Mittwoch, 1. Februar 2023

The Fugs - The Belle Of Avenue A (1969)

The Fugs sounded a little weary and burnt out on their final studio album of the 1960s. The psychedelic experimentation and orchestral arrangements of 1968's "It Crawled into My Hand, Honest" were ditched in favor of basic rock or even, at times, acoustic performances.

The title track and "Queen of the Nile" are essentially Ed Sanders solo cuts, with acoustic guitar accompaniment by Dan Hamburg; "Bum's Song" is likewise pretty much a Tuli Kupferberg recording, with just his voice and Hamburg's guitar. The sexually and politically charged heart of the band continued to beat on songs like "Chicago" (originally written for the soundtrack of a Yippie movie about Chicago police riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention) and "The Belle of Avenue A," about a quickie between a hippie and a truck driver.

But the production and adrenaline levels are kind of flat. The country influence that was always present in Ed Sanders' singing and songwriting started to really flower on this LP, where his yodeling vocal style - which was less than an acquired taste - prefigured the country satire of his 1969 debut solo album, "Sanders' Truckstop". It was up to Tuli Kupferberg to provide the record's highlight, the sincere ballad "Flower Children."


Tracklist:

A1 Bum's Song
A2 Dust Devil
A3 Chicago
A4 Four Minutes To Twelve
A5 Mr. Mack
B1 Belle Of Avenue A
B2 Queen Of The Nile
B3 Flower Children
B4 Yodeling Yippie
B5 Children Of The Dream


The Fugs - The Belle Of Avenue A (1969)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

4 Kommentare:

Feilimid O'Broin hat gesagt…

As a young teenager, I first heard of the Fugs from their songs that were posted on the Warner Brothers label's Loss Leaders albums in the late 1960s. I loved their music for its continuation of and progression beyond the Beat perspective and, too, its zany, often outrageous, and innovative lyrics. As that time, they were only available on what was called underground radio here in the United States. I have always thought that they were to music what the Firesign Theater was to comedy.

Today's so-called alternative music bears no resemblance to the truly alternative music of that era of which the Fugs and Captain Beefheart were major contributors. Thank you for this and all of the other Fugs' music that you have posted.

Larry hat gesagt…

Please post Ed Sanders' solo records - great country and great satire. Thank you for so much great stuff.

Anonym hat gesagt…

Dear Sir... a Fugs restore here?

zero hat gesagt…

Refreshed...

Kommentar veröffentlichen