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Jerry Garcia biopic brewing in Hollywood

abel — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:08:04 +0000

Captain Trips is going Hollywood as the story of Jerry Garcia’s early years appears headed for the big screen.

Expected to be titled “Dark Star,” the movie “will be psychedelic in the best sense,” one writer says.

The independent film’s director is Amir Bar-Lev, who made the excellent 2007 documentary “My Kids Could Paint That” as well as 2010’s “Tillman.” While a stream of documentaries have covered Garcia and the Grateful Dead over the years, this is a feature film.

The source material is Robert Greenfield’s book “Dark Star: An Oral Biography of Jerry Garcia”. (The guitarist died in 1995.) Greenfield told Rolling Stone’s web site that the biopic would use period music, but since the film ends when the Grateful Dead begins, it’s unlikely the jam band’s songs would be heard.

Greenfield compared the project with the acclaimed Beatles movie “Backbeat,” which told the story of the Fab Four (or Five) before they became famous. “(Garcia) did things on electric guitar that weren’t done before not because he had taken LSD but because of all the influences he absorbed throughout his life.”

The Garcia project’s screenwriter is Topper Lilien, whose previous movies “Where the Money Is” and “Dungeons & Dragons” were released in 2000. “Topper Lilien’s daring script does justice to Garcia and steadfastly resists cliche,” Bar-Lev told Variety, which broke the story.

Producing are Eric Eisner (”Hamlet 2″) and the indie team of Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa (”Little Miss Sunshine”).

Hollywood trades often float early-in-development projects in exchange for exclusivity. The Garcia biopic has no star or distributor, apparently, so there’s no guarantee it’ll come out soon — or at all.

The news comes days after Amy Adams (”Enchanted”) was announced as the star of a Janis Joplin biopic called “Get It While You Can.” “City of God’s” Fernando Meirelles directs and “Twilight’s” Wyck Godfrey produces.

“Nowhere Boy,” a U.K. import about John Lennon’s childhood, is making the festival circuit before its October release in the States.

More Grateful Dead content:

Combination of the 2: Adams as Joplin

abel — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:38:46 +0000

America’s sweetheart Amy Adams as hard-living, leather-voiced singer Janis Joplin? Yes, that was an enormous collective WTF from Baby Boomers and the Generation X’ers who love them.

“Twilight” producer Wyck Godfrey let slip the left-fielder that Adams (”Enchanted,” “Junebug”) is the latest actress aiming to play Joplin in a biopic. “City of God” director Fernando Meirelles is aboard “Get It While You Can” as well, Godfrey says.

Adams doesn’t look her years — 35 of them — and Joplin always looked a lot older than hers. But at best Adams will go before the cameras being eight years older than Joplin when the singer died of shooting dope in a dicey Hollywood hotel.

What could possibly prepare the former Mormon, ballerina, Disney princess and Gap greeter for inhabiting the drug-and-booze-ravaged body of Joplin? Adams’ brief stint at Hooters and her role in “Psycho Beach Party” offer some faint hope.

Then there’s the beauty thing. Adams has plenty. Joplin … had a great voice. But, as many have pointed out, who could have imagined Charlize Theron as the ugliest woman in Florida in “Monster.” And no doubt Adams can sing and work a stage.

Other contemporary actresses linked to Joplin roles over the years include Pink (a major fan), Zooey Deschanel, Brittany Murphy, Scarlett Johansson and Renée Zellweger. Lindsay Lohan, Nikka Costa and Brittney Spears also had some flirtations with Joplin projects.

Bette Midler, of course, did what is to this point the best Joplin on film, playing the thinly disguised singer in “The Rose.” Midler won the Oscar for her performance, highlighted by a blazing version of “Stay With Me Baby.”

Penelope Spheeris’ apparently abandoned “Gospel According to Janis” originally had Pink in the lead role, but she reportedly walked out on the project, citing a “circus” atmosphere in casting. Deschanel then came aboard, taking months of voice lessons aimed at imitating Joplin, but the project dragged on for years. IMDB lists that production’s status as “unknown.”

Zellweger was attached to a Paramount project that also failed to surface at the boxoffice.

The Wall falls: Gilmour, Waters reunite

abel — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 10:28:57 +0000

In what’s being called a temporary reunion, ex-Pink Floyd leaders David Gilmour and Roger Waters agreed to swap appearances at each other’s shows.

The sudden detente led to speculation that Pink Floyd might reunite at some point, however unlikely that might be.

