In a debut consisting of covers, nobody could accuse Vanilla Fudge of bad taste in their repertoire; with stoned-out, slowed-down versions of such then-recent classics as Ticket to Ride, Eleanor Rigby, and People Get Ready, they were setting the bar rather high for themselves. Even the one suspect choice -- Sonny Bonos Bang Bang -- turns out to be rivaled only by Mott the Hooples version of Laugh at Me in putting Bonos songwriting in the kindest possible light. Most of the tracks here share the common structure of a disjointed warm-up jam, a Hammond-heavy dirge of harmonized vocals at the center, and a final flat-out jam. Still, some succeed better than others: You Keep Me Hanging On has a wonderfully hammered-out drum part, and Shes Not There boasts some truly groovy organ jams. While the pattern can sound repetitive today, each song still works as a time capsule of American psychedelia. ~ Paul Collins

Rovi