Fanny Adams (band)

Fanny Adams was a briefly existing hard rock super group formed by ex-pat Australians and New Zealanders in mid-1970. The quartet comprised Johnny Dick on drums (ex-Max Merritt and the Meteors, Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, Doug Parkinson in Focus), Vince Melouney on guitar (ex-Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, Vince Maloney Sect, Bee Gees), Doug Parkinson on lead vocals and rhythm guitar (ex-Questions, In Focus) and Teddy Toi on bass guitar (ex-Max Merritt and the Meteors, Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, Little Sammy and the In People). They relocated to Australia in December and broke up there after a few months. Their debut eponymous album appeared in June 1971, which Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described as "adventurous, heavy, progressive blues-rock... Melouney's crunching, multi-layered Jimmy Page-styled guitar riffs kept the whole thing together."

History

Fanny Adams' founder, Vince Melouney had left the Bee Gees when in London, after three-and-a-half years as their guitarist, in 1968. He secured a solo album deal with MCA Records in mid-1970 and wished to form a group to play material similar to Led Zeppelin. He contacted his former Aztec bandmate, Toi: the ex-pat New Zealander was in London doing session work. Then he asked Dick and Parkinson to relocate from Melbourne; both had been members of Doug Parkinson in Focus, which had won the Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds in 1969. Fanny Adams recorded material for their eponymous debut album. It was produced by Melouney with all the tracks co-written by the quartet.

The group relocated to Australia in December 1970; upon arrival Parkinson told national pop music newspaper, ''Go-Set'', that " ewill be the best band that ever trod this earth." They performed at the Wallacia and Myponga Pop Festivals in January. They issued ''Fanny Adams'' in June that year on MCA Records. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, felt they had "cut an album of adventurous, heavy, progressive blues-rock. There were a couple of ponderous, over-long tracks (like the 10-minute 'In a Room'), but Melouney's crunching, multi-layered Jimmy Page-styled guitar riffs kept the whole thing together." David Nichols opined that they "played heavy, bluesy, progressive rock, and its members were instantly filled with a sense of their own perfection." The album had provided a single, "Got to Get a Message to You", earlier in that year.

However Fanny Adams had disbanded ahead of the album due to "ill-advised boasts of their imminent success... internal dissent and high audience expectations" and had followed a fire at a Sydney discotheque, Caesar's Palace, which destroyed the band's equipment. According to McFarlane, "The story of Fanny Adams encapsulates one of the great disasters of Australian rock music. What sounded like a brilliant idea in theory turned out to be an ill-fated and short-lived affair for all concerned." Parkinson left to form another line-up of In Focus in February 1971. He is cited by Nichols regarding ''Fanny Adams'': "we got into the studio and the truth came out. In my opinion Vince just couldn't play. Personal hang-ups... It was all done for Vince's production company... There was no musical freedom. Bad vibes all the way along." Melouney disputed Parkinson's assertions about his playing but felt the album was "really shithouse". He was a member of a succession of groups during the 1970s. In July 1971 both Dick and Toi worked for Lobby Loyde and all three were members of a reformed Wild Cherries.

Members

* Johnny Dick – drums, percussion (1970–71)
* Vince Melouney – lead guitar, vocals (1970–71)
* Doug Parkinson – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1970–71)
* Teddy Toi – bass guitar (1970–71)

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fanny Adams
Australian hard rock musical groups
Musical groups disestablished in 1971
Musical groups established in 1970