Waters’ turn to perform came July 10, when he joined Gilmour at a charity event in Oxford, England.

Backed by a band, the duo sang “Wish You Were Here,” “Comfortably Numb” and “Another Brick in the Wall (Part Two)” for an audience of about 200.

The oft-battling bandmates also broke out “To Know Him Is to Love Him,” the Phil Spector-penned song that they reportedly played — with some irony — at Pink Floyd soundchecks.

“I think it was David himself, came up with this ‘Wouldn’t it be funny’, idea,” Rogers wrote on his Facebook page. “What if he were to sing the old Teddy Bears song ‘To Know Him Is To Love Him’ with me, what with us having been so famously at each other’s throats for years and years.”

Rogers says he was terrified of singing the song in two-part harmony. Gilmour apparently talked him into it by vowing to do a walk-on at one of Rogers’ upcoming “The Wall” concerts.

“Well! You could have knocked me down with a feather,” Rogers continued. “How fucking cool! I was blown away. How could I refuse such an offer. I couldn’t, there was no way. Generosity trumped fear.”

Rogers admitted their performance of song was “fucking great” after all — adding cryptically: “End of story. Or possibly beginning.”

Any hopes for a Pink Floyd reunion would be muted by the loss of keyboardist Richard Wright, who died in January 2009. Previously, the psychedelic pioneers re-formed for charity, at 2005’s Live 8.

The July benefit, at a country estate, raised something like 350,000 pounds for the Hoping Foundation, which supports Palestinian children and youth in refugee camps.

More Pink Floyd content:
Pink Floyd walls off its concept albums
“Atom Heart Mother” review

‘Tommy’ back on video: It’s a Blu-ray

abel — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 11:04:53 +0000

Here we have high-definition high concept: The visual freak show “Tommy” on Blu-ray.

Sony says the version of Ken Russell’s “Tommy” on Blu-ray comes “newly restored and remastered” for its Sept. 7 release.

The original 5.0 “quintaphonic” soundtrack returns from previous DVD versions, this time rendered in lossless audio. The regular Dolby 5.1 mix also has been remastered.

Lovers of the “Tommy” album looking for an amazing journey in sonics had best return to their SACD discs, however, as this movie’s soundtrack doesn’t feature the original 1968 recording. Instead, mainstream actors and a handful of rock stars help the Who perform Pete Townshend’s rock opera. (It’s a good 20 minutes into the film before we hear the ‘orrible Who do their thing.)

“Tommy,” of course, stars the Who’s Roger Daltrey in the eponymous role. Director Russell brought in movie stars Ann-Margret, Jack Nicholson and Oliver Reed in a bid to flesh out the rock opera about a deaf, dumb and blind boy.

Townshend made numerous changes and additions to his sketchy narrative from 1969, notably moving its catalytic events from WWI to WWII. All of the Who’s original music was rerecorded for the film, a downgrade in every case.

The actors all sang their parts — terrific in the case of raspy Tina Turner; borderline tragic when Reed warbles his villainous nasty bits.

Actors from the rock world included Keith Moon (Uncle Ernie), Tina Turner (the Acid Queen), Elton John (the Pinball Wizard), and Eric Clapton and Arthur Brown (psychedelic priests).

Surreal/psychedelic highlights include the “Pinball Wizard” number with Elton John atop giant boots; the Marlyn Monroe worship scene with Clapton and Brown (”Eyesight to the Blind”), and the “I’m Free” sequence in which Tommy awakens from his addled state.

Here’s hoping for the best, but quintaphonic sonic probably won’t blow many minds these days, as its basic set-up — three speakers up front, two in the rear — has become common in homes, much less theaters. But back in 1975, “Tommy’s” quintaphonic dazzled preview audiences, who were presold thanks to the (short-lived) quadraphonic home audio format.

Four-channel audio (at the least) dated back to CinemaScope, but the stereo matrix technology used for quintaphonic — with its discrete horizontal and diagonal separation — proved groundbreaking. Quint was the forerunner of Dolby Stereo and the dueling cinema audio systems of the 1980s, such as DTS and SDDS.

The Blu-ray extras include a cloud-based trivia track and a trailer, perhaps this one:

Furthur live on Sirius; town halts show

abel — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 01:03:06 +0000

Reason to be grateful: Sirius XM is doing a live broadcast of Furthur’s tour stop in tiny Jim Thorpe, Pa.

