Although there is little attention to Vanilla Fudge as a band overall, this album, their debut album, was released back in August 1967 and made quite an impression on the music-listening audience at the time. Although this is a release pigeonholed into the Psychedelia of the late 1960s, it really paved the way for future music releases in future genres such as Progressive Rock and even Punk Music. Still, this is seen as their best album overall, and it would be disrespectful for musical history not to cover it here, so let’s take a trip back to 1967 and hear what this sounds like.

Ticket To Ride is quite clearly a cover of the classic song by The Beatles. It begins with some searing organ, loose drum rolls and sounds different from the start. Rolling drumbeats occur, along with nimble bass picking and some interesting guitar work. This is exactly what Deep Purple took their inspiration musically from, and it sounds very brilliant in general. The tune begins with some classy singing and is a much slower, more dramatic and more interesting song than you’d expect. A weird listening experience, all the way back from 1967. A really awesome listening experience sounding different, yet just as tripped out (possibly even more so) than the original song by the Fab Four. Nonetheless, this is awesome listening and sounds like a drug-inspired listening experience through and through. The instrumentation and playing are quite exciting to listen to, especially with the energy and excitement throughout. Although this is a tune that is clearly Psychedelic Rock in orientation, it is a notch up from the Psychedelic Rock of 1967 in predicting the future of music. There is a dramatic organ and guitar solo in the second half of this song, and this sounds very wonderful and unique musically today. A thoroughly enjoyable listen, even if this is not an original song by Vanilla Fudge. A band that is rarely thought of today makes a good cover song here, sounding a bit like the 13th Floor Elevators on this tune. Nonetheless, a very colourful, illustrated and joyful listening experience. The outro is ridiculously good, and this finishes up with a collision of screamed vocals and noisy Rock instrumentation. Definitely worth hearing.

People Get Ready is a Curtis Mayfield song. It begins with quiet and mellow guitar playing, which is super sweet sounding. Organ seeps in, and it sounds very sweet and magical here. This is an extended piece over six minutes long, so strap in your headphones and away we go. A very interesting and pleasant listen from the start, with some interesting drumming in the background. This slowly builds up in volume and is interesting, with a tripped-out organ. Crashes of drumming occur, and singing emerges on its own. Nonetheless, this is a really awesome and amazing listening experience, from the start. An organ solo emerges, followed by wordless harmonies. You can almost smell the weed and incense here from this album. Some great singing is present in this song, and it sounds magical. Multitracked vocals quickly emerge here to startle you, and the singing is quite clearly good here. Sure, this is not exactly the most popular of music but it sounds great for what it is. Eventually, the organ is the loudest part of the midsection and plays alone, which is different from the usual Rock guitar solo. A pretty, interesting and cool rendition of an original song, and the music here sounds deliciously wonderful. A really inspired listening experience, and something that 1960s music fans will love. More harmony-based singing follows, and this song is incredibly pretty and unique. A really awesome piece of music, and a very pleasant listen. You can easily hear how 1970s groups of the future were inspired musically by the music here. Drumrolls enter, and this song goes into a more lively Rock Music section with vocals, organ, drums and a chaotic musical feel to it all. A really cool listening experience, this ends with some delicious harmonies and ends with a lot of crashing drums and organs. Nice.

She’s Not There begins with some interesting guitar leads and matching organ, along with some nice bass work, which is heavily underrated on this tune. It quickly has some organ and some stop/start guitars and drumming. This tune quickly launches into another decent 1960s piece of music and sounds a lot less freeform and more focused in a Pop/Rock way. This is an awesome and fine listening experience that sounds incredibly sweet. An organ solo matched with some unusual guitar riffing is present on this track, and this gradually evolves over time into a really pretty and creative-sounding tune. With wailing screams, rolling drums, nimble bass guitar, awesome organs and excellent lead guitar work, Vanilla Fudge was onto something special on this album, not really recognised here. The music stops/starts in the middle of the song, and the vocals here are pleasant and enjoyable to listen to. Sure, these guys were following a musical template, but the music here is definitely worth hearing, regardless of that. There is an interesting shuffle solo section with rolling drumbeats and weird-sounding guitar playing in the right channel, with some nimble bass guitar work in the left channel. Eventually, the drums conclude early, with loads of cymbal washes. Some hammer on guitar riffs and strange melodies emerge before the ending of the song arrives with some good singing and great organ work. Nice to hear, good job.

