By Cyndi Ford

 

Mother's Finest Review
Show date-10/9/10
Venue-Wild Bill's Duluth



Original members
• Joyce "Baby Jean" Kennedy – vocals
• Glenn "Doc" Murdock – vocals
• Gary "Moses Mo" Moore – guitar
• Barry "B.B. Queen" Borden – drums
• Jerry "Wyzard" Seay (a/k/a "Wizzard") – bass
• Mike Keck – keyboards
1993 world tour members
• Joyce Kennedy – vocals
• Glenn Murdock – vocals
• John Hayes – guitar
• Jerry "Wyzard" Seay – bass
• Deion Derrick – drums
• Ace Baker – keyboards
Circa 2004 - current members
• Joyce Kennedy – vocals
• Glenn Murdock – vocals
• Gary "Moses Mo" Moore – guitar
• Kerry 'Lovinggood' Denton – drums
• Jerry "Wyzard" Seay – bass
• John Hayes – guitar
• Johnnetta "JJ" Johnson – background vocals
• Joey Williams -drums

From Funk Rock Georgia, I present to you Mother's Finest. These words I have heard numerous times, but always look forward to hearing them again. Mother's Finest are one of the longest surviving bands in the Southeast. They first formed in the summer of 1970, and took over the Atlanta music scene.
I have heard many a fan say, "They played my high school prom." It has been the love and devotion of these adoring fans that has fuelled the fire of Mother's Finest. These guys did one hell of a job representing Atlanta. In 1977 they opened for The Who in their laser lit tour of Canada.

They opened for many of the top drawing acts of the day at the Omni, the largest venue in Atlanta at the time. They made an appearance on the infamous TV show Don Kirshner's Rock Concert , which was the show to be on
in it's day.

The U.S. is not the only country that loves Mother's Finest. Germany has a huge fan base as well as much of Europe. They have done many tours of Europe over the years, and are planning a tour there in fall of 2010, playing shows in Denmark, Netherlands. Switzerland and Austria.

We have been blessed with many albums and CD's from MF over the years. Their first self titled album appeared on RCA in 1973. Their album Another Mother Further released in 1976 took the guys straight to the top.
This entire album was the sound track to my youth. With songs like "Baby Love," "Piece of the Rock," to a cover of "Mickey's Monkey." Mother's Finest taught me that a mixture of Funk -n-Rock and Roll is most definitely a great combo.

Baby Jean and Doc Murdock's vocals provide the glue that holds the funk of Wyzard's bass and the rocking guitar licks from Moses Mo together, and the drummer keep them all in time. Originally they had Barry "BB Queen" Borden on drums, he has been replaced over the years by Kerry Denton and Joey Williams. In the early years their sound was saturated with keyboards which was played by Mike Keck and Ace Baker. They also added John Hayes on guitar and the soon lost the keyboards. As Mo says, he and John can handle things.

The last show that I caught on Oct 9, 2010 at Wild Bill's in Duluth. GA had the traditional line up with only Mo on guitar, Wyzard on bass, with the dynamic duo of Doc Murdock and Baby Jean on vocals and Joey Williams on drums. They played all the fan favs and threw in a few of the newer tunes.
It was fabulous as always.

Mother's Finest are icons of the Atlanta music scene. There is a petition now to have them inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, an honor which is long overdue.

I suspect they will be welcomed with open arms as they are very deserving. Mother's Finest, Georgia loves you and thanks you for your years of devotion to your friends and fans.

 

 

Albums
• Mother's Finest (1973), RCA
• Mother's Finest (1976), Epic
• Another Mother Further (1977), Epic
• Mother Factor (1978), Epic
• Live (1979), Epic
• Iron Age (1981), Atlantic
• One Mother to Another (1983), Epic
• Looks Could Kill (1989), Capitol
• Black Radio Won't Play This Record (1992), RCA
• Subluxation (1993), RCA – live album
• Baby Love (1998), Kiosk
• Meta-Funk'n Physical (2003), UTR Music
• Right Here, Right Now: Live at Villa Berg (2005), MTM Music
• Compilations
• Rock Your Soul (1996), Sony Special Products
• The Very Best of Mother's Finest: Not Yer Mother's Funk (1997), Razor and Tie
• Definitive Collection (1998), Sony International
• Burning Love: Best (2000), Cedar
DVD
• At Rockpalast (2004), ARD Video 

 

Check Out the Mother's RIGHT HERE

Cyndi

Soundcheck Rating