Retro Reviews: Fanny: Fanny Hill

   I decided to launch a new series to imagine myself as a critic at the end of the 60s and start of the 70s, and to rectify certain reviews from Rolling Stone magazine and Creem. This not meant to be contrarian, but to offer a more balanced perspective. This is a lesser-known album.

Fanny – Fanny Hill (1972)

*** 3/4

Producer: Richard Perry

Musicians: June Millington, Jean Millington, Nickey Barclay, Alice de Buhr, Bobby Keys, Jim Price

Songs: Ain’t That Peculiar, Knock On My Door, Blind Alley, You’ve Got A Home, Wonder Feeling, Borrowed Time, Hey Bulldog, Think About The Children, Rock Bottom Blues, Sound and the Fury, The First Time

Reviewed by Matthew Anthony Allair

    Fanny’s third album is impressing me to no end, the same team was mostly brought back, but engineer Geoff Emerick and Andy Johns are brought in and it helps to lean into The Beatles influences. This feels like a new marker for growth for the band, the quality of the singing and playing remains high, but their originals, when they were always good before, are even stronger, more tuneful and memorable. There’s the addition of an uncredited string section as well as Bobby Keys, which helps to lean forward into a Rolling Stones influence. June’s lead guitar work is even more incendiary than before. Nickey’s keyboard work remains outstanding, and as a rhythm section Jean and Alice have managed find ways to keep it fresh and lively. The occasional social comments remain interesting and unique in relation to other activism in the music scene.

    The album opens with a varied cover of “Ain’t That Peculiar” and hints that we will be getting something similar from their last album Charity Ball, but surprises are in store. June’s slide guitar is indeed impressive. A hint of horns suggests the textures are in abundance. “Knock On My Door” suggests a dramatic McCartney influence, and a string section doubles down on the impression, a tale about a clandestine affair. June’s lead hints at Harrison. “Blind Alley” is a lively number that touches on familiar territory with another great lead by June. “You’ve Got Home” is a surprising ballad about a single mother and her child, a hymn like piece that should be empowering, you don’t know the circumstances of how they got there, but families come in all forms, Amazing piece. “Wonderful Feeling” is a mid-tempo ballad with a lifting chorus. With “Borrowed Time” has a Stones feeling due to Keys and Price’s work, quite a vibrant moment between the interplay of the band.

    “Hey Bulldog” might be one of the more impressive covers I have heard, it’s rare to do a Beatles number and just about best it – they have here, some clavinet and a string section augments this. June drives some funk guitar for the thoughtful “Think About The Children”, and some more tasteful guitar rides out the number. June lays down some heavy guitar for the fun blues of “Rock Bottom Blues”, the horns again into a Stones sensibility, and June shines on the track. The mid-tempo country ballad of “Sound and the Furry” manages to have Nickey play with a hint of Nicky Hopkins in her playing, there’s also a hint of pedal steal from June on the track. Nickey closes out the album with “The First Time”, a gospel flavored number that celebrates the freedom of a bad relationship, a Full orchestra wraps things up with the resolution. There's a certain ebullience to this band that is hard to resist. 

    If Fanny can continue this leaves me hopeful about their next offering – recommended.