Rocktober '70s Song #8: "Ain't That Peculiar" by Fanny (1972)

If you've never heard of the group Fanny, you're not the only one.  I just found out about them within the last year, and I hold myself out to know a lot about rock and roll and important bands in rock history.  Somehow, though, the first all-female rock band to put out an album on a major label has slipped through the cracks of history -- or at least "classic rock radio."

Fanny was formed by sisters June and Jean Millington, who played guitar and bass, respectively, and the "classic" lineup consisted of Alice deBuhr on drums and Nickey Barclay on keyboards.  Between 1970 and 1974, the band released five studio albums, with some lineup changes near the end.  They were one of the first all-female rock bands to have two Top 40 hits in the U.S. -- "Charity Ball" (#40 in 1971) and "Butter Boy," an ode to David Bowie, who was a fan of the group, which hit #29 in 1975, after the group had broken up.

The band is cited as a big influence on female rockers to come, which is no surprise, given how much they rocked.  I have listened to a bunch of their songs, and they can shred with the best of them.

I'm going with "Ain't That Peculiar," a cover of the Marvin Gaye song, which the band recorded for their third album, 1972's Fanny Hill, which was recorded at Abbey Road Studios and also featured cameos by Stones' sidemen Bobby Keys and Jim Price.  The band takes Gaye's Motown hit and make it a bluesy rock song.  June Millington's slide guitar work is particularly juicy.  The song hit #85 on the Billboard Hot 100.  I'm giving you the original album version, as well as a TV performance version, the latter of which is unfortunately cut off before the end of the song.