One of the greatest tragedies in the history of 20th century American popular music was not seeing this unbelievably talented band blow up the way they should have during their prime. Virtually every headliner they opened up for in the late 70s/early 80s was utterly wiped out due to MF's relentlessly heavy funk-rock assault. They should've been at least as commercially successful as the Eagles and Journey on the rock front or Earth Wind & Fire and the Commodores on the R&B/Funk side. They really had all their bases covered back then. Unfortunately, their natural crossover sound was something the record industry just wasn't ready to roll with so they were relegated to being primarily a regional act here in the States. It was not until they showed up in Germany for the prestigious Rockpalast gig that they finally blew the doors wide open and became an overnight success on that side of the world. Really nice to see their historic performance here on RU-vid in its entirety. MF may not have achieved the kind of success they so truly deserved, but their influence on most rock acts that came after them is considerable. Here's the rundown of who's who in this now-legendary lineup: Joyce "Baby Jean" Kennedy - lead/background vocals Glenn "Doc" Murdock - lead/background vocals Jerry "Wyzard" Seay - bass/background vocals Gary "Moses Mo" Moore - guitar Mike Keck - keyboards Barry "B.B. Queen" Borden - drums
They are still known in Germany. And it just goes to show that the "music industry" know SHIT about good music, therefore promoting crap like X-factor, the Voice, no one's got talent and other casting crap, while instead of supporting real talents prefer to put their influence in the government to promote censorship and "anti-piracy-acts which are just another way to thought control and censorship...
+PeekaPeep: Well, you're right: it definitely is a crying shame (even if I personally would hesitate to call it 'one of the greatest tragedies'). They had great talent, they had quite a range of jolly good songs, their live shows in that period were boiling hot - they would have deserved hugely more success than they actually had. But on the other hand, I never quite understood why they themselves turned away from that characteristic merger of funk and rock which they were really, really good at. Their 1981 album 'Iron Age' was quite a delusion, as I can remember, being just a heavy metal record like dozens of others. And I remember having seen a concert of theirs back in 1983 or 1984 which didn't actually make me too happy: the thrill had gone.
they are a lot much better then Eagles or Journey....away far much better. The problem is that you can't be TOO GOOD if u want comercial sucess (unless you are Hendrix)
@@legatou can say That again! this band is comprised of musicians the equal of ..oh, say Weather Report. a comparable band (‘90s) might be Brooklyn Funk Essentials and most of their success was in Europe. the US? way back in the day it was the damn playlists for radio etc.
Funk rock nobody did it like mother's finest. ..i saw them live back in 1978 at the lakeland civic center awesome concert. ...that's when concerts were so good that you talked about them for weeks on in....live musicians no computer can touch the human spirit
I saw them open for a couple of acts back in the day and they blew the headliners off the stage. I have JBL powered speakers hooked up to my laptop and they are bringing the ROCK FUNK!!!
I saw them in Fayetteville North Carolina in 1977. To this day I still can't remember who they opened for. However, I remember being blown away and always refer to it as one of my all time favorite shows.
Back In 1973 The Band I Was In Called Human Blood, We Open Up For Mother's Finest In Charlotte North Carolina At The Carolina Jam 2. In My Travel I've Seen A Lot Of Acts. Mother's Finest Was At The Top Of The List. So Funky.
Phenomenal fuck rock band that didn't get the recognition they deserved , it's sad peolpe missed out on some great music. Joyce Kennedy was off the charts.
Frank Marino said when he toure'd with the "big bands" Mothers Finest was one of the only to show him respect..Both tottaly underated,,i would die to see them the same night!!!
Lena,ich muß Dir voll zustimmen!Nicht nur weil Mothers Fienst eine der besten Funk-Bands war,sondern auch weil sie eine einzigartige gute Musik machten.Man muß da einfach mitmachen,für mich gibt es da nichts anderes! Man spürt förmlich die Freude an der Musik bei den Leuten!
Happy to say I saw them live many times. Absolutely best band at every concert. Huge thank you to each member of Mother's Finest. Been a fan since '77. 1st concert in '80. Have been at every concert possible since. Thank you!!!
Thanks for finding & posting this! I'm 54 years old & used to get in on a fake L.D. to see MF, back when they were a house band in Myrtle Beach,SC... And to think the drinking age was only 18 back then! lol
I saw this band on one of television's rock concert programs in the mid-seventies and I never forgot them, and after hearing "You Can't Hide" I immediately bought several of their albums. Rediscovering them now they rock harder than most of that time. Oh, and Baby Jean has all of the energy and sex appeal of Tina Turner.
And to think they just stepped off of a plane from the States. Jetlag, dead tired...legends. love them since the early seventies. A DJ here in the Netherlands, Alfred Lagarde RIP, took care of them when in Europe.
Look im one of the first that got to know them when they rehearsed for first concert at Kennesaw Jr college they cam to my neighbor invite me to see them . go u all are real funk rock pioneers
I know, right? I thought that I would watch a minute or two and then move on to something else. But, I'm captivated! Thanks for your comment. I feel the same!
