The Fugs

Litigation kept this key piece of Big Apple beatnik history out of print for nearly four decades. In part thanks to the complete renovation of the ESP-DISK's back catalog -- the Fugs' second long-player is once again available. While online auctions of vinyl pressings have been known to fetch upwards of several hundred dollars, they probably don't sound as good as the CD reissue -- thanks to Douglas McGregor's digital audio restoration. While the Fugs First Album (1965) aka Village Fugs (1965) is by all accounts a "loose" affair, these leftovers are even rawer. The lineup reflects the band's perpetual state of flux and chronologically places these recordings between the Fugs' two sessions for the Folkways label where co-founder Peter Stampfel (guitar/fiddle/harmonica) remained briefly after the arrival of Vinny Leary (guitar/vocals) and John Anderson (bass/vocals). They blended their fascination with carnal interests, concurrently modern poetry, and the D.I.Y. ethos that permeated the early- to mid-'60s Greenwich Village scene. Indeed, none of the stock session musicians -- who drastically diluted the Fugs Reprise Records era output -- are heard here. "We're the Fugs" holds nothing back as the combo proudly divulge their ragged, randy, and ever-ready agenda, graphically detailing favorite leisure activities that include all manner of sexual, drug, and anti-authoritarian deviancies. Stampfel's "New Amphetamine Shriek" and Tuli Kupferberg's "Hallucination Horrors" are clear warnings of substance abuse. While couched in dry humor, both are quick to point out the negative aspects and personality traits of the ever increasing populous whose lives were becoming disassembled as a result of chronic drug use. Kupferberg's anthemic "Saran Wrap" is a heartwarming and sophomoric tale of safe sex from the perspective of a young, repressed, and socially awkward adolescent as only the author can tell it. With Kupferberg, seemingly no subject is taboo. He tackles a myriad of incongruous topics, such as his whimsical homage to the intersection of American ingenuity and feminine hygiene on "Coca Cola Douche." He strikes a definite nerve on the all-too-real paranoia paean "C.I.A. Man," while his liberal, yet accurate elucidation of "The Ten Commandments by God" is delivered with the same measures of wit and guile that inform the "gotta go right now" ballad to spastic colons on the good-time singalong-able "Caca Rocka." Closing the disc on a decidedly more artful note is Ed Sanders' interpretation of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" -- titled "I Saw the Best Minds of My Generation Rot." ~ Lindsay Planer, All Music Guide