Reason to be bummed: The July 5 show at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont was abruptly canceled because of fears of damage to the facility. One angry fan called it “Grateful Dead paranoia at its best.”

The Tuesday, June 29, concert on satellite radio comes from Penn’s Peak, a 1,600-seat club, making it the most intimate performance of Furthur’s current tour. (The concert, of course, is rock solid sold out.) The live broadcast begins at 7 p.m. ET on the 3-year-old Dead Channel.

Satellite radio fans will hear the Furthur concert on XM channel 57 and Sirius 32. The co-host of the Grateful Dead Channel’s “Tales from the Golden Road” talk show, Gary Lambert, will take calls from Deadheads during the break.

Bob Weir and Phil Lesh’s project is one of the many descendants of the Grateful Dead. It debuted about a year ago and has been on the road most of 2010.

Of the canceled Vermont show, the band said it was “regrettably unable to find a suitable alternate venue in Vermont,” and switched that date to the Sherman Theatre in Stroudsburg, Pa. Tickets from the Vermont show will be refunded, but not honored at the Sherman gig, which sold out in eight minutes.

The Vermont promoter complained on the Furthur web site: “For these concerns to materialize in the 11th hour and our solutions to be deemed ‘inadequate’ is short-sighted.” The show would have been part of the Ben & Jerry’s Concerts on the Green series.

The town’s fears of Furthur, apparently, were of problems with Dead heads showing up on the museum grounds without tickets.

“This is Grateful Dead paranoia at its best,” one local fan told the Burlington Free Press. “This show was no threat to the museum or anyone else.”

Paranoia about concerns certainly runs deep in the Northeast this month after a near riot in Manhattan at a free show by rapper Drake. An expected crowd of 10,000 fans turned into 25,000 and the show was canceled without the performer taking the stage.

The (latest and second) lineup of Furthur consists of Weir (guitar, vocals), Lesh (bass), Jeff Chimenti (keyboards), John Kadlecik (guitar), Joe Russo (drums), and Sunshine Becker and Jeff Pherson (vocals). The musicians have ties to the family of Grateful Dead-related acts such as Dark Star Orchestra and RatDog.

The ever-changing set list looks familiar to Deadheads, of course: “Touch of Grey,” “Looks Like Rain,” “Eyes of the World,” “Here Comes Sunshine,” “Brokedown Palace,” “Ship of Fools,” “Truckin’” and “Turn on Your Lovelight.”

Furthur is named for the 1939 school bus owned by Ken Kesey and used in the ’60s as psychedelic transport for the trippy writer and his extended family, the Merry Pranksters.

More Grateful Dead content:

Glastonbury fest goes ‘weird, psychedelic’

abel — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 10:14:34 +0000

The spiritual descendant of the great 1960s rock festivals, Glastonbury rises once again this week. The shadows of psychedelia lurk around every corner of the English festival, perhaps in response to critics who said bookers were ignoring underground music.

Psychedelic-tinged acts at this year’s Glasto include the Flaming Lips, Os Mutantes, Devendra Banhart, Curved Air and George Clinton with Parliament/Funkadelic.

Psychedelic trance, electronica and ’60s-style pop come from the Egg, Orbital, Dead Weather, Holy Fuck, Wax Tailor, Kissmet, Gorillz, MGMT, Egyptian Hip Hop, Grizzly Bear, lcd soundsystem and at least a dozen more (see the impressive Glastonbury artists list). That brew should address criticisms that the festival has been light on “weird psychedelic music.”

Sixties survivors playing the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts include Stevie Wonder, Ray Davies and Dr. John. Prog/psychedelic acts returning after playing the first fest are Marsupilami, Quintessence and Space Ritual (Hawkwind vets).

Don’t book that flight. This year’s festival is sold out, but the BBC plans massive coverage, some of which will seep over into America. Dates are June 23-27.

For a “psychedelic smorgasbord,” fest-goers can check out the on-site club the Rabbit Hole, which promises “a twisted mix of Alice In Wonderland meets the Playboy mansion.” It specializes in underground music and “magic potions.” Dozens of bands are playing the club over the four days, including Elvis (”the real one”).

The progressive poster outfit Firehouse also touches down in Glasto as part of its “Psychedelic Secession” tour (image for MGMT at right).

Promising young acts competing for a slot on the main stage include You Are the Family Machine and the Phantom Light.

It was 40 years ago that the festival came to life — the day after Jimi Hendrix’s death. Fans paid a pound to see Marc Bolan and a handful of other artists, with the ticket price including free milk from the cows wandering about. Today, it’s arguably the world’s best rock festival.

