View source for The Beat Goes On (Vanilla Fudge album)

{{Infobox album
| name       = The Beat Goes On
| type       = Album
| artist     = [[Vanilla Fudge]]
| cover      = The Beat Goes On (Vanilla Fudge album) coverart.jpg
| alt        =
| released   = February 1968
| recorded   =
| venue      =
| studio     = Ultra-Sonic Studios, [[Hempstead, Long Island]]
| genre      = {{flatlist|
*[[Psychedelic rock]]
*[[proto-prog]]
*[[sound collage]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rivadavia |first1=Eduardo |title=When Vanilla Fudge Got Weird on 'The Beat Goes On' |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/vanilla-fudge-the-beat-goes-on/ |website=Ultimate Classic Rock |access-date=August 13, 2022 |date=February 24, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Neff |first1=Joseph |title=Graded on a Curve: Vanilla Fudge, Near the Beginning |url=https://www.thevinyldistrict.com/storefront/2021/01/graded-on-a-curve-vanilla-fudge-near-the-beginning-2/ |website=The Vinyl District |access-date=August 13, 2022 |date=January 14, 2021}}</ref><ref name="Matijas-Mecca">{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=knTtDwAAQBAJ&dq=vanilla+fudge+%22the+beat+goes+on%22+collage&pg=PA159 |access-date=August 13, 2022 |last1=Matijas-Mecca |first1=Christian |title=Listen to Psychedelic Rock! Exploring a Musical Genre |year=2020 |page=159 |isbn=9781440861987 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=[[Santa Barbara, California]] |chapter=Must-Hear Music |quote=They followed up with the experimental and pretentious The Beat Goes On, which was nothing more than an aimless collage. Frank Zappa created similar work on his 1967 LP, Lumpy Gravy, and while constructing these collages is tiring and difficult manual labour, the end result seldom matches the intention or effort.}}</ref>}}
| length     = 44:06 (original LP)<br> 52:00 (CD reissue)
| label      = [[Atco Records|Atco]]
| producer   = [[John Linde]], [[Shadow Morton]]
| prev_title = [[Vanilla Fudge (album)|Vanilla Fudge]]
| prev_year  = 1967
| next_title = [[Renaissance (Vanilla Fudge album)|Renaissance]]
| next_year  = 1968
}}
{{Album ratings
| rev1      = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score ={{Rating|3|5}}<ref>{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r21011}}</ref> |
}}
'''''The Beat Goes On''''' (Atco Records 33-237/mono, SD 33-237/stereo) is the second album by the American [[psychedelic rock]] band [[Vanilla Fudge]], released in early 1968. The album doesn't contain any actual "songs", but rather a [[sound collage]] featuring many different elements: the voices of world leaders past and present, the band reciting pre-written mantras and reflections, and excerpts of songs (done "Vanilla Fudge style") by [[The Beatles]] and [[Sonny Bono]].
==Recording==
The group was at odds with producer [[Shadow Morton|George "Shadow" Morton]] during recording, as Morton made his own concept album without significant input from them. In the [[liner notes]] of [[Sundazed Records]]' 1990 CD reissue, the band denounces it as a failed experiment on the producer's part. The Fudge's third album, ''[[Renaissance (Vanilla Fudge album)|Renaissance]]'', released quickly after ''The Beat Goes On'', would be Morton's last collaboration with the band.
