FRIJID PINK

One of the Motor City's finest ensembles, Frijid Pink broke loose with their highly anticipated first full- length LP in 1970. From the powerful opener "God Gave Me You" to the hard drivin' I Want to Be Your Lover", the band's sonic assault was as inspiring as it was relentless. With a sound dominated by fuzz guitar courtesy of Gary Ray Thompson, powerhouse drumming by Richard Stevens, and the sincerity of the pain in Kelly Green's vocals, Frijid Pink carry on the maximum volume tradition of their Detroit peers such as MC5, the Stooges, and the Amboy Dukes. If you love the blues, Frijid Pink delivers with "I'm On My Way", "End of the Line", "Drivin' Blues", and "Boozin' Blues". Able to handle myriad styles from fast driving boogie to slow brooding blues, Kelly Green sounds like a more soulful version of Burton Cummings. Among the other highllights on this LP include their surprise Top 10 version of "House of the Rising Sun", which was quite a psychedelic take on such a classic song. Bonus tracks on the reissue CD include a high energy cover of "Heartbreak Hotel" and the anthemic "Music for the People". This is indeed a highly recommended piece of Detroit rock history, and I gladly give it 4 stars.

Frijid Pink has always been one of my favorites. Ever since my dad brought home a box of records one day and sitting there was the most pink album I had ever seen! He had always talked about them and so one day I decided to look them up on youtube and found video of them playing House of the Rising Sun and was hooked. So you can imagine that when I saw that album sitting in there that I was excited.

I must've played that thing to death, still do! But then I started getting deeply into progressive rock and soon after I discovered their third album Earth Omen, which in my opinion is there only prog album.

So after saying that, I want to make it clear that the Frijid Pink and Defrosted albums are simply the best Psychedelic/Blues Rock/Boogie/Fuzz Rock (whatever you want to call it) albums you will ever listen to, but its not really prog. So I can only give this album as well as Defrosted 3 Stars and no more for being superb blues/boogie albums with a touch of psychedelia for good measure.

-AP

By the way, which one's Frijid?

For some bizarre reason, perhaps related to the misspelling of their name, Frijid Pink are often mistaken for being a band from mainland Europe. In fact, they hail from Detroit in the USA, the band forming in the late 1960's out of a band called the Detroit Vibrations. One of their early claims to fame is that they were once supported by a newly formed Led Zeppelin.

Frijid Pink's 15 minutes of super-stardom came early on in their recording career, and is included on this album. Towards the end of a recording session, they still had some time available to them, so they came up with a cover of a traditional folk song which had previously been a hit for the Animals called "House of the rising sun". Despite its "New Orleans" references, the song is generally regarded as British in origin, having been later adapted by settlers heading west. Whatever its roots, Frijid Pink's heavy lead guitar laden version captured the imagination of the singles buying public on both sides of the Atlantic in 1970, and became the band's only notable hit single.

As a whole, this the band's début album is best compared to the work of their label mates Ten Years After (one of Woodstock's greatest successes). Blues rock tracks such as "I'm on my way" and "Driving blues" (an earlier unsuccessful single which became the B-side of "House of the rising sun") are straight-forward heavy blues numbers featuring distorted lead guitar, dominant drums and heavy rock vocals.

The majority of the songs are composed by guitarist Gary Ray Thompson and vocalist Tom Beaudry (who adopted the stage name Kelly Green). Album producer Michael Valvano is also credited with writing or co-writing two of the tracks, but he was reported to be upset that he was not financially rewarded for his contribution to the success of "House of the rising sun".

Most of the tracks fall within the standard 3-5 minute range, but the last pair run for slightly longer. Unfortunately, the lengthening of "I Want To Be Your Lover" is mostly down to an amazingly tedious drum solo but "Boozin' blues" is a decent attempt at more traditional slow blues.

In all, this album would probably fall into the proto-prog category had it been released a couple of years earlier. As it is, the songs are most likely to appeal to those who enjoy the sounds of the (early) 70's. Do not expect any lost prog classics though. That said, the version of "House of the rising sun" recorded by the band is undoubtedly the definitive one.

The Repertoire records CD re-issue includes two non-album singles A-sides (their respective B-sides can be found on the "Defrosted" album). "Heartbreak hotel" is a heavy cover of the Elvis song. "Music for the people" is a band original with a highly commercial hook, similar to The Guess Who's "Share the land".

Good blues-rock album

It surprised me that Frijid Pink is now included here at this site as I previously categorized the band as straight forward blues rock music with some rock'n'roll flavor. I knew the band in early 2000 when I saw the CD was displayed at local store here in Jakarta, Indonesia. When I looked at the label, it's REPERTOIRE ... so I purchased the CD; I bought three albums altogether because I was sure that Repertoire is a reputable label for classic rock outfit. I think all of my Babe Ruth CDs are all released by Repertoire as well.

The music contained here with this debut album really represented the time when rock music was emerging in early 70s. In fact the CD sonic quality is so vintage and it represented the period. As long as you can appreciate vintage rock music, I would think you like this album regardless the recording quality. For me personally this album serves a change when I get bored with digital recording where everything is so clean. Well, sometimes I need to return to the old times and this music is really good representing the seventies. You will find vintage guitar work throughout the album.

The opening track 'God Gave Me You' is a straight forward classic rock music that reminds me to the time when music was characterized by riffs and guitar solo. 'Crying Shame' follows similar vein like the opening track but this time with bluesy touch. The third track 'I'm On My Way' is a rock'n'roll track. One of my favorites is 'Drivin' Blues' that reminds me to John Mayall style or people called is white blues. In here they use harmonica to demonstrate the blues style, combined beautifully with guitar solo. People know very well The Animals' 'House of the Rising Sun' and this was one of the factors that made Frijid Pink was known by American in 1970. The closing blues track 'Boozin' Blues' is a very good blues music.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

It's always sad to be an artist mostly remembered for covering a well-known song. Frijid Pink was another Detroit- rock band but in terms of originality and creativity never reached the levels of MC5/Stooges. They were good players nevertheless and found inspiration in blues/R&B among others. The first album show these young lads having yet to develop their output. Though playing is likeable, material is non-distinguishable from the pack of other bands. The "House of the rising sun" cover is passable. While the hard- rock arrangements are interesting, it's lacking soul that Animals put in. There is nothing remotely progressive on the debut album and I find their two next albums more sophisticated.