The Isle of Wight festival, with a focus on mainstream rockers, runs June 11-13. Headliners are Sir Paul, the Strokes, Jay-Z, Blondie and Pink.

Amazon.com Widgets

Scorsese docu on Harrison nears completion

abel — Thu, 20 May 2010 05:25:53 +0000

Martin Scorsese’s movie on George Harrison has made it into post-production, with a 2011 release expected for the rock documentary.

The famed film director promoted “Living in the Material World: George Harrison” at the Cannes film festival along with the musician’s widow, Olivia.

“Marty had a connection with George, they spent time together,” Olivia Harrison told the media. “He’s passionate about film and music as George was passionate about music and film.” She and Scorsese worked on the project for three years.

“I was interested in the journey that he took as an artist,” Scorsese said in Cannes. “The film is an exploration. … We’re just feeling our way through.” Harrison and Scorsese’s mutual interest in spirituality also drew the filmmaker to the project.

The key surviving people from Harrison’s Beatles days — Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and Yoko Ono — have done new interviews for the film. His pals Tom Petty and Eric Idle also are in the mix.

Olivia Harrison provided a wealth of archival images and audio from the late Beatle’s possessions, much of it new to the public. While revisiting the past was sometimes “excruciating,” she felt good about turning over the project to Scorsese and his team. “I feel really safe; I feel protected.”

The Harrison project calls on some of the key collaborators from Scorsese’s Bob Dylan documentary “No Direction Home”: cinematographer Robert Richardson, editor David Tedeschi, and producers Nigel Sinclair and Margaret Bodde.

Scorsese and Harrison are courting American distributors for the feature-length movie. Sinclair’s Exclusive Media Distribution is handling overseas theatrical.

Scorsese’s rock films are “The Last Waltz” (1978), “No Direction Home: Bob Dylan” (2005) and “Shine a Light” (Rolling Stones, 2008).” In addition to “Material World,” he’s prepping “Sinatra,” a biopic about the chairman.

He also helmed the musical drama “New York, New York” (1977). For Michael Jackson, he created the gang-related music video “Bad.” For the TV documentary “The Blues” (2003), he directed the “Feel Like Going Home” episode. In the late 1960s, he worked on the “Woodstock” movie.

Scorsese’s love of rock and pop shows has been evident throughout his film career, dating back to “Mean Streets.” Perhaps most famously, he used Clapton’s “Layla” in an extended death scene in “GoodFellas.” The song was written for Harrison’s ex-wife.

Lennon’s ‘A Day in the Life’ lyrics for sale

abel — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 06:21:36 +0000

John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics to “A Day in the Life” are up for auction (oh boy).

Update 6/18/10: The “A Day in the Life” lyrics went for $1.2 million, about the same paid for the handwritten sheet for “All You Need Is Love.” Some lucky American. (/update)

The sheet has two versions of the song, one on each side. The first version is a rough draft, although all lyrics shown appear in the song. One of the Beatles’ best-known productions, it was the “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album’s closing number — known for its druggy vibe and the eternal ending chord — a true psychedelic classic.

The Sotheby’s auction is set for June 18. The estimated price could hit $700,000, according to the auction house, although Beatles collectors are speculating the price could be a record for their handwritten song sheets. The lyrics to “All You Need Is Love” went for $1 million five years ago.

The lyric sheet reportedly belonged to longtime Beatles roadie/assistant Mal Evans, who died in 1976. His estate sold the “A Day in the Life” lyrics via Sotheby’s in 1992, with the final bid near $100,000. The owner’s bid to sell the lyrics in 2006 failed to draw a suitable bid, with expectations as high as $2 million.

Sotheby’s describes “A Day in the Life” as “the revolutionary song that marked the Beatles’ transformation from pop icons to artists,” apparently never having heard “Rubber Soul” or “Revolver.” The auction house notes that the song had “a depth that was absent from the Beatle’s earlier pop songs.” Indeed, the song is filled with studio stunts and incorporates a 40-piece orchestra. The final E maj chord — played by multiple people on three pianos — is among the most famous in music, no doubt out there still resonating. (Hear the “Oh, shit” work version of the Beatles psychedelic classic.)

McCartney’s “Woke up, fell out of bed” section doesn’t appear on the lyrics, but its insertion for the middle 8 is indicated on the second side of the sheet, which has the more polished version of Lennon’s lyrics, all capitalized. There are crossouts and corrections on both versions. The line “I love to turn you on” appears added later, in different ink.

