in her hometown even after she got famous.  But her overbearing voice was just a little too much for me.

I agree Vanilla Fudge have been underrated.  Very much so.  For a time, they were very popular.  But that time was brief.  But if you can't write your own songs; that's right, it can eventually be a problem for you. 

Supposedly this was Tommy Bolin's last performance with Zephyr.

[uwe]

Candy would have done fine with Guns & Roses. Axl owes more to female singers like Janis and Candy than he does to, say, Robert Plant or Paul Rodgers.

It's nice that Zephyr see some reappreciation today - they were forgotten for decades.



I didn't even know about their failed early 80ies comeback attempt:



I was also unaware that she died as early as 1984 (at 37) - not too long after the above vid, tragic. "Drug-related" (drowning while taking a bath) - figures, so Tommy wasn't the only guy who picked up a bad habit with Zephyr which would spiral out of all control once he had more money than he could spend with DP.

Candy's career would have benefitted from a slick funky producer, an A & R man with a vision and some outside songwriters me thinks. Someone like John Kalodner could have worked wonders for her. Or, with her rock chick looks and her pipes she easily might have even fronted a metal/hard rock band, something like this here ...

[westen44]

Candy with Guns 'n Roses instead of Axl would have definitely made them of greater interest to me.  But I still don't think she is appreciated enough today.  But fronting a band like Skew Siskin would have really been a good thing for her, IMO.  Here is another video I found of them.  Nina C. Alice, rock goddess. 

[uwe]

They never went anywhere in post-Grunge Germany, criminal. Perhaps it was coming from Berlin which just isn't a hard rock city. When their first album came out in 1992 and they were boosted by MTV, I really had high hopes.

[westen44]

They never went anywhere in post-Grunge Germany, criminal. Perhaps it was coming from Berlin which just isn't a hard rock city. When their first album came out in 1992 and they were boosted by MTV, I really had high hopes.

Unfortunately, although I like it a lot, music like that sometimes can't seem to find its target audience.  Also, as I've seen through the years, being promoted by MTV isn't always a good thing. 

[lowend1]

Still, their iconic slo-mo arrangement of You Keep Me Hanging On was regularly carbon-copied by other bands:

Yes, and once again you have omitted a Blackmore connection of sorts - this featuring Dio cousin (likewise vertically challenged) and ex-member of Elf, David "Rock" Feinstein.

[uwe]

I had no idea the Rods had their munchkin paws on that song! 

You do know how that hurts when you accuse me of missing Purple connections, dontcha? Deep down it does.

I'm hastily making amends, allora Gov't Mule who have hosted Purple People such as Roger Glover and Glenn Hughes before, here good ole Carmine is their guest and of course he brought a canzone along ...



Carmine Appice's drumming is as show-offy as an Italian cab driver on Mulberry Street NYC, but I sure like it. And it swings, bop to the Wop.

[uwe]

Purple connection or not (I haven't found one yet, darn) and, yes, she's more or less stuck to the Supremes tempo, but we can't let the opportunity go amiss here of posting a performance of the inimitable Ms Wilde:





And let's take a bow to the original too, sorry Dave for invading your space with horrible guitarless Motown Music. 

[uwe]

Flash thought: The Rods version is a bit heavy-handed, nein? And I do miss the organ, jawohl.

Soul ballads by heavy metal beasts need attention, care and a lighter touch ...

[Dave W]

An antidote to Kim Wilde and the Supremes

[uwe]

That's a nice version too, it's just a cracker composition. And in a minor key, quite unusual for a Motown song.

I kind of expected Dave to - insert nose wrinkle here - confront us with this here, yet the man never fails to confound ...



And now for something sliightly different ...

[Pilgrim]

Good Tom Jones cut.  I love the Supremes (listened to their greatest hits double album a lot) but Tom Jones was/is something special. Some singers project power really well, and he's at the top of that list.  Thee are many metal-heads who can scream their lungs out and never project the power that Tom Jones does.

[uwe]

Herr Jones is a Brit national treasure.



Back to Herr Stein. Him joining the Tommy Bolin Band and recording Bolin's best solo work (Private Eyes) with him was things kinda coming full circle. Vanilla Fudge had been a great influence on Deep Purple and when Bolin joined Purple the heavy organ content obviously rubbed off on him as Private Eyes (unlike its predecessor Teaser, neither James Gang nor Energy had a distinct Hammond influence, Zephyr did though) is drenched with Purple'sque heavy Hammond, just listen here:



While in Purple, Tommy experienced what a Hammond could do to his songs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXyjp-h0OQE&list=RDvXyjp-h0OQE&start_radio=1

And he did not forget when he started rehearsing his new band after the Purple departure:



The whole Tommy Bolin Band on Private Eyes was cracker, his old Zephyr buddy Bobby Berge played great and exuberantly on drums, Rare Earth alumni Reggie McBride provided playful, inventive bass playing with a great (and very prominent in the mix!) sound plus Zappa alumni Norma Jean Bell's slightly sour sax melody on Sweet Burgundy from 02:24 onwards was to die for:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYUKi6sKLE0&list=RDkYUKi6sKLE0&start_radio=1

I still say it: With the right management and his drug demons contained, Bolin could have been another Peter Frampton. He had the looks, the chops, the songwriting skills and an immediately identifiable, pleasant voice that didn't need to do much to sound attractive. Tough luck.