This LP from Mother’s Finest only contains a short seven songs, topping out at 35 minutes, yes, the era of the shortened LP, long before the advent of compact discs, though short on content, it’s all catchy stuff.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Mother’s Finest
ALBUM: Mother’s Finest
LABEL: Epic
SERIAL: PE 34179
YEAR: 1976
CD REISSUE: 2008, Rock Candy Records, CANDY032 * Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Glenn ‘Doc’ Murdock, Joyce ‘Baby Jean’ Kennedy – lead vocals * Gary Moore (Moses Mo) – guitars * Jerry Seay (Wyzard) – bass * Michael Keck – keyboards * Barry Borden (B.B Queen) – drums, percussion
Additional Musicians: Tom Werman – percussion, production * Joe Lala – percussion
TRACK LISTING: 01 Fire * 02 Give You All The Love (Inside Of Me) * 03 Niggizz Can’t Sang Rock & Roll * 04 My Baby * 05 Fly With Me (Feel The Love) * 06 Dontcha Wanna Love Me * 07 Rain
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
When this album was released, America was still caught in the grip of musical genres that hadn’t been truly defined. There was: radio pop, folk, R&B, soul and funk, blues and country. Hard rock was sitting out in no-mans land, and didn’t settle into stride until toward the mid-late 70’s.
Bands like Aerosmith and Montrose were two of the earliest American rock exponents. But really, the ‘rock’ quotient came mostly out of the UK, with Led Zeppelin, The Who, Deep Purple, Queen and Pink Floyd leading the way. Infusing all these elements were Atlanta based Mother’s Finest. What can I say? This band are legends here at Glory Daze.
Truly the definition of ‘crossover’ as we’ve seen over the years. At this early point (this being their second LP), Mother’s Finest were entrenched in a sound that was part R&B, soul and funk rock. The latter would transition toward a hard rock metal overlay in the years to follow.
The Songs
This LP only contains a short seven songs, topping out at 35 minutes. Yes, the era of the shortened LP, long before the advent of compact discs. Though short on content, it’s all catchy stuff. Getting underway is the terrific ‘Fire’, you can see the video for this underneath. The band are understandably as tight as a ducks arse.
‘Give You All The Love (Inside Of Me)’ moves into R&B territory, with The Commodores and Earth, Wind And Fire drawn up as peers. The provocative song-title ‘Niggizz Can’t Sang Rock & Roll’ captures the band doing what they do best. I’m listening to this and remembering the recent TV show ‘Vinyl’. This song could’ve been a soundtrack to one of the episodes.
Baby Jean takes control on ‘My Baby’ which features a raunchy gospel chorus. I love the funky nature of ‘Fly With Me (Feel The Love)’, especially the synth overload from Mike Keck which brings back memories of The Commodores and Parliament in their prime. Excellent.
Things get all racy and spacey on the intro to ‘Dontcha Wanna Love Me’, but is bought back to an R&B centered track being long. The closer is the upbeat ‘Rain’, which features some fiery solos from Moses Mo, and Mother’s Finest’s trademark rockin’ groove – a style which is theirs and theirs alone.
In Summary
The single from the album ‘Fire’ made it into the lower reaches of the Billboard singles chart, and with a schedule of heavy touring, and three more albums for Epic (which went gold), Mother’s Finest were becoming a solid draw throughout the south. Their enduring longevity still sees them out on the road today, and with a bulk of the band still intact. I’ll assume that most Glory Daze readers will have many of their albums in their collection, good on you if you do.
Mother’s Finest on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