Lennon and McCartney’s songwriting partnership had pretty much run its course by the time of “A Day in the Life.”

McCartney successfully sued the Evans estate in 1992 to halt the sale of the handwritten lyrics for “With a Little Help From My Friends.” The songwriter noted that Evans kept lyrics sheets as part of his job with the Beatles. Ten years later, McCartney stopped an auction of his “Hey Jude” lyrics, which had been stolen from his home.

Essential reading: Abbey Road studio’s diary of the “A Day in the Life” sessions.

A Day in the Life lyrics (Lennon/McCartney)

I read the news today oh boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well I just had to laugh
I saw the photograph

He blew his mind out in a car
He didn’t notice that the lights had changed
A crowd of people stood and stared
They’d seen his face before
Nobody was really sure
If he was from the House of Lords.

I saw a film today oh boy
The English Army had just won the war
A crowd of people turned away
but I just had to look
Having read the book

I’d love to turn you on

Woke up, fell out of bed,
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup,
And looking up I noticed I was late.
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke,
and somebody spoke and I went into a dream

I read the news today oh boy
4,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.

I’d love to turn you on

Roger Waters hitting ‘The Wall’ again

abel — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 05:20:33 +0000

“Thirty years ago when I wrote ‘The Wall,’ I was a frightened young man,” Roger Waters says of the Pink Floyd classic.

Waters isn’t afraid anymore. He’s taking “the story of my fear and loss” on the road this fall, bringing an Internet-era version of the lengthy album to 35 cities.

The tour starts Sept. 15 in Toronto, with stops in most major U.S. and Canadian cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.

The English musician relaunched his rogerwaters.com Web site for the tour and is writing a tour blog. It includes a signup for the lottery to access presale tickets for “The Wall.” Fans can register for up to five cities.

Waters also asks fans to provide pictures of loved ones killed in a war — soldiers or civilians — for use in the show. He’s including a photo of his dad, Eric, as one of the “Fallen Loved Ones.” The “Wall” story begins with Eric’s death in World War II.

Pink Floyd fans of a certain age remember the band touring the double-disc concept LP in 1980. A 40-foot brick wall was constructed during the show, as inflatable animals drifted overhead — included the famed Orwellian pig that resurfaced recently in the film “Children of Men.” As the concert concluded, the wall came tumbling down, revealing the band once again.

Key songs from Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” include “Is There Anybody Out There,” “Comfortably Numb” and “Another Brick in the Wall (1 & 2).” Most were written by Waters.

The 81-minute work reflected Waters’ paranoia and alienation (hence the wall). Pink Floyd had visited the dark side from time to time, but “The Wall” proved a major departure into acrid sounds.

“It took me a long time to get over my fears,” Waters blogged. “Anyway, in the intervening years it has occurred to me that maybe the story of my fear and loss with its concomitant inevitable residue of ridicule, shame and punishment, provides an allegory for broader concerns: Nationalism, racism, sexism, religion, Whatever!”

“The Wall” tour dates:
Sep 15:
Air Canada Centre
Toronto, ON

Sep 20:
United Center
Chicago, IL

Sep 21:
United Center
Chicago, IL

Sep 26:
Consol Energy Center
Pittsburgh, PA

Sep 28:
Quicken Loans Arena
Cleveland, OH

Sep 30:
Boston TD Garden
Boston, MA

Oct 05:
Madison Square Garden
New York City, NY

Oct 08:
HSBC Arena
Buffalo, NY

Oct 10:
Verizon Center
Washington D.C.

