American funk rock band Mother's Finest might appear to be only a blip on the radar screen of rock history, but not to any of the headlining bands they've stolen shows from -- or any of the audiences who saw it happen. Following in the footsteps of the racially-mixed Sly & the Family Stone, Mother's Finest blended white guitarist Moses Mo and drummer B.B. 'Queen' Borden with black vocalists Joyce Kennedy and Glenn Murdock, bassist Wyzard, and keyboardist Mike, for its 1976 self-titled debut album. Tracks like 'Rain' and the slightly controversial 'Niggazz Can't Sing Rock & Roll' made enough of a ripple to get the band out of Georgia clubs and into regional touring. ![]() And as easy as it is to make such generalized assumptions a few decades after the fact, this certainly felt like the dilemma facing Southern funk-rockers Mother's Finest upon the release of their sophomore album, Another Mother Further, in 1977. The set runs somewhat out of order, opening with 1976's Mother's Finest-- their second album named that; the first was a 1972 LP for RCA not included here -- and then comes 1979's Mother's Finest Live, which spills onto the second disc that also contains 1977's Another Mother Further and 1978's Mother Factor. The follow-up album Another Mother Further lived up to its title. The opening track was a cover of the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team's 'Mickey's Monkey,' made popular by Smokey Robinson. But the guitar riff was a blatant copy of Jimmy Page's from the Led Zeppelin song 'Custard Pie,' released two years earlier. Perhaps because the song was a cover, or the fact that they stole from blues legends early in their career, Led Zeppelin never sued and the track (along with others like 'Piece of the Rock' and 'Hard Rock Lover') helped make Another Mother Further the group's springboard. Powersim studio 8 serial numbers. For the remainder of the 1970s, Mother's Finest became the most dangerous opening act in rock, blowing away headliners like Aerosmith, Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush, and Ted Nugent. A subpar third album, 1978's Mother Factor, took nothing away from the band's live performances, as vocalists Murdock -- and particularly the powerful Kennedy -- enthralled audiences over the funk rock backline of Mo, Wizzard, Borden, and Mike. The 1979 album Mother's Finest Live featured not only original staples like 'Watch My Stylin' and 'Give You All the Love,' but also Kennedy singing a stunning cover of Jefferson Airplane's 'Somebody to Love' and the musicians shining on a rearranged version of Steppenwolf's 'Magic Carpet Ride.' It would prove a last hurrah, for Mother's Finest didn't translate well into the 1980s and never achieved its due in the largely-white world of rock. Mo, Mike, and Borden would leave the band, the latter to go polar-opposite by joining Southern rockers Molly Hatchet, but Kennedy, Murdock and Wyzard fought on. After dabbling in dance music with several different lineups in the 1980s, the trio formed an all-African-American band in the early '90s by recruiting guitarist John Hayes and drummer Dion Derek. The angry, rocking result was the 1992 CD Black Radio Won't Play This Record, which proved prophetic despite being the band's best since its 1979 live album (yet white radio wouldn't play it either). It's now in the cut-out bins; ignored or forgotten -- much like Mother's Finest -- by all except a select few. Still active, the group's latest CD is called Not Yer Mother's Funk -- The Very Best of Mother's Finest, and features mostly material from the first two albums. Pioneering US funk rock band Mother's Finest delivered some of the most potent music heard during the 1970s. On great value Double CD, this superb collection brings together the group's powerful, edgy releases for Epic Records 1976-1979. The albums Mother's Finest, Another Mother Further, Mother Factor and Mother's Finest Live represent a radical group with a fierce live reputation, known for upstaging better known headlining acts such as Ted Nugent, Aerosmith and Black Sabbath. Following in the footsteps of Sly & the Family Stone and Funkadelic, Mother's Finest combined biting funk and searing rock guitar with singer Joyce 'Baby Jean' Kennedy kicking the music into the stratosphere via her stupendous vocal power.
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