''The Fugs First Album'' is the 1965 debut album by American rock band

the Fugs The Fugs are an American rock band formed in New York City in late 1964, by the poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver on drums. Soon afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of The Holy Modal Rounders. Ku ...

, described in their

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

profile as "arguably the first

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ...

rock group of all time". In 1965, the album charted #142 on

Billboard's ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

" Top Pop Albums" chart. The album was originally released in 1965 as ''The Village Fugs Sing Ballads of Contemporary Protest, Point of Views, and General Dissatisfaction'' on Folkways Records before the band signed up with

ESP-Disk ESP-Disk is a New York-based record company and label founded in 1963 by lawyer Bernard Stollman. History Though it originally existed to release Esperanto-based music, beginning with its second release (Albert Ayler's ''Spiritual Unity''), ESP ...

, who released the album under its own label with a new name in 1966.Sanders, Ed
The History of the Fugs
The Fugs official website. Accessed October 3, 2007. The album was re-released in 1993 on CD with an additional 11 tracks.

History

When poet and publisher

Ed Sanders Edward Sanders (born August 17, 1939) is an American poet, singer, activist, author, publisher and longtime member of the rock band the Fugs. He has been called a bridge between the Beat and hippie generations. Sanders is considered to have be ...

established a bookstore next to the apartment of

beat Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery (c ...

poet and publisher

Tuli Kupferberg Naphtali "Tuli" Kupferberg (September 28, 1923 – July 12, 2010) was an American counterculture poet, author, singer, cartoonist, publisher, and co-founder of the rock band The Fugs. Biography Naphtali Kupferberg was born into a Jewish, Yi ...

in 1963, the two decided to form a band,

, writing 50-60 songs between them prior to asking Ken Weaver to join. The trio invited Steve Weber and

Peter Stampfel Peter Stampfel (born October 29, 1938, in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin) is an American fiddle player, old-time musician, and singer-songwriter. Stampfel is best known as a member of the Holy Modal Rounders, a psychedelic folk band that he founded with ...

of the band

Holy Modal Rounders The Holy Modal Rounders was an American folk music group, originally the duo of Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber, who began performing together on the Lower East Side of New York City in the early 1960s. Their unique blend of folk music reviva ...

to perform with them at the February 1965 grand opening of Sanders' bookstore. Sanders describes the event as heavily attended, with

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

George Plimpton George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 – September 25, 2003) was an American writer. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found ''The Paris Review'', as well as his patrician demeanor and accent. He was also known for " ...

and

James Michener James Albert Michener ( or ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and ...

among the luminaries in attendance.

Harry Everett Smith Harry Everett Smith (May 29, 1923 – November 27, 1991) was an American polymath, who was credited variously as an artist, experimental filmmaker, bohemian, mystic, record collector, hoarder, student of anthropology and a Neo-Gnostic bis ...

, producer of the famous '' Anthology of American Folk Music'', persuaded Folkways Records to issue the Fugs' first album. Following recording sessions in April and September 1965, the album ''The Village Fugs—Ballads and Songs of Contemporary Protest, Points of View and General Dissatisfaction'' was released in late 1965 (Broadside BR 304; also listed with a related Folkways serial number, FW 05304, though it is unclear whether this is a separate pressing/edition). Following a nationwide tour, the Fugs signed a contract with

, who re-released the album in 1966 (ESP-1018), in both mono and stereo, with some changed edits and one substituted take (see below). A large number of additional performances were captured in the sessions for this album. Eleven of them first appeared on a 1967 ESP album entitled " Virgin Fugs" (ESP-1038), and an additional 7 performances (five led by the Holy Modal Rounders) first appeared on the mid-1970s compilation " Fugs 4, Rounders Score" (ESP-2018) The Fugs claim that both of these albums were unauthorized bootlegs. Three additional performances and some studio chatter appear on the Fugs' 4-CD box set "Don't Stop! Don't Stop!" The currently available CD contains the later ESP stereo version of the album. It also includes, among its 11 bonus tracks, 6 outtakes from the sessions, including 5 from the above two ESP bootlegs. The other 11 tracks, the alternate performance of "Swineburne Stomp" from the Broadside album, and the other Broadside edit variations, remain unreleased in the CD era. The recent Fugs box set "Don't Stop! Don't Stop!" contains an additional three performances from these recording sessions.

Track listing

The album has been released under multiple names and versions. The first was released in 1965 with a purple cover, credited as "The Village Fugs." The second version was released in 1966 on the ESP-Disk label with a blue-tinted cover, retitled "The Fugs First Album," and containing the exact recordings featured on the original Broadside edition; this is particularly noticeable because the song "Boobs A Lot" contains a mastering error in which the beginning of the song has been clipped off, an error that is included on both the original 1965 Broadside LP and the 1966 ESP blue-tinted LP. The third LP version, also called "The Fugs First Album," features a black-and-white cover and a few recordings which are different takes than on the earlier two editions, including a corrected full-version of "Boobs A Lot"; this third version of the LP is the most common. Note that the lack of an apostrophe seems to indicate that the title is not intended to be read as "The Fugs' First Album" (plural possessive) but rather as "The Fugs" (band name), then "First Album" (album title), as if there were an implied colon, as in "The Fugs: First Album". The album was first released on CD in 1994, with a new title. ;Sing Ballads of Contemporary Protest, Point of Views, and General Dissatisfaction (1965 Broadside Records version) ;The Fugs First Album (1966 ESP Disk version) Same as 1965 version, but the song "My Baby Done Left Me" was renamed "I Feel Like Homemade Shit". ;The Fugs First Album with Sizzling Additional Tracks from The Early Fugs (1994 CD version)