Oct 12:
Nassau Coliseum
Long Island, NY

Oct 15:
XL Center
Hartford, CT

Oct 17:
Scotiabank Place
Ottawa, ON

Oct 19:
Bell Centre
Montreal, PQ

Oct 22:
Schottenstein Center
Columbus, OH

Oct 24:
The Palace of Auburn Hills
Detroit, MI

Oct 26:
Qwest Center
Omaha, NE

Oct 27:
Xcel Energy Center
St Paul, MN

Oct 29:
Scottrade Center
St Louis, MO

Oct 30:
Sprint Center
Kansas City, MO

Nov 03:
Izod Center
East Rutherford, NJ

Nov 08:
Wachovia Center
Philadelphia, PA

Nov 09:
Wachovia Center
Philadelphia, PA

Nov 13:
Bank Atlantic Center
Fort Lauderdale, FL

Nov 16:
St Pete Times Forum
Tampa, FL

Nov 18:
Philips Arena
Atlanta, GA

Nov 20:
Toyota Center
Houston, TX

Nov 21:
American Airlines Center
Dallas, TX

Nov 23:
Pepsi Center
Denver, CO

Nov 26:
MGM Grand Garden Arena
Las Vegas, NV

Nov 27:
US Airways Center
Phoenix, AZ

Nov 29:
The Forum
Los Angeles, CA

Dec 06:
HP Pavilion
San Jose, CA

Dec 10:
GM Place
Vancouver, BC

Dec 11:
Tacoma Dome
Tacoma, WA

Dec 13:
Honda Center
Anaheim, CA

Vanilla Fudge: Sludge from a Rhino box set

abel — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 11:09:22 +0000

Rhino Handmade, the specialty label hidden deep within Warner Music, appears to have located the bottom of the reissues well.

Stand by for “Box of Fudge,” a four-disc collection from the psychedelic-era cover band from hell, Vanilla Fudge.

Those with a sweet tooth for psychedelia will be forking over $80 for the set, which packs in 41 “psychedelic gems,” including 15 unreleased tracks and a 1969 concert from the Fillmore.

Fudge fanciers will savor “an elaborate, foil-wrapped hardcover book.” As with other Rhino Handmade projects, the set is not available in stores.

Today, the Fudge are remembered for their name, their one hit — “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” — and not much else. For Boomers, Vanilla Fudge lurk in the memory as guilty pleasures or downright embarrassments, much like Iron Butterfly and Grand Funk Railroad (both superior bands).

In 1967, however, Vanilla Fudge were hot shit, playing with Janis Joplin, Cream, and the Mamas and the Papas.

The Fudge’s signature move was to slow down and freak out the upbeat hit songs of the day.

The Vanilla Fudge name still seems appropriate, as they were white boys specializing in thick and sticky covers of R&B/Motown hits — “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” “Take Me for a Little While,” “People Get Ready,” “Shotgun,” “My World Is Empty Without You” and so on.

The act was defined by Mark Stein’s B-3 organ and the explosive drum work of Carmine Appice, usually applied with the light & heavy dynamics that found favor in hard rock over the coming decade.

“You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” with its funeral church organ and bursts of hard rock chops, played like a novelty song at the time. Hippie nation embraced the odd mix of the familiar — the Supremes’ already classic hit — with the heady-spooky vibes of the day. Promoters called it symphonic psychedelic rock. Critics called it crap.

The “Hangin’ On” single (3 minutes or so) reached No. 6 on the charts. The version of choice came on the self-titled debut album, clocking in at almost 7 minutes.

(”You Keep Me Hangin’ On” lands near the bottom of this web site’s roundup of the top 100 psychedelic songs, the Fudge’s only nod here.)

Further meltdowns ensued as the Fudge covered the pop stars of the day, starting with the Beatles’ “Ticket to Ride.” Then it was on to Donovan (”Season of the Witch”), the Zombies (”She’s Not There”), Sony and Cher (an agonizing “The Beat Goes On”) and Dylan (”Like a Rolling Stone”).

The squares got theirs as well: Burt Bacharach, already reeling from Love’s cover of “My Little Red Book,” had his “The Look of Love” fudged up. The Bergmans and Michael Legrand saw “Windmills of Your Mind” churned, while Lee Hazelwood’s “Some Velvet Morning” was dragged screaming and kicking to hard rock school.

Oh, the humanity.

Vanilla Fudge ran dry in 1970, as bassist Tim Bogert and Appice founded Cactus, a blues rock outfit in the vein of Humble Pie and the Shadows of Knight.

Later, the duo teamed up with Jeff Beck in the uneventful Beck, Bogert & Appice. Beck also played on a Vanilla Fudge reunion LP in 1984, one of several attempts to reheat the band. “Psychedelic Sundae: The Best of Vanilla Fudge” was released in 1993.

A trio of other recent Rhino Handmade projects flirt with psychedelia:

“Chicago Transit Authority” revives the band’s debut album in “true, discrete Quadraphonic sound,” taken from the 1970s Quad mixes.
“Carnival of Sound” brings to light Jan and Dean’s move toward the sounds of the late 1960s as Berry fought to recover from his awful car crash.
“The Birds, the Bees and the Monkees” comes with a few hits and some 1968 flower power.

Further reading:
An interesting Mark Stein interview