* En anglais uniquement
Georgia 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 comprised white guitarist
Moses Mo and drummer B.B. "Queen" Borden with Black vocalists
Joyce Kennedy and
Glenn Murdock, bassist
Jerry "Wyzard" Seay, and keyboardist
Mike Keck, 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. 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.
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,
Wyzard,
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 --
Mother's Finest didn't transition 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 joining Southern rockers
Molly Hatchet, but
Kennedy,
Murdock and
Wyzard fought on. After dabbling in dance music with several different lineups in the '80s, 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 (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. A best-of collection, Not Yer Mother's Finest: The Very Best of Mother's Finest, was released in 1997 and features material mostly from their first two albums. ~ Bill Meredith