As an aficionado of late 1960's-early 1970's rock 'n roll has been discovering obscure acts on YouTube or Google Play Music. These include Emitt Rhodes, Garry Higgins and Richard Twice.
But a couple of weeks ago after watching Roy Clark shredding some guitar while playing "Malaguena" on The Odd Couple, I saw a video featuring a picture of a female guitarist from a group called Fanny - an act I must confess whose existence I was entirely unaware. I decided to take a listen because the song was "Ain't That Peculiar" which just happens to be my favorite Marvin Gaye song and I had never heard any other act cover it.
To paraphrase Jack Black's Dewey Finn in School of Rock my face just melted.
Fanny was an all-female rock 'n roll group. Of course there were other all female musical groups and ensembles. But they were strictly vocalists like The Supremes, The Ronettes and Martha & The Vandellas. Yes, there were also women folk singers who could play guitar like Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins and Melanie.
But Fanny was a full-fledged rock 'n roll band and the first all-female rock 'n roll band to release an album on a major record label - Reprise Records. The quartet consisted of two sisters - June Millington on rhythm and lead guitar and Jean Millington on bass as well Nickey Barclay on piano and keyboards and Alice de Buhr on drums. Also of note, the Millington sisters were born and raised in The Philippines before emigrating to the United States in the early 1960's.
The video was taken in November 1971 on a West German TV show called Beat Club. Fanny had released two albums Fanny (1970) and Charity Ball (1971) and were about to go back into the studio to record their third album under the tutelage of producer Richard Perry who had produced for the likes of Harry Nilsson, Carly Simon and Barbra Streisand.
The new album would be called Fanny Hill and "Ain't That Peculiar" would be the lead song on side one. When the video begins, the group is about to start the song but Barclay complains the other members of the band are too quick on the intro. Complicating matters is the cord on June Millington's guitar isn't long enough. In the midst of the pause in the proceedings, Barclay is jamming on the keyboards while de Buhr is advocating for a longer cord for her band mate much to the irritation of some dude in the sound booth. But someone else in the sound booth agrees to give the elder Millington sister a cord after the song. At which point, Barclay chimes, "That's all we wanted to know."
Frankly, whoever was responsible for producing this show should have been waiting hand and foot on Fanny. Because as soon as June Millington hits the first notes on her slide guitar you know Fanny means business. These are rock 'n roll women. While I'm still partial to Gaye's edge of melancholy rendition of "Ain't That Peculiar" Fanny more than does the song justice.
In the early 1970's, Fanny would open for the likes of Chicago, Deep Purple, Jethro Tull and Humble Pie and would appear on shows like American Bandstand, Sonny & Cher and The Midnight Special. Yet radio airplay would remain elusive as would respect from the industry despite their readily apparent talents as musicians. Barbra Streisand utilized Fanny as her session musicians on her 1971 album Barbra Joan Streisand.
In all, Fanny recorded five albums between 1970 and 1974. After their first three albums with Perry, Todd Rundrgen would produce their fourth album Mother's Pride. Fanny would record their final album Rock 'n Roll Survivors on the disco oriented Casablanca Records but would do so without June Millington and Alice de Buhr who were replaced by Patti Quatro and Brie Howard, respectively. Fanny would score a Top 40 hit called "Butter Boy" written by Jean Millington about David Bowie with whom she was in a relationship for about a year. However, by the time "Butter Boy" charted the group had disbanded. In 1999, Bowie sang Fanny's praises:
"They were one of the finest fucking rock bands of their time, in about 1973. They were extraordinary: they wrote everything, they played like motherfuckers, they were just colossal and wonderful, and nobody's ever mentioned them. They're as important as anybody else who's ever been, ever; it just wasn't their time."
I've listened to all five studio albums. It's good, but when they play live it is extraordinary. One of the acts Fanny opened for was Humble Pie which included Peter Frampton who would ascend to rock 'n roll royalty in 1976 with Frampton Comes Alive. One cannot help but wonder if Reprise had seen fit to release a live album if Fanny's fortunes would have come alive as well. But what's done is done.
For Fanny it's a case of better late than never. The "Ain't That Peculiar" video has been viewed on YouTube more than 2.8 million times which has led to renewed interest in the group. (And in the midst of a pandemic, why not?) In 2018, the Millington sisters along with Brie Howard formed a new band called Fanny Walked The Earth releasing an eponymous album which drew interest from NPR, Rolling Stone and The Guardian. Last month, Forbes ran a piece regarding the 50th anniversary reissue of their eponymous debut album.
I leave you with Fanny doing justice to yet another song, the Stephen Stills penned "Special Care" originally recorded by Buffalo Springfield. My face is still melted after this rock 'n roll ass kicking by Fanny.
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