Almost 50 years after their dissolution, the rock group Fanny have a new release compiled from live performances in a German television studio, Fanny Live on Beat-Club ’71-’72. The show was called Beat-Club and reportedly used then-state-of-the-art equipment and top-of-the-line engineers. More significantly, they gave the performing artists free rein. Sets from 1971 and 1972 comprise the release, which includes liner notes by the three former band members.
For the few still in the dark, Fanny were an all-woman rock band quartet of the early to mid-1970s with five major label studio album releases and four charting singles. Yes, they all sang, wrote songs, and played instruments. Most critics and fans agree they never got their just due during their run. Fanny may have been forgotten by 1998 when another live performance, taken from a radio studio in 1972, was released. That helped spark the already renewed interest in Fanny’s music, story, and legacy.
That interest birthed a four-CD box set in 2002 (First Time in a Long Time) made up of their prime material, plus demos, out-takes, and other rarities. Subsequent years saw the reissuing of their original albums, sometimes with bonus cuts. A documentary, Fanny: The Right to Rock, debuted in 2021. The film is as much about the renewed interest in Fanny and the recording of a new album by three Fanny alumna (Fanny Walked the Earth (2018)) as it is about the group’s history.
This brings us back to the new album. Received wisdom has it that Fanny were never really produced properly and that their inherent energy and blistering style were somehow held at bay in their studio efforts. There are arguable exceptions on their records Fanny Hill (1972) and Mothers Pride (1973). But there can be no arguing with the fire, fury, and intensity of these Beat-Club performances, which certainly give credence to the idea that Fanny were often overly bridled in the studio. The Beat-Club performances have been similarly lauded on Fanny-based internet sites and viewable on other platforms. This release has much-improved sound and includes both appearances on the show. Seven of the numbers come from the 1971 and four from 1972. Also included is a section of soundcheck and studio chatter that calls to mind thoroughbred racehorses eager and raring for the starting bell.
Each track is a standout in its own way. The collection opens with the one-two punch of “Charity Ball” (a Top-40 hit) and “Place in the Country”. Both tracks roar from start to finish. A cover version of the Beatles‘ “Hey Bulldog” is next, complete with an additional Fanny-penned verse that fits seamlessly. June Millington had (and still has) a talent for folky-influenced pop-rock ballads, and her flowing “Thinking of You” is lifted by Nickey Barclay’s lilting keyboard work. Another cover, “Ain’t That Peculiar”, also charted, and June Millington’s superb slide-guitar work is displayed to good effect here. Barclay’s gritty vocals carry “Blind Alley”, and the ensemble work on “Special Care” are especially notable. The two rollicking numbers close out the 1971 set.
Grand as the 1971 set is, the 1972 set somehow surpasses it. Fanny have power and swagger here and mesh perfectly on every number. Alice DeBuhr’s drumming is exemplary throughout both sets and keeps the band punching on every cut. “Borrowed Time” has a solid lilt and leads into the joyful bounce of “Summer Song” that captures genuine exuberance, with Barclay’s keyboard work again melding with June Millington’s effervescent melodies and lyrics. “Knock on My Door” is, quite simply, a marvel. Musically complex with rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic variations underlying a lyrical narrative of a clandestine love affair about to go public from the point of view of (one supposes) “the other woman”.
It is quite an achievement. But the last song on the collection covers Ike Turner‘s “Young and Dumb”, which reaches the sublime. Jean Millington’s vocals and bass playing are always sterling on these recordings, but she outdoes herself in this performance, and the rest of Fanny are at her level. Barclay’s gloriously aggressive keyboard work and Millington’s growling guitar solo couldn’t be better.
Fanny’s reputation and legacy can only be helped by Fanny Live on Beat-Club ’71-’72, and more is on the way. Another four-CD set is coming later this summer and, substantially like the one from 2002 (long out of print), contains differences. Perhaps it is time to include Fanny-adjacent material, such as a CD release of June Millington’s fine album Heartsong (1981). Why has Nickey Barclay’s 1976 album Diamond in a Junkyard (with Waddy Wachtel on guitar) and her non-album single “That’s The Kind of Love I’ve Got For You” not had a CD or digital release as of yet? Thankfully, Fanny’s career coda continues.