Saw them at Champagne Jam in Atlanta in 1978. This is almost the set from that day. The Champagne Jam was The Atlanta Rhythm Section festival /party at Georgia Tech
Lucky enough to see this band live, they were the opening act on June 1st, 1977for Styx and Foghat, 2 bands that were big at that time in their careers, in Evansville, Indiana at Mesker Amphitheatre an outdoor open air venue, Mother's Finest was so good with their high energy funk rock that the audience literally booed the headline bands and were chanting for Mother's Finest to come back out. I would bet this was the case for many shows or bands they opened for, once they opened for a band, that band didn't want Mother's Finest opening for them again !! Great Performance, Great Band, they've been blowing shows out for 50 years !! No band wants to be blown off the stage by their opening act !! Highly recommend seeing them if you ever have the chance. Powerful !! I agree with most of these comments, they definitely don't get the recognition they deserve !!
Saw them last night in De Vorstin in Hilversum Holland for the 7th or 8th time in my life. First time was in Parkzicht Rotterdam back in 1988 or 1989, not sure. The set list was almost similar to the Subluxation CD, but a tempo less, but still fucking funky and amazing rocking! One of the best live bands on earth, If you get a chance to see them live, don't hesitate before it's to late...
Okay, thank you for answering! I´ve seen MF twice in Stuttgart (which is my hometown in Southern Germany) once near to "Neues Schloss" and I was in front, which was quite loud and I met WIZZARD backstage listening quitely interested to B.B. King who only talked about his grandchilds - and I´m very proud of having a photograph with WIZZARD (and I had to laugh, cause he´s so big and black and I´m so small and white) (and second time in "Villa Berg" - Radiocenter which had to Close - but I still have the original recording on tape!
You would not believe the stories I've heard about meeting Wyzard. Really classy guy who always has time for a word or two. Always heard good things about that guy.
I saw MF many times as an opening act, once opening for Rossington Collins at the Omni in ATL on a NYE. They were one hit song from massive success, even a small hit song early would have done it, but that's true for a lot of bands.
Summer of 1980 saw them free at the bandshell at Six Flags Over Georgia. Included in th cost of the park ticket. Saw them like year of so later in Souht Florida opening for someone like Kansas IIRC.
absolut geil! well I remember this concert in Stuttgart at Villa Berg - was quite loud and Moses Mo acted as he were drunk, lying on the floor, I like them all, but especially Wyzzard
Mario Schmidt tut mir leid, aber irgendwie siehst du auch aus wie ein langweiliges Schwein - sorry, ist mir erst gerade aufgefallen (Ahnung von Musik und Funk - falls du schon mal Musik gemacht haben solltest???)
I saw them for the first time in 1977, I believe they were opening for Parlament Funkadelic at the Capitol center in Largo MD. THEY tore the roof off the sucka !!
ah, man I've seen them open for PFunk in DC many times at the Cap Centre. When MF took the stage you were gonna be blown away with their presence and their Sound! Listening to these smalls speakers just makes me want to relive that sound they produced on Stage. They always blew the roof off... and, whoever took the stage after them had better come correct...Joyce Kennedy could wail as great as Tina Turner and the best. DC was Mother's Finest central! They had a strong following in DC back then. Like said here, the record industry and radio apparently didn't know exactly what to do with them or how to market them.. Sad...
Sadly, they were to ahead of their time with a mix of funk and hard rock. Saw them open for Peter Frampton in 1976 and they blew him away. 'Give You All The Love' at 13:52 is a class in Funk/Rock. And more thing, Joyce is one of the most under-rated soul/rock singers ever.....
I live in Florida and went to college in Georgia,so I saw these cats a few times. The first time was opening for Kansas in Miami.they were the first band and Head East was the second.That was back when you had really good opening acts. A couple of months later i saw the newly formed .38 Special open of Johnny Winter and Pat Travers open for Rush. The problem with MF in Georgia was that if you didn't line up for tickets frothier 1500-2000 seat solo his, you missed out. You had to see them elsewhere and bands like them didn't get paid dirt for opening compared to what they madden the playing on their own back home or in Germany after they played this TV show a couple of times.The next time I got see them was before a BIG crowd at the bandshell at Six Flags. The ultimate party band that got too big to play the bars anymore, even the big ones. .
To be honest, their songwriting was okay but not great and they got some bad advice about becoming a soul band which worked for nationally for one live record and then zippo. They were and still are all about the performance. You HAVE to see them live to truly get it.
When they went total R&B music, it was OK, but way too Tame for the style and energy that MF was about. The song "Love Changes" was probably their only hit song unfortunately. And, it was a great song, but it did nothing for their edgier Funk/Rock fans.... Then Joyce went solo for a while and did a duet with R&B vocalist Jeffrey Osborne... I loved that song. Then they went totally hard Rock. Don't know how that went. YES, I was total follower of (everything) Mother's Finest! But MF did NOT get the recognition they deserved during their heyday...Period
