{"id":6898,"date":"2011-04-26T00:20:11","date_gmt":"2011-04-26T04:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/?p=6898"},"modified":"2011-04-26T00:21:15","modified_gmt":"2011-04-26T04:21:15","slug":"fanny-the-millington-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/fanny-the-millington-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"Fanny: The Millington Choice?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For some reason I just got the urge to look up videos by\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fanny_(band)\" target=\"_blank\">Fanny<\/a><\/strong>, an early &#8217;70s, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/female-fronted-nineties-rock\/\" target=\"_blank\">female-fronted<\/a> blooz-rock band I&#8217;d vaguely heard about for years but never heard a lick of\u2014nor saw. Here&#8217;s what I found:<\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pukOcZ4Tjk0?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>Lord almighty, these gals, led by the sisters Millington, were <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/unmatched-configurations-in-rock\/\" target=\"_blank\">Heart<\/a><\/strong> a few years before the Wilson sisters got their act in gear! OK, they&#8217;re lacking the delicate balance of firepower and finesse that would characterize the finest works of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/the-wilson-choice\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ann and Nancy<\/a>, but <strong>Jean<\/strong>, the bass-playing lead singer&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=W7z8UWx0OpM&amp;feature=related\" target=\"_blank\">hair couldn&#8217;t be better conditioned<\/a> and her crocheted vest is to die for! Harmony-singing guitarist <strong>June<\/strong> provides the requisite hard-rockin&#8217; support and possibly pioneers the art of head whipping.<\/p>\n<p>Drummer <strong>Alice de Buhr<\/strong> doesn&#8217;t get enough face time, but I like her no-nonsense approach to fills (see her work during the guitar solo at around the <strong>2:20 mark<\/strong>). The unsung hero of the band, however, may be keyboardist <strong>Nickey Barclay<\/strong>. Her passionate organ solo on &#8220;Special Care&#8221; is the highlight of that song (it turns out <a href=\"http:\/\/www.metalmaidens.com\/fanny.htm\" target=\"_blank\">she was briefly a member of <\/a><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.metalmaidens.com\/fanny.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Joe Cocker<\/a><\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.metalmaidens.com\/fanny.htm\" target=\"_blank\">&#8216;s Mad Dogs &amp; the Englishman<\/a>, if that organ part sounds familiar)\u2014and how &#8217;bout that hairdo?<\/p>\n<p>In case you thought these ladies were 2-boogie wonder, here they are on Sonny and Cher&#8217;s show (using their drums, no less):<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/K9VM1rYcPGA?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>This song, &#8220;Charity Ball,&#8221; lacks the depth of the first two numbers, verging into <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/if-you-knew-suzis-band\/\" target=\"_blank\">Suzi Quatro<\/a><\/strong> bubbleglam territory, but the Sonny and Cher crew gives more face time to drummer de Buhr. It turns out Suzi&#8217;s sister Patti (who knew?) would later join Fanny.<\/p>\n<p>Now hold your hat, because the next clip\u2014and <strong>John Sebastian<\/strong>&#8216;s big-hearted introduction\u2014just may blow your mind!<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nWl5Rr0iIi8?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Fanny not only played their instruments, they played them pretty well! &#8211; <em>John Sebastian<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Check out Alice on the drums during the intro to &#8220;Blind Alley&#8221; (beginning around <strong>4:19<\/strong>). Kick ass! Let&#8217;s see Meg White or Mo Tucker, for that matter, pound out such heavy fills.<\/p>\n<p>The band&#8217;s records were produced by the likes of <strong>Richard Perry<\/strong> and <strong>Todd Rundgren<\/strong>. <strong>David Bowie<\/strong> was a big fan of Fanny, claiming they were ahead of their time. Jean would later sing backing vocals on the <em>Young Americans<\/em> album and strike up an even more intimate relationship with the Thin White Duke. <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/mystery-date-revealed\/\" target=\"_blank\">Lowell George<\/a><\/strong>, <strong>Barbara Streisand<\/strong>, and\u00a0<strong>Candice Bergen<\/strong> also lent their support to the band.<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, the band&#8217;s cover of The Rolling Stones&#8217; &#8220;Let&#8217;s Spend the Night Together,&#8221; the original being one of my 100 favorite songs of all time, is not worth even <strong>Townsman 2000 Man<\/strong>&#8216;s time. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/junemillington\/june-and-jean-millington-play-like-a-girl\" target=\"_blank\">This link<\/a>, however, is pretty cool and nice. So is this related clip of the Quatro sisters&#8217; &#8217;60s band, <strong>Pleasure Seekers<\/strong> (yes, there were even more Quatro sisters).<\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mD0JRdIGwoo?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.metalmaidens.com\/fanny.htm\" target=\"_blank\">more I read about this band<\/a> the more I find it funny that they&#8217;re never compared to Heart. They&#8217;re always held up against other all-female bands, such as The Runaways, as if the dudes in Heart diminished the band&#8217;s sisterly femme power. At their best, to my ears, Fanny sounds more in line with an actual blues-rocking female-fronted band like Heart than gimmicky Kim Fowley and Mickey Most lab creations, no?<\/p>\n<nav class=\"page-links\"><strong>Pages:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/fanny-the-millington-choice\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">1<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/fanny-the-millington-choice\/2\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">2<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/fanny-the-millington-choice\/3\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">3<\/span><\/a><\/nav>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For some reason I just got the urge to look up videos by\u00a0Fanny, an early &#8217;70s, female-fronted blooz-rock band I&#8217;d vaguely heard about for years but never heard a lick of\u2014nor saw. Here&#8217;s what I found: Lord almighty, these gals, led by the sisters Millington, were Heart a few years before the Wilson sisters got <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/fanny-the-millington-choice\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[61,366],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6898"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6898\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}