MOTHER'S FINEST

Mother's Finest nowadays

Iron Age Is '80s Metal--and "Black Music"
By Kurt Wildermuth
(December 2023)

Asked to name a heavy metal band fronted by a Black woman, most people would say..."The Jimi Hendrix Experience?"

That's the closest association most people, of any race, can make between a rock band and Blackness, right? While they know Hendrix was a dude, he also was Black, and "Purple Haze" is heavy, so...?

No, sorry, wrong answer.

"Living Colour?...Tina Turner?...Lenny Kravitz?...Hootie and the Blowfish? Isn't Hootie Black?"

Look, one correct answer is Wicked Wisdom, which put out a ferocious, eponymous metal CD in 2006. The band's lead singer was--no joke--Jada Pinkett Smith, a highly effective, razor-voiced frontperson better known as an actor, a talk-show host, and the wife of an infamous host-slapper. Wicked Wisdom has, to an extent, come to the general public's attention two decades later through the efforts of Pinkett Smith's daughter, the singer Willow Smith, who has performed their songs.

A second correct answer, a forerunner of Wicked Wisdom, is Mother's Finest.

"Mother's Finest?"

You've heard Mother's Finest on classic rock radio, sandwiched between Led Zeppelin and Led Zeppelin or maybe, once, between Def Leppard and Judas Priest. No, not really. You haven't heard them there, and if you're like most people, you most likely haven't heard of them.

On the web, however, you'll find testimonials from people who've seen them perform memorably powerful shows. Formed in Atlanta, GA, in 1970, Mother's Finest became a lesser-known living legend by opening for a diverse array of bands you (should) have heard of, such as Parliament/Funkadelic, The Commodores, The Who, Aerosmith, AC/DC, and Black Sabbath. There is anecdotal evidence that at some of these shows, the openers topped the headliners--no mean feat.

Getting the music of Mother's Finest on the radio has proved harder, although they've scored hits on R&B/soul and pop charts.

"R&B/soul and pop? What about heavy metal?"

Mother's Finest has always ignored genre boundaries, feeling free to play R&B, soul, funk pop, rock, metal, sometimes in combination. For completer histories of who they are and rundowns of what they do, please visit their nicely detailed Wikipedia page and www.mothersfinest.com. Here, suffice it to say that the band's founders and guiding lights are the vocalists Joyce "Baby Jean" Kennedy and Glenn "Doc" Murdock, a married couple, both of whom are Black.

Yes, "fronted by a Black woman" at the start of this article was a misleading attention-getting device. That statement should have specified "fronted by a Black woman and a Black man."

Asked to name a heavy metal band led by a Black couple, most people would stare blankly and shrug.

On one hand, singling out Kennedy and Murdock's Blackness runs counter to the spirit of this multiracial band. As guitarist Gary "Moses Mo" Moore puts it at the band's website, "Everywhere you look, people are trying to have their own identity when, in truth, the thing we're supposed to be trying to do is blend together. I'm not so much on race. I try to ignore the color of my skin and would hope that everybody would do the same thing."

On the other hand, the band has made race a salient point through songs such as "Niggizz Can't Sang [sic] Rock 'n' Roll" (1976) and "Like a Negro" (on 1992's Black Radio Won't Play This Record).

Not quite halfway between those points in time lies the album Iron Age. This heavy metal monster was released on LP and cassette in 1981 by Atlantic Records in North America and Epic Records in Europe. In 2003, Wounded Bird and GAM2 reissued it on CD. Fourteen years later, Rock Candy, a reissue label whose slogan is "Classic Rock Reloaded," put out a remastered CD.

Nothing about or on this underknown yet unforgotten album would tell you that the band is multiracial. The front and back cover illustrations depict sci-fi scenarios within a fictional Iron Age. The original LP offers just song titles and credits. The music simply, breathtakingly, imaginatively rocks, and the high quality of that music has kept this record alive in the open minds of metal fans.

On Iron Age, the band consists of singer Baby Jean, singer and rhythm guitarist Glenn Murdock, guitarist Moses, bassist Wizzard (Jerry Seay), and drummer B.B. (Barry Borden).