Bang Bang begins with call-and-response playing from the organ and the rest of the group, before entering into an organ-led tune that sounds quirky, intelligent and interesting. A really great and cool tune, this sounds really pretty and epic musically. Eventually, some great and Sitar-like electric guitar leads enter into this rather unusual piece of music. It takes a while for this tune to get started, but the organ playing present is amazing. A child’s nursery rhyme is here (about being sick, Westerners should be able to easily identify it) and this tune rolls along very nicely. A really awesome and cool tune, drumming gets this tune really going after some time. This crashingly loud Rock jam eventually is mixed out, with some pleasant acoustic guitars, multitracked singing with Psychedelic lyrics and a great sense of melodicism. A great song, this will definitely appeal to those who are Hippies living in the USA today. The organ then emerges, and the singing continues nicely. A cool listen with a great deal of melodicism and differentiation throughout. The organs and guitars return for a dramatic listen that is loud, awesome and organ-led. Towards the end, there is some fuzz bass and some pretty singing about shooting a lady one is dating. Pretty dark, but really cool musically. A decent five-minute-long song with a dramatic finish. Nice.

a) STRA (Illusions Of My Childhood-Part One) b) You Keep Me Hanging On c) WBER (Illusions Of My Childhood-Part Two) is a long, detailed song title, if there were ever one. It is also over seven minutes in length. It begins with some loose marching drum-styled snare hits, along with some quirky bass guitar. Organ enters, and is quickly followed by a”One, two, three, four!” count in, and some swirling organ playing. Eventually, some Fender-styled guitar leads enter and this tune gets alive and spicy. The tune goes into a dramatic section of rolling drums, organ and lead guitar. This is an interesting listening experience, no doubt. The organ gets louder and more noticeable and quickly is followed by the rest of the group. A very weird listening experience indeed. Singing follows fairly quickly. The singing is quite good and is fairly similar to Cream’s singing on their albums by Jack Bruce. This is a good extended jam tune that is a fairly standard sort of thing from 1967. It sounds very good for what it is. A strange song medley, but nonetheless, a really enjoyable tune about love and relationship issues. Worth listening to, especially if you are into 1960s Hippie Music. All in all, a good listen, although maybe not a great listen. Still, this is a twisted and warped Rock tune that sounds enjoyable enough. This also is quite lengthy and probably could have been shortened for the song’s sake. The last section of the song has crashing drums, sustained organ and lead guitar and cuts out, leaving just the organ alone. This sounds different to have the organ as the lead instrument on an album, as opposed to the electric guitar, which was the main instrument of the day. Nonetheless, the rest of the band returns to finish up this lengthy listen, particularly with pounding drums galore. Nice to hear anyway, despite the song length. It ends with an organ and musical outtake.

a) Take Me For A Little While b) RYFI (Illusions Of My Childhood-Part Three) begins with drum rolls and enters into an organ-heavy tune. It is more of the same, but it still sounds very decent to this very day. Some deep and soulful singing emerges, sounding very emotional and unique here. The first half of this medley is about love and relationship issues and has some of the most underrated drumming in the history of Rock Music. A good listen, and fortunately, a bit shorter and more enjoyable as well than what was before it. Really great to hear, all the same. The multitracked and Psychedelic sounds perfectly complement the lyrics at hand. A great piece of music that has aged surprisingly well. The second half has a great chorus with repeated lyrics and a strange yet awkward set of mixing changes. This gradually fades out, to be replaced by an organ-led section of music that sounds like a carnival. This fades out as well and launches into the next track.

a) Eleanor Rigby b) ELDS is an extended piece with a mixture of another classic cover of a song by The Beatles, and an instrumental by Vanilla Fudge. It begins with some trippy organ playing and guitars to match, along with hi-hats and nimble bass guitar work. Very different. This gradually progresses into a good evolution musically. Soon, it all stops, leaving just snare drum hits alone. There are some musical swells in the background, with the organ being prominent. This gradually gets faster and faster in tempo and sounds very exciting as it speeds up in a frenzy. Eventually, it enters into a musical crashing conclusion. The organ then returns with a stop/start motion, and this instrumental is unusual and different for what it is. Wacky music, but perfectly normal for the late 1960s. Eventually, The Beatles song gets going and to be fair, this isn’t a great cover song. It drags on and is a bit too melodramatic to be enjoyed properly. Regardless, this is okay, just not sensationally brilliant. The music marches on nicely, but it has some rather out-of-tune harmony backing vocals, and it doesn’t sound anywhere near as good as the original song. Still, it is listenable, just not the best form of Psychedelic Rock of the time. Nonetheless, this music has a Progressive Rock edge to it, predicting the future of music throughout. The second half of this song is very dramatic and continues on this rather lengthy tune. It also lacks a proper emotional appeal to the music here, sounding a bit too joyful for the lyrics at hand. Regardless, this is a quirky jam fest that is very odd and semi-listenable. The outro has the final lyrics sung along with an unusual musical backing of vocal harmonies, crashing drums and loud organ. It reaches a rather loud crescendo that works nicely before this reaches a sound effects heavy conclusion. Some of the lyrics of another famous song by The Beatles, Strawberry Fields Forever are sung here, before this finishes. Very weird.

This is not the greatest Psychedelic Rock album of all time. Having said that, it shows Vanilla Fudge as a band of pure potential that predicted the future of Progressive Rock music that was yet to come in the 1970s. This album makes sense if you are a Hippie, high on drugs or a fan of keyboard/organ playing as the main instrument. However, there is also a bit too much of a reliance on cover songs by The Beatles here (alongside others), which drags this album down. Should you listen to this album? It’s a good album, not a great one but if you dig druggy Psychedelia, go for it.

A really strange listen from way back in 1967.

7/10