The Beat Goes On
Studio album by
Vanilla Fudge
ReleasedFebruary 1968
StudioUltra-Sonic Studios, Hempstead, Long Island
Genre
Length44:06 (original LP)
52:00 (CD reissue)
LabelAtco
ProducerJohn Linde, Shadow Morton
Vanilla Fudge chronology
Vanilla Fudge
(1967)		 The Beat Goes On
(1968)		 Renaissance
(1968)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]

The Beat Goes On (Atco Records 33-237/mono, SD 33-237/stereo) is the second album by the American psychedelic rock band Vanilla Fudge, released in early 1968. The album doesn't contain any actual "songs", but rather a sound collage featuring many different elements: the voices of world leaders past and present, the band reciting pre-written mantras and reflections, and excerpts of songs (done "Vanilla Fudge style") by The Beatles and Sonny Bono.

Recording

The group was at odds with producer George "Shadow" Morton during recording, as Morton made his own concept album without significant input from them. In the liner notes of Sundazed Records' 1990 CD reissue, the band denounces it as a failed experiment on the producer's part. The Fudge's third album, Renaissance, released quickly after The Beat Goes On, would be Morton's last collaboration with the band.

In his autobiography Stick It!, Vanilla Fudge drummer Carmine Appice declares: "Even listening to it now – which, let me tell you, I rarely fucking do – The Beat Goes On sounds like an album that Spinal Tap would be wary of making."[5]

Reception

While not as successful as their debut album, The Beat Goes On was a moderate hit despite the band's reservations, peaking at #17 on the Billboard album charts in March 1968.[6] It reached number 9 in Finland in April 1968.[7] Music author Christian Matijas-Mecca describes the album as an "experimental and pretentious album" that, similarly to Frank Zappa's album Lumpy Gravy, does not live up to its meticulous collage creation.[3]

Vanilla Fudge's The Beat Goes On is used as bumper music in the Pop Chronicles music documentary.[8]

Track listing

Side one

  1. "Sketch" (Appice, Bogert, Martell, Stein) - 2:55

Phase One

  1. "Intro: The Beat Goes On" (Sonny Bono) - 1:57
    1. Eighteenth Century: Variations on a Theme by Mozart: "Divertimento No. 13 In F Major" (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) - 0:46
    2. Nineteenth Century: "Old Black Joe" (Stephen Foster) - 0:46
    3. Twentieth Century - 3:09
      1. "Don't Fence Me In" (Cole Porter) - 0:52
      2. "12th Street Rag" (Euday L. Bowman) - 0:49
      3. "In The Mood" (Garland, Razaf) - 0:45
      4. "Hound Dog" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller) - 0:43
    4. The Beatles - 1:45
      1. "I Want To Hold Your Hand" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney)
      2. "I Feel Fine" (Lennon, McCartney)
      3. "Day Tripper" (Lennon, McCartney)
      4. "She Loves You" (Lennon, McCartney)
      5. "Hello Goodbye" (Lennon, McCartney)

Phase Two

  1. "The Beat Goes On" - 1:32
  2. Beethoven: "Fur Elise" & "Moonlight Sonata" (Ludwig van Beethoven) - 6:33
  3. "The Beat Goes On" - 1:05

Side two

  1. "The Beat Goes On" - 1:00

Phase Three

  1. "Voices in Time": Neville Chamberlain, Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy and Other Voices - 8:09

Phase Four

  1. "The Beat Goes On" - 1:50
  2. "Merchant/The Game Is Over" - 8:57
    1. "Merchant" (Appice, Bogert, Martell, Stein)
    2. "The Game Is Over" (Bourtayre, Bouchety): Vinnie
    3. "Merchant"
    4. "The Game Is Over": Tim
    5. "Merchant"
    6. "The Game Is Over": Carmine
    7. "Merchant"
    8. "The Game Is Over": Mark
    9. "Merchant"
  3. "The Beat Goes On" - 2:20

Bonus Phase [CD release only]

  1. "You Can't Do That" (Lennon, McCartney) - 4:27
  2. "Come By Day, Come By Night" (Appice, Bogert, Martell, Stein) - 3:27

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ Rivadavia, Eduardo (February 24, 2013). "When Vanilla Fudge Got Weird on 'The Beat Goes On'". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  2. ↑ Neff, Joseph (January 14, 2021). "Graded on a Curve: Vanilla Fudge, Near the Beginning". The Vinyl District. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  3. 1 2 Matijas-Mecca, Christian (2020). "Must-Hear Music". Listen to Psychedelic Rock! Exploring a Musical Genre. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 159. ISBN 9781440861987. Retrieved August 13, 2022. They followed up with the experimental and pretentious The Beat Goes On, which was nothing more than an aimless collage. Frank Zappa created similar work on his 1967 LP, Lumpy Gravy, and while constructing these collages is tiring and difficult manual labour, the end result seldom matches the intention or effort.
  4. ↑ The Beat Goes On at AllMusic
  5. ↑ "Carmine Appice: Stick It! My Life of Sex, Drums, and Rock 'N' Roll - book review". 23 May 2016.
  6. ↑ Rees, Dafydd; Crampton, Luke (1999). Rock Stars Encyclopedia (2 ed.). DK Pub. p. 1035. ISBN 0789446138.
  7. ↑ Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. p. 243. ISBN 951-31-2503-3.
  8. ↑ Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 1" (audio). Pop Chronicles. University of North Texas Libraries.
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