12/4/09

The Fugs First Album

When poet and publisher Ed Sanders established a bookstore next to the apartment of beat poet and publisher Tuli Kupferberg in 1964, the two decided to form a band, The Fugs, writing 50-60 songs between them prior to asking Ken Weaver to join. The trio invited Steve Weber and Peter Stampfel of the band Holy Modal Rounders to perform with them at the 1965 grand opening of Sanders' bookstore. Sanders describes the event as heavily attended, with William S. Burroughs, George Plimpton and James Michener among the luminaries in attendance. Harry Everett Smith, producer of the famous Anthology of American Folk Music, persuaded Folkways Records to issue the Fugs' first album. Following recording sessions in April and June 1965, the album The Village Fugs—Ballads and Songs of Contemporary Protest, Points of View and General Dissatisfaction was released. Following a nationwide tour, The Fugs signed a contract with ESP-Disk, who re-released the album in 1966. This is a great interview with Ed Sanders. download.. pw: FGs=1+65
  1. "Slum Goddess" (Ken Weaver) – 1:58
  2. "Ah, Sunflower, Weary of Time" (William Blake, Ed Sanders) – 2:15
  3. "Supergirl" (Tuli Kupferberg) – 2:18
  4. "Swinburne Stomp" (Sanders, A.C. Swinburne) – 2:50
  5. "I Couldn't Get High" (Weaver) – 2:06
  6. "How Sweet I Roamed" (Blake, Sanders) – 2:11
  7. "Carpe Diem" (Kupferberg) – 5:07
  8. "My Baby Done Left Me" (Sanders) – 2:18
  9. "Boobs a Lot" (Steve Weber) – 2:12
  10. "Nothing" (Kupferberg) – 4:18

CD bonus tracks

  1. "We're the Fugs" (Sanders) – 1:25
  2. "Defeated" (Kupferberg) – 3:25
  3. "The Ten Commandments" (Kupferberg) – 2:59
  4. "CIA Man" (Kupferberg) – 2:52
  5. "In the Middle of Their First Recording Session the Fugs Sign the Worst Record Contract Since Leadbelly's" (Petito, Sanders) – 2:49
  6. "I Saw the Best Minds of My Generation Rock" (Ginsberg, Sanders) – 4:51
  7. "Spontaneous Salute to Andy Warhol (From Rehearsal at the Peace Eye Boo)" (Sanders) – 1:23
  8. "War Kills Babies" – 1:41
  9. "The Fugs National Anthem" (Kupferberg, Sanders) – 1:16
  10. "The Fugs Spaghetti Death (No Redemption No Redemption) – A Glop of Spaghetti for Andy Warhol From the Tuli Tapes" (Sanders) – 3:54