FANNY - MOTHER’S PRIDE @ 50

 

Celebrating it’s 50th anniversary this month is the fourth and penultimate album from rock’s premier major label all girl group, Fanny, with Mother’s Pride, which was released in February of 1973. It was also the last album to feature original members June Millington (guitar) & Alice DeBuhr (drums), With the help of producer Todd Rundgren, it was arguably their most sophisticated album, though perhaps not their hardest rocking effort.

After their stint in London to record their their third album, Fanny Hill, at the illustrious Abbey Road Studios, they were back on American soil and ensconced in Todd Rundgren’s Secret Sound Studio in New York City for their next LP. When it came time to pick a producer, Todd was the only name all the band members could agree on, at least as far as people who were available. Todd’s approach with the band was to move them away from the hard rock sound of the previous records and into a more pop friendly feel. Ultimately, this ended up being at odds with some members of the group, who were hoping for a more raw, rockin' sound. Both June and Jean Millington felt the end result was overproduced and they were also resentful that he was so guarded about the production process, shutting the band out of the mixing process entirely. While this resulted in disappointment for some in the band, critically, the response was mostly very favorable, with many finding the combination of Fanny’s music with Rundgren’s production sophistication a perfect marriage. Personally, I find it hard to argue with Todd’s results as he managed to bring out a layered and varied complexity to their performances and songwriting that weren’t as apparent on their previous records. The exception to that being the off key vocals from Alice DeBuhr on Solid Gold, which were reportedly recorded when she was off-her-face drunk. Even there, however, Rundgren’s production prowess manages to make it seem deliberate enough to work in the finished mix.

As richly loaded with quality music and performances as the album is, it didn’t help break the group in any meaningful way. The tensions of the recording process and the industry in general ultimately proved too much for June and Alice and the group fractured with them jumping ship to leave bassist/sister Jean Millington and keyboardist Nickey Barclay holding the bag to reconstitute the band. They’d pull it together to record one final album with original drummer, Brie Howard, and new guitarist, Patti Quatro. As Fanny faded into obscurity by the back half of the ’70s, the beauty of this album was lost for a long time until the past few years, when a revival of interest in the group brought a new wave of appreciation for their pioneering efforts.