Album review : FANNY – Rock’n'Roll Survivors (Remastered and Expanded 2 CD Edition)

Cherry Red [Release date 19.09.25]

We reviewed Fanny’s first 4 studio albums (as a boxset) last year.

Their fifth and last album, released in 1974, was called Rock’n’Roll Survivors.
Aptly named.

This new, 2 CD version has been expanded and remastered, with 3 bonus live tracks added. Cover versions of classics by Holland & Dozier, Ike Turner, and Lennon & McCartney recorded at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go live on New Year’s Eve 1974. And more… see below.

How it began: Formed by sisters June and Jean Millington, on guitar and bass, with Nickey Barclay on keys, and Alice DeBuhr on drums, they knew it would be an uphill struggle for any band, but a girl band…
Truth is, there’s been no female rock band to touch them since. The Runaways, Vixen and others who came later got close, but no cigar.

They survived in the face an unenthusiastic music media, somehow avoiding what should have fully deserved acclaim.

June Millington and Debuhr jumped ship in early 1974. For this fifth and final album their replacements were Patti Quatro (sister Of Suzie) and Brie Brandt.

Quatro’s guitar chops (and songwriting) light up the album. Rock’n’Roll Survivors should have been the light at the end of an unnecessarily dark tunnel for the band.

A fab rework of the Stones’ ‘Lets Spend The Night Together’, the much derided ‘I’ve Had It’ and the funky ‘Beggar Man’ to name but three, are all songs that might well have exploded the band into the face of public perception, but were held back by the hands of an unimaginative producer.

The band’s masterstroke though was their “live opera”, on CD2. A one off recording consigned to tape during their US tour that same year.
In faux theatrical terms, it’s constructed in several acts, with the songs from RnRS forming the backbone of the gig.

It’s an interesting conceit, with more there than meets the eye. See the band in costume on the CD cover.

Yes, there are a few bumps and bruises along the way, but driven by the sweaty clamour and clang of live performance, this is one powerful display, or perhaps a first draft of girl power. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

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