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The Fugs’ First Album ContinueThere was their appearance: The Beatles had caused a stir with their "long" hair, but The Fugs’ hair extended way past their shoulders, and even sprouted copiously from their upper lips and chins. There was their very name, which was of course derived from Norman Mailer’s sly euphemism for a certain other "F" word. There was, initially, the very crudity of their musical performances; that is, their lack of rock "chops" (those would come by the following year)— even without the other strikes against them, there was no way these records would’ve gotten airplay (and remember, in 1965 it was unthinkable that anyone would form a rock & roll band and make records and not strive for mass acceptance; it simply hadn’t been done before). Not to mention the crudity of their live performances, with their vulgar gestures and novel use of sound effects and props— on one occasion including tubs of spaghetti, with sauce, flung at the audience to simulate a napalm attack. (This disc includes the soundtrack to that particular event.) But most importantly, there were the songs. Besides setting the works of their favorite poets to (often beautiful) music, the individual Fugs themselves contributed a dizzying slew of First Amendment classics to the canon of American unpopular song: "Defeated," "Boobs A Lot" (later a "hit" of sorts for The Holy Modal Rounders), "Slum Goddess," "Coca Cola Douche," "I Couldn’t Get High," "Nothing," "Supergirl," "New Amphetamine Shriek," and "C.I.A. Man"— not to mention the gleefully demented field holler / yodel "My Baby Done Left Me" ("...and I feel like homemade shit"). A full year before The Velvets, The Fugs were exploring, in the most explicit terms imaginable, such taboo topics as drugs (they didn’t come up with anything as definitive as "Heroin," but nobody else ever did either) and sex (boy did they explore THAT topic) as well as the military-industrial complex, and they did so with poetic grace and precision, with passion and compassion, with sense and sensuality, and often with the sort of anarchic humor that can make grown men wet their pants. The tunes were mighty catchy, too. This unbelievable compact disc documents The Fugs ‘65, including their entire debut LP (first released under the auspices of Folkways Records and Broadside magazine, subsequently re-issued by the legendary ESP-Disk’ label); other material from those same sessions which eventually turned up on the ESP-Disk’ releases Virgin Fugs and Fugs 4, Rounders Score; a spontaneous, deadpan-goofy "Salute To Andy Warhol" recorded at the Peace Eye; the aforementioned spaghetti eastern, recorded at The Bridge Theater in Greenwich Village; and a fascinating mini-compilation of excerpts from Tuli Kupferberg’s ‘64-’65 home demos, lovingly narrated by Ed Sanders ("The Rhapsody Of Tuli"). Another previously-unreleased track is entitled "In The Middle Of Their First Recording Session The Fugs Sign The Worst Contract Since Leadbelly’s"— I don’t wanna spoil it for you but gosh is it scary, kids! You may not be in eighth grade anymore, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late— in fact the time may be just right. If you care a whit about rock (& roll), about poetry, about modern extensions of the bardic tradition, about the Bill Of Rights, about American social and cultural history— or if you just want a good, impolitic bellylaugh— The Fugs First Album (etc.) is calling to you. By all means— heed the call!
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