Variations

The original (mono) Broadside release contains different edits of some of the songs from the now standard stereo ESP release. *The first three songs have longer introductions (usually a few seconds or bars of music). *"Supergirl," while the same basic performance, has the line "Fuck like an angel" changed to "mmmm like an angel" (both versions render the last line as "shake like an mmmm in an mmmm"). *"Swinburne Stomp" is an entirely different performance, introduced with Sanders' line "In the key of metaphysical distress." *"My Baby Done Left Me" edits out the final, very loud "shit", crudely replacing it with yodeling and a fade over a prior chorus. It does, however, leave in the earlier line "I'd give up heifer fucking." *The performance of "Boobs a Lot" starts later in the song, on the line "Down in the locker room." *The sound quality of the first session material is extremely muffled. At least one pressing on the ESP label includes these same takes and edits. It is unclear when the substitutions were made. ESP releases included at least three cover variations: a blue tinted cover, a black and white cover with advertisements on the back, and a later psychedelic painting of a wizard.

Sessions

This album was recorded entirely in two sessions. The first took place in April 1965 and was a chaotic 3-hour acoustic jam featuring Sanders, Kupferberg, Weaver, Stampfel and Weber, performing (by Sanders' estimate) 23 songs. The second recording session took place on September 22, 1965, according to Ed Sanders' memoir Fug You (page 161); this second session seems to have featured nine songs, recorded in stereo, including a drum set and electric instruments, with the core band members Sanders, Weaver and Kupferberg joined by musicians John Anderson (on bass), Steve Weber (on guitar) and Vinny Leary (on guitar). By this point Peter Stampfel was no longer in the band.

Songs recorded at the April 1965 session

Originally released on ''The Village Fugs'' (Broadside album): #"Swinburne Stomp" (version 1) (

, A.C. Swinburne) #"My Baby Done Left Me" (Sanders) #"Nothing" (

) (additional intro appears on "Don't Stop! Don't Stop!") Originally released on '' Virgin Fugs:
'' #

"We're the Fugs" (Sanders) #"New Amphetamine Shriek" (

) #"Saran Wrap" (Sanders) #"The Ten Commandments" (Kupferberg) #"Hallucination Horrors" (Kupferberg) #"CIA Man" (Kupferberg) #"Coca Cola Douche" (Sanders? listed as Kupferberg) #"My Bed Is Getting Crowded" (Kupferberg) #"Caca Rocka" (Kupferberg) Originally released on '' Fugs 4, Rounders Score:''
#

"Defeated" (Kupferberg) #"Jackoff Blues" (Kupferberg) #"Romping Through the Swamp" (

) #"Crowley Waltz" (Traditional) #"Fiddler a Dram" (Traditional) #"Fishing Blues" (Traditional) #"New Amphetamine Shriek" ifferent performance from #5(

) Originally released on ''The Fugs First Album'' (ESP variation of Broadside album): #

"Swinburne Stomp" (version 2) ifferent performance from #1(Sanders, A.C. Swinburne) Originally released on ''Don't Stop! Don't Stop!:
'' #

I'm Gonna Kill Myself Over Your Dead Body (Kupferberg) #" Ah, Sunflower, Weary of Time" (

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

, Sanders) (Early version) #"Supergirl" (Kupferberg) (Early "Write Underwater" version) Originally released on ''"The Fugs First Album" CD:
'' #

"In the Middle of Their First Recording Session the Fugs Sign the Worst Record Contract Since Leadbelly's" (Petito, Sanders) his is studio chatter plus 1990s electronic effectsTracks 15 though 18 feature only Stampfel and Weber.

Songs recorded at the September 22, 1965, session

Originally released on ''The Village Fugs:'' #"Slum Goddess" ( Ken Weaver) #" Ah, Sunflower, Weary of Time" (

, Sanders) #"Supergirl" (Kupferberg) #"I Couldn't Get High" (Weaver) #"How Sweet I Roamed" (Blake, Sanders) #"Carpe Diem" (Kupferberg) #"Boobs a Lot" ( Steve Weber) Originally released on '' Virgin Fugs:
'' #

"I Command the House of the Devil" (Sanders) #"I Saw the Best Minds of My Generation Rot" (

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

, Sanders)

Personnel

Performance

– vocals *

–

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

, vocals * Ken Weaver – conga, drums, vocals * Steve Weber – guitar, vocals *

– fiddle, harmonica, vocals *John Anderson –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

*Vinny Leary – bass,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, vocals

Production

*Phil DeLancie – remastering *David Gahr – photography *Aaron Hurwitz – compilation, restoration *Linda Kalin – package adaptation *

– producer, liner notes, photography, memorabilia * Harry Smith – producer

References

Additional sources

The Fugs Store: The Fugs First Album
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fugs First Album, The 1964 debut albums Albums produced by Ed Sanders Albums produced by Harry Everett Smith ESP-Disk albums Folkways Records albums The Fugs albums