Tonight I added a lot of albums to my queue of music I plan on listening to soon, and this album, The Fugs First Album (1965), is one of those albums. I’m a big fan of early garage rock, and upon seeing that this album was an early garage rock album alone made me want to listen to it. Upon closer inspection of The Fugs, I found some interesting bits about the band on their Wikipedia page. The Fugs are described on their AllMusic profile as possibly being “the first underground rock group of all time”, and a 1969 correspondence found in an FBI file on The Doors described The Fugs as the “most vulgar thing the human mind could possibly conceive”. I’m pretty excited to give this album a listen, so with that said, I’m going to jump on into the music.
“Slum Goddess” gets grooving right away with some super tasty guitar work, which has a sort of sound that feels like garage rock mixed with The Beach Boys from the earlier 1960s. Holy smokes, I’m really digging this track already. Oh wow, I really dig the jangling percussive sounds in the track, which seem to be a mixture of tambourine, shakers, possibly blocks, and a traditional kit. Great track and I’m super excited to hear the rest of the album.
Oh wow, “Ah, Sunflower Weary of Time” has a really subtle sort of sound, which seems to be the instrumentation of a distant garage rock tune mixed with a raga sound. Oh wow, the guitar seems to come in closer into focus in the soundscape with some super sweet garage rock sounds. I really dig the vocals in this track, which almost has a bit of an unpolished folksy feel with the chorus from the band members. Great tune.
“Supergirl” gets grooving right away with some classic garage rock sounding instrumentation, and some colorful lyrics to accompany the track. I really dig the style in this track, which has both a serious and satirical sound at the same time, almost as if a tune from the early days of The Beatles was sent through some vulgarizing, unpolishing garage rock machine. Super sweet track.
“Swinburne Stomp” starts out with some chaotic studio chatter, before becoming some sort of whimsical primal chanting tune with some sparse percussion in the form of a conga or bongo and some shakers, accompanied by some slide whistle, strange background chatter, and an increasingly passionate vocal line. I can imagine this track being played at some Beat club during the time period, and I’m really digging the style, which has a very prankster-ish sort of sound. Great tune.
Oh wow, “I Couldn’t Get High” seems to return to some serious grooves with a tune that seems like a garage blues rock tune with a touch of psychedelia, almost reminiscent of something from The Blues Magoos, while the vocals seem to be both joking and serious at the same time. I’m really digging this track, as well as the album thus far. Great track.
Oh wow, “How Sweet I Roamed from Field to Field” has a bit of a country and western sort of sound coming from the twangy guitar work and the galloping percussive and rhythmic work from the tambourine and slow bopping groove in the bass line. The sound of the vocals also sort of reminds me a little bit of The Flying Burrito Brothers. Great tune.
Oh wow, “Carpe Diem” gets grooving in a style that feels very much like an early psychedelic track between the bass kicks and taps of the high hats in the rhythm section along with the tremelo’d guitar work, all combined with some super interesting choral vocals from the band. The instrumentation seems to slowly be building up in intensity, while the band slightly varies the melody, rhythm, and lyrics as the tune continues, while retaining a very interesting repetitive/non-repetitive feel throughout; I’m digging the resulting sound a lot. Great track.
Oh wow, “My Baby Done Left Me” seems to be an a cappella track with the band dabbling in a barbershop quartet, yodeling, a bit of a country sound, and even some beatboxing for a moment. I think there’s some light percussion after a bit too. Super sweet tune.
Oh wow, “Boobs a Lot” returns to that Merry Prankster sort of feel, with a sort of early 1960s r&b feel with the guitar work and call and response vocals, and I’m digging the track. The track seems to break down into a sort of chaotic conversation among the band by the end, and I’m digging the style. Great track.
Oh wow, “Nothing” starts out with some super sweet, blues-sounding harmonica, and a gradual low, rolling drum beat in the background of the tune. The soundscape almost has a bit of a raga sound with the droning vocals and the style of percussion, plus there seems to be some sparse guitar at a few moments in the song. Oh wow, the track seems to be picking up a bit more of a raga feel with the percussion sounding more and more like a tabla as the rhythm changes a bit. The tune has a fair amount of momentum and a ton of chaotic energy by the time things come to an end. Wow, great tune and an awesome way to finish up this album.
Holy smokes, I want to listen to some more of The Fugs now. As a big enthusiast of the Grateful Dead, I’ve often seen many things in articles and in movies about the Merry Pranksters that were crucial to their scene in the early days of the Dead, and this album seems to encapsulate a lot of the notions I’ve gathered about that scene in a musical form that’s much more whimsical and a bit more unpolished than the early days of the Grateful Dead remind me of. If you’re into the lore of the early days of psychedelia, and also enjoy early garage rock, you might want to consider checking out this album. If you do decide to give this one a listen, I sincerely hope that you enjoy the listening experience at least as much as I did.
-A