Vanilla Fudge

Vanilla Zeppelin

GOLDEN ROBOT A dozen Led Zep covers, Fudged in a good way.

Vanilla Fudge’s eighth album, originally released in 2007 as Out Through The In Door, comprised covers of Led Zeppelin songs. It was also the last Fudge album with bassist Tim Bogert, who died in 2021.

Now remastered and re-sequenced, its 12 tracks – including deep cuts All My Love and Fool In The Rain – are mostly characterised by frontman Mark Stein’s vocals (more soulful than Robert Plant’s) and his organ playing (generally more prevalent than John-Paul Jones’s). In places, though, Vanilla Fudge stretch the envelope further. Drummer Carmine Appice sets up Rock And Roll as a shuffle, and guitarist Vince Martell sings it in a doo-wop style. The riff to Dancing Days is wonderfully

slurred, and Appice’s lead vocal takes it into left-field. Trampled Underfoot has Martell riffing through a wah-wah pedal. Dazed & Confused starts on keyboards then finger-clicks into a jazzy groove before rocking out. Unsurprisingly, none of the tracks top the originals, but all are rendered affectionately and cleverly different.