The album's producer and engineer, Jeff Glixman, previously had helmed the 1978 solo album by Paul Stanley of Kiss, but he was best known for mid-'70s work with Kansas, including on their signature songs: "Carry on Wayward Son," "Point of Know Return," and "Dust in the Wind." These productions, like Iron Age, combine energy and clarity.

Side 1 of Iron Age begins with "Movin' On." As the title indicates, this track gets things off to a propulsive start, with a sense that the band, each member displaying an amount of personality not always found in hard rock, will keep charging forward until achieving victory. The guitars prove both rich and sharp, stinging as the chords ring, eloquent as the solo searches. The drums sound natural and tight, this record predating the 1980s of too-big, artificially echoing drums. The more you listen, the less you hear lockstep metal, the more you hear the player's flexibility in forging an almost subliminal bluesiness.

"Luv Drug" continues that nongeneric hard-rock groove. Baby Jean shows off her soulfully soaring pipes, especially nice in a call-and-response with male backup vocals.

The title "Rock 'N Roll 2 Nite" might conjure visions of Spinal Tap, but the track rises past cliche with its all-out attack and testimonial quality. Baby Jean and backup singers convincingly declare their love and desire for rock and roll, tonight and every night. The rumbling rhythm owes a debt to Mötorhead, and the guitar solo pays homage to AC/DC's Angus Young, but the unsung hero here is bassist Wizzard, who moves things along with eloquent attention to detail.

B.B's drums open the mid-tempo "U Turn Me On," where Murdock's voice resembles Baby Jean's enough to maintain continuity and at first make you wonder who's singing. He doesn't pierce as she does, remaining mainly in his lower register apart from a few classic-metal shrieks. By the end, the band has settled in one rhythmic spot and built up a head of steam.

Side 1 ends with the slow, slinky "All the Way," the rhythm section working through a variety of grooves, from a glammish stomp to a brief breakdown and back to the stomp before stripping it for parts. The imaginative arrangement, performed with aplomb, inspires repeat listening, not just to this side closer but to the entire side. In a sense, you want to confirm that you really heard all that, and you want another chance to hear more in it, such as when you suddenly identify Baby Jean's reference to Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll." (They openly acknowledge their love of Led Zep. Four years earlier, on Another Mother Further, they created a small funk-rock miracle by covering the Miracles' "Mickey's Monkey" and weaving in Jimmy Page's riff from "Custard Pie.") The record yields secrets over time.

Side 2 brings the mid-tempo "Evolution," where the band's interest in soul and funk really shine. This one achieves a fusion of those genres and rock, with Baby Jean leading the charge and mixed-gender backup singers emphasizing the heat, until a toweringly eloquent guitar solo raises the temperature further.

"Illusion (Come Over to My House)" goes a bit pop-metallish, or maybe that's a nod to new wave. Once again, the solo raises the stakes, and an unexpected breakdown increases the rhythmic interest.

"Time" goes for the freight-train rhythm that has been a rock staple since the days when country and R&B engendered the genre. The band's chugging here recalls T. Rex's "Bang a Gong," while a lyrical reference to "hot fun in the summertime" conjures Sly and the Family Stone--two Easter eggs that add to the record's suggestion of hidden depths, its drawing on genres not made explicit by the music's self-presentation. The only downside, as the instrumental interplay peaks and Baby Jean glides over it all, is that this song has to end. Extended in concert, it must have brought audiences to their feet. Even on record, the ecstatic combination of guitar and vocal textures causes shivers.

"Gone with th' Rain" ventures into Joan Jett and the Blackhearts territory, interesting mostly in how the band navigates the turns.

On "Earthling," the closer, they speed up the boogie considerably but not one-dimensionally, introducing variations, brief slowdowns, pauses, sound effects, even an instrumental nod to the Batman TV show theme, into what otherwise could have been a routine run to the finish.

Indeed, "could have been routine" pretty much summarizes this album. Mother's Finest broke no new musical ground here, and their workouts would have gained significance with additional funk in the mix. Still, the band's commitment to the material, to totally rocking, to getting in and out without letting up, inspires not just admiration but awe. Mother's Finest appear to have made exactly the heavy music they'd hoped to make, incorporating a few sonic surprises along the way to let you know they cared.

That music of this kind was not expected from a band of this kind makes the achievement all the sweeter.

Mother's Finest nowadays