The Fugs
Band members Related acts
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line up 1 (1963-65) - Kendall Kardt -- vocals - Tufi Kupferberg (RIP 2010) -- vocals - Ed Sanders -- vocals - Peter Stamfel -- fiddle, backing vocals - Steve Walker -- guitar, backing vocals
line up 2 (1965) NEW - John Anderson -- bass, backing vocals - Tufi Kupferberg (RIP 2010) -- vocals NEW - Vinny Leary -- guitar, backing vocals - Ed Sanders -- vocals NEW - Ken Weaver -- drums, percussion, backing vocals NEW - Steve Weber -- guitar, vocals
line up 3 (1965) - Tufi Kupferberg (RIP 2010) -- vocals - Ed Sanders -- vocals - Ken Weaver -- drums, percussion, backing vocals - Steve Weber -- guitar, vocals
line up 4 (1965-66) NEW - John Anderson -- keyboards NEW - Lee Crabtree -- keyboards NEW - Pete Kearney -- guitar, backing vocals (replaced Steve Weber) - Tufi Kupferberg (RIP 2010) -- vocals - Vinny Leary -- guitar, backing vocals - Ed Sanders -- vocals - Ken Weaver -- drums, percussion, backing vocals
line up 5 (1966) - John Anderson -- keyboards - Lee Crabtree -- keyboards NEW - John Kalb -- lead guitar (replaced Peter Kearney) - Tufi Kupferberg (RIP 2010) -- vocals - Vinny Leary -- rhythm guitar, backing vocals - Ed Sanders -- vocals - Ken Weaver -- drums, percussion, backing vocals
line up 6 (1966-67) - Lee Crabtree -- keyboards NEW - Jake Jacobs -- guitar, backing vocals (replaced John Kalb) - Tufi Kupferberg -- vocals NEW - Chuck Rainey -- bass - Ed Sanders -- vocals - Ken Weaver -- drums, percussion, backing vocals
line up 7 (1967-68) NEW - Danny Korchmar -- guitar, fiddle (replaced Jack Jacobs) - Tufi Kupferberg (RIP 2010) -- vocals NEW - Charles Larkey -- bass (replaced Chuck Rainey) NEW - Ken Pine -- guitar, backing vocals - Ed Sanders -- vocals - Ken Weaver -- drums, percussion, backing vocals
line up 8 (1968-69) - Tufi Kupferberg (RIP 2010)-- vocals NEW - Carl Lynch -- guitar - Ken Pine -- guitar, backing vocals NEW - Bob Mason -- drums, percussion - Ed Sanders -- vocals NEW - Richard Tee -- organ - Ken Weaver -- drums, percussion, backing vocals NEW - Bill Wolf -- bass, backing vocals (replaced Charles Larkey)
line up 10 (1985-2010) NEW - Coby Batty -- drums, percussion (replaced Ken Weaver) - Tufi Kupferberg (RIP 2010) -- vocals NEW - Scott Petito -- bass, keyboards (replaced Bill Wolf) - Ed Sanders -- vocals NEW - Steve Taylor -- guitar, vocals (replaced Ken Pine)
line up 11 (2010- ) - Coby Batty -- drums, percussion (replaced Ken Weaver) - Scott Petito -- bass, keyboards (replaced Bill Wolf) - Ed Sanders -- vocals - Steve Taylor -- guitar, vocals (replaced Ken Pine)
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- The Holy Modal Rounders (Peter Stamfel and Steve Weber) - Tufi Kupferberg (solo efforts) - Ed Sanders (solo efforts)
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Genre: rock Rating: 3 stars *** Title: Golden Filth Alive At the Fillmore East Company: Reprise Catalog: RS8396 Country/State: US Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: -- Available: 1 Catalog ID: 1579 Price: $20.00
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I guess the first question to ask is "Does anyone really need live The Fugs in their life?" For most folks, I'm pretty confident the answer is going to be a "no". Probably a resounding "hell no". But then there's that small crowd of folks who just don't subscribe to the norm ... you know who you are.
Produced by Ed Saunders, 1970's "Golden Filth Alive At the Filmore East" captured the band "at full orchestral strength" during a June, 1968 performance in front of a partisan crowd. (Interestingly, Sanders has been quoted as saying: "In June, we performed with Moby Grape at the newly opened Fillmore West on Second Avenue in NYC. From that weekend of concerts, which we recorded live, came our album, Golden Filth." ) Given The Fillmore West was in San Francisco, not New York, I'm guessing that Sanders' mid-'60s memories were a little fuzzy. Even though the band had recorded five studio albums up to that point, the song selection drew heavily from their first two albums. 1965's "The Village Fugs Sing Ballads of Contemporary Protest, Point of Views, and General Dissatisfaction" was represented by five tunes; "Virgin Fugs" contributed two tracks.
