I met Carmine in Hamilton,Ontario Canada during the ‘80’s, he had left Ozzy Osborne and had a band King Kobra at the time. He was doing a drum clinic, where he drums for a bit with a makeshift band and then he answers questions. He was playing a big double bass drum set that was cherry red. After the clinic, we could meet him, he was a great mellow guy, ready to be your friend in a minute, he was really down to earth, a really nice guy. When he hit those drums in a small room, maaaan , you felt it. It was like Rocky Marciano giving the final punch.
Vanilla Fudge was a great band. In the 90's Welshman Mikel Japp (ex marmalade) used to run a weekly jam at (now defunct) 'Captains Cabin in North Hollywood (Victory just E of Lankershim), and bass virtuoso Tim Bogert would frequently be on bass. Famed Palomino Club nearby had just closed, but club FM Station on the West corner was still open. Good times
Vanilla Fudge did mostly covers, while most bands at the time prided themselves on doing originals, which often led to the critics underrating and dismissing them. But they certainly made the covers their own. Who would have imagined that they could turn a Motown pop/soul classic into a raging progressive rock classic?
Nowadays when I hear this version of "You Keep Me Hangin' On" , I think of "Once Upon a Time In Hollywood", if you haven't seen the movie, it plays during a very dramatic scene.
According to the dickheads at Rolling Stones magazine, the pathetic cover by The Supremes was deemed better in the list of 500 All Time Greatest Songs.
@@kenchristie9214 The Supremes did not cover Keep me Hanging On. They did it first. The Supremes did a very good version of Keep Me Hanging On. The Vanilla Fudge did a more fun cover,but I like them both
They were the darlings of Ed Sullivan---plus they were local! Ed didn't have to ship them in from across the pond, or fly them in from the West Coast, they just happened to live in the neighbourhood!
What a zoo. When Ed wasn't introducing Topo Gigo or some acrobatic group from Hungary, every now and then a great band on the rise found a format. Whether the Beatles made Ed Sullivan or Ed Sullivan made the Beatles is still a matter of debate. The truth is. . .his show helped propel a LOT of good music forward including Vanilla Fudge.
They were Mark Stein and the Pigeons until Mark's girlfriend mentioned n her favorite ice cream was a Drumstick flavored Vanilla Fudge and her grandfather called her Vanilla Fudge!