In his autobiography ''Stick It!'', Vanilla Fudge drummer [[Carmine Appice]] declares: "Even listening to it now – which, let me tell you, I rarely fucking do – ''The Beat Goes On'' sounds like an album that [[Spinal Tap (band)|Spinal Tap]] would be wary of making."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://louderthanwar.com/carmine-appice-stick-it-my-life-of-sex-drums-and-rock-n-roll-book-review/|title = Carmine Appice: Stick It! My Life of Sex, Drums, and Rock 'N' Roll - book review|date = 23 May 2016}}</ref>
==Reception==
While not as successful as their [[Vanilla Fudge (album)|debut album]], ''The Beat Goes On'' was a moderate hit despite the band's reservations, peaking at #17 on the Billboard album charts in March 1968.<ref>{{cite book |title=Rock Stars Encyclopedia |page=[https://archive.org/details/rockstarsencyclo00rees/page/1035 1035] |last1=Rees |first1=Dafydd |last2=Crampton |first2=Luke |publisher=DK Pub |year=1999 |isbn=0789446138 |edition=2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/rockstarsencyclo00rees/page/1035 }}</ref> It reached number 9 in Finland in April 1968.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nyman |first=Jake |title=Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja |publisher=Tammi |year=2005 |isbn=951-31-2503-3 |edition=1st |location=Helsinki |page=243 |language=fi}}</ref> Music author Christian Matijas-Mecca describes the album as an "[[experimental music|experimental]] and pretentious album" that, similarly to [[Frank Zappa]]'s album ''[[Lumpy Gravy]]'', does not live up to its meticulous collage creation.<ref name="Matijas-Mecca" />
Vanilla Fudge's ''The Beat Goes On'' is used as [[bumper music]] in the ''[[Pop Chronicles]]'' music documentary.<ref>{{Gilliland}}</ref>
==Track listing==
===Side one===
#"Sketch" (Appice, Bogert, Martell, Stein) - 2:55
'''Phase One'''
#<li value=2>"Intro: The Beat Goes On" ([[Sonny Bono]]) - 1:57
#
##Eighteenth Century: Variations on a Theme by Mozart: "Divertimento No. 13 In F Major" ([[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]]) - 0:46
##Nineteenth Century: "[[Old Black Joe]]" ([[Stephen Foster]]) - 0:46
##Twentieth Century - 3:09
###"[[Don't Fence Me In (song)|Don't Fence Me In]]" ([[Cole Porter]]) - 0:52
###"[[12th Street Rag]]" ([[Euday L. Bowman]]) - 0:49
###"[[In The Mood]]" (Garland, Razaf) - 0:45
###"[[Hound Dog (song)|Hound Dog]]" ([[Jerry Leiber]], [[Mike Stoller]]) - 0:43
## The Beatles - 1:45
###"[[I Want To Hold Your Hand]]" ([[John Lennon]], [[Paul McCartney]])
###"[[I Feel Fine]]" (Lennon, McCartney)
###"[[Day Tripper]]" (Lennon, McCartney)
###"[[She Loves You]]" (Lennon, McCartney)
###"[[Hello Goodbye]]" (Lennon, McCartney)
'''Phase Two'''
#<li value=4>"The Beat Goes On" - 1:32
#Beethoven: "[[Für Elise|Fur Elise]]" & "[[Piano Sonata No. 14 (Beethoven)|Moonlight Sonata]]" ([[Ludwig van Beethoven]]) - 6:33
#"The Beat Goes On" - 1:05
===Side two===
#<li value=7>"The Beat Goes On" - 1:00
'''Phase Three'''
#<li value=8>"Voices in Time": [[Neville Chamberlain]], [[Winston Churchill]], [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Franklin Delano Roosevelt]], [[Harry S. Truman]], [[John F. Kennedy]] and Other Voices - 8:09
'''Phase Four'''
#<li value=9>"The Beat Goes On" - 1:50
#"Merchant/The Game Is Over" - 8:57
##"Merchant" (Appice, Bogert, Martell, Stein)
##"The Game Is Over" (Bourtayre, Bouchety): Vinnie
##"Merchant"
##"The Game Is Over": Tim
##"Merchant"
##"The Game Is Over": Carmine
##"Merchant"
##"The Game Is Over": Mark
##"Merchant"
#"The Beat Goes On" - 2:20
'''Bonus Phase''' [CD release only]
#<li value=12>"[[You Can't Do That]]" (Lennon, McCartney) - 4:27
#"Come By Day, Come By Night" (Appice, Bogert, Martell, Stein) - 3:27
==Personnel==
*[[Carmine Appice]] - drums, vocals
*[[Tim Bogert]] - bass, vocals
*[[Vince Martell]] - guitar, vocals
*[[Mark Stein (musician)|Mark Stein]] - lead vocals, keyboards
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Vanilla Fudge}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beat Goes On, The}}
[[Category:Vanilla Fudge albums]]
[[Category:1968 albums]]
[[Category:Atco Records albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Shadow Morton]]
[[Category:Sound collage albums]]
[[Category:Experimental music albums by American artists]]