Now I enjoy a potty joke as much as any fifty year old man and there was plenty of potty humor scattered across these nine tracks. The thing is, potty humor is usually simply stupid and largely inoffensive. Tracks like CCD'' and 'Saran Wrap' were certainly stupid, but in many cases,, in a mean-spirited, condescending manner. Add to that reams of misogyny and an occasional dollop of scatological humor and It was the kind of stuff a twelve year old elementary school bully would spout to show how clever and adult he was. Moreover, much of this material (particularly the between-song monologs) simply hasn't aged very well, and you ended up with a timepiece that simply wasn't going to have much appeal to your typical 20 or 30 year old. Provided they could remember those times, it was probably going to have a bigger impact on folks in their 60s and 70s. And what about The Fugs as musicians? I doubt Tufi Kupferberg, Ed Sanders, and company would have ever claimed to be world class players. They weren't. While these performances were certainly better than the raw, original studio recordings, even with outside support from the likes of guitarist Ken Pines, some of these tracks remained painful - judging by 'CCD' Howard Johnson should have had his sax license pulled. In other cases their borderline proficiency was actually an asset, lending some true punk attitude to the garage rocker 'Couldn't Get High' and the proto new-wave-meets garage tune 'Saran Wrap'. The biggest surprise was The Fugs could actually be quite entertaining; particularly when they turned down their obnoxious content. Their adaptation of William Blake's 'How Sweet I Roamed' was almost sweet. and compared to most of these tunesm 'Supergirl' was relatively modest. The Fugs certainly weren't going to be for everyone, but if you were curious, this was probably a decent place to start checking them out.
"Golden
Filth Alive At the Filmore East" track listing: 1.) Slum Goddess (Ken Weaver) - So if you ever wondered why you never heard The Fugs on the radio, 'Slum Goddess' will give you the answer. And yet, it does have something to do with their colorful lyrics which included such ditties as: 'goddess of late night motel circle jerks and jell-o orgies', 'around her neck is an amulet made from onyx colored tit wax', and 'she is as horny as a heathen". Once you got through Ken Weaver's awkward poetry, the rest of the tunes was a bouncy, if obscene little pop titty ... whoops, meant to say ditty. rating: *** stars 2.) CCD (Tufi Kupferberg) So, if you've ever listened to the album, you'll know the title is an acronym for "Coca Cola Douche". The repeated references to Joan Crawford supposedly had something to do with the fact she was a major stockholder in Pepsi, though I still have no idea why that would have rubbed The Fugs the wrong way. Another bouncy, vaguely jug band tune, that would have been better without Howard Johnson's slightly flat sax solo. rating: *** stars 3.) How Sweet I Roamed (William Blake - Ed Sanders) Another tune off their 1965 debut, I always thought the title was 'How Sweet I Roamed From Field to Field'. Regardless, this one was quite different from your standard slice of pseudo-porn, showcased the band taking a stab at setting a William Blake poem to a relatively straightforward country melody, albeit with some blazing Ken Pine lead guitar. rating: **** 4.) Couldn't Get High (Ken Weaver) San Francisco lesbian dwarfs ... eating pornographic drawings .... yeah, the song introduction was strange, even for The Fugs. I'm guessing it was autobiographical. Regardless, with Ken Weaver taking lead vocals, it found the band at their most garage rock-oriented. YouTube has a 1968 clip of the band performing the song for Swedish television. Once you got past the introductions, the song itself was surprisingly impressive: : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljxnEep6d-c rating: **** stars 5.) Saran Wrap (Ed Sanders) The introduction which had them taking a stab at The Jefferson Airplane for doing a Levis commercial was actually pretty funny. It was actually funnier than their tribute to the cheap man's contraceptive which has always reminded me a bit of a poor Devo-meets-Standells slice of new wave/garage-rock. Few bands could do "romance" as well as The Fugs. Did the audience applause sound like it had been dubbed in? rating: *** stars
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2) Geez, who would have expected them to be able to set what sounded like a druggy lyric to a sweet '50s-styled doo-wop melody? rating:*** stars 2.) Homemade (Ed Sanders) Ken Weaver's introduction went on an on and when the band finally got to the tune, it was a plodding country tune with equally uninspiring lyrics. Really the only nice thing to say about this one was Ken Pine's nice guitar solo. rating; ** stars 3.) Nothing (Tufi Kupferberg) Geez, 'Nothing' sounded like they'd borrowed it from the "Fiddler on the Roof" soundtrack before switching gears into The Fugs at their trippiest, or perhaps most discordant ... Did anyone really need to hear Kupferberg proclaiming 'I need a titty'? The end of song fart was cute. rating: *** stars 4.) Supergirl (Tufi Kupferberg) Surprising Marvel didn't sue the crap out of them for appropriating the Supergirl concept. Perhaps it was too generic a concept to copyright ? Compared to most of their catalog the tune was surprisingly sweet and naive. An album highlight. rating: **** stars
Hard to believe it, but Reprise actually financed a radio spot for the album. Courtesy of YouTube you can hear it at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utqz4ajbup0
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