The Fugs First Album

by The Fugs

Overview

A loping, ridiculous, and scabrous release, the Fugs' debut mashed everything from folk and beat poetry to rock and rhythm & blues -- all with a casual disregard for sounding note perfect, though not without definite goals in mind. Actually compiled from two separate sessions originally done for Folkways Records, and with slightly different lineups as a result, it's a short but utterly worthy release that pushed any number of 1964-era buttons at once (and could still tick off plenty of people). Sanders produced the sessions in collaboration with the legendary Harry Smith, who was able to sneak the collective onto Folkways' accounts by describing them as a "jug band," and it's not a far-off description. A number of songs sound like calm-enough folk-boom fare, at least on casual listening, though often with odd extra touches like weirdly muffled drums or out of nowhere whistles and chimes. Others, meanwhile, are just out there -- thus, the details of the perfect "Supergirl." Then there's "Boobs a Lot," the post-toke/acid lament "I Couldn't Get High," and the pie-in-the-face to acceptable standards of the time, "Slum Goddess." Throughout it all, the Fugs sound like they're having a perfectly fun time; the feeling is loose, ragged, but right, and while things may be sloppy around the edges, often that's totally intentional. Certainly little else could explain the random jamming and rhythmic chanting/shouting on "Swinburne Stomp." Good as the original album is, the CD version is what any serious fan needs to find, thanks to the inclusion of 11 bonus tracks. Some come from the original sessions, including the signature tune "We're the Fugs" and "The Ten Commandments," while others appear from various live jams. Then there's the self-explanatory "In the Middle of Their First Recording Session the Fugs Sign the Worst Contract Since Leadbelly's." ~ Ned Raggett

Product Details

Release Date:	05/30/1994
Label:	Fantasy
UPC:	0025218966825

Tracks

1. Slum Goddess
2. Ah, Sunflower Weary of Time
3. Supergirl
4. Swinburne Stomp
5. I Couldn't Get High
6. How Sweet I Roamed
7. Carpe Diem
8. My Baby Done Left Me
9. Boobs a Lot
10. Nothing
11. We're the Fugs
12. Defeated
13. The Ten Commandments
14. CIA Man
15. In the Middle of Their First Recording Session the Fugs Sign the Worst
16. I Saw the Best Minds of My Generation Rock
17. Spontaneous Salute to Andy Warhol
18. War Kills Babies
19. The Fugs National Anthem
20. The Fugs Spaghetti Death (No Redemption No Redemption) - A Glop of ...
21. The Rhapsody of Tuli

Album Credits

Performance Credits

The Fugs   Primary Artist
Peter Stampfel   Guest Artist,Fiddle,Vocals,Harmonica
Vinny Leary   Bass,Guitar,Vocals
Ed Sanders   Vocals
Tuli Kupferberg   Vocals,Percussion
Ken Weaver   Drums,Congas,Vocals
John Anderson   Bass,Vocals
Steve Weber   Guitar,Vocals

Technical Credits

Aaron Hurwitz   Restoration
William Blake   Composer
Allen Ginsberg   Composer
Ed Sanders   Composer,Producer,Liner Notes,Memorabilia,Photography
Tuli Kupferberg   Composer
Ken Weaver   Composer
Phil DeLancie   Remastering
Harry Smith   Producer
Edward Sanders   Composer
David Gahr   Photography
Linda Kalin   Package Adaptation