the of mirror eye

* The Fugs: The Belle Of Avenue A (8.0 mb) | Turn On/Tune In/Drop Out (6.0 mb) | War Song (6.5 mb)
From Electromagnetic Steamboat: The Reprise Recordings : Rhino Handmade : RHM2 7759

When a group of proto-hippie New York poets decided to get together to form a band, who’d of thunk that they’d be the precursors to both the folk rock and the punk rock genres? Started in the 60’s, the Fugs were proudly in favor of peace, free love, marijuana and freedom. They were against the status quo and were deemed so anti-government that they were the subject of a full scale FBI investigation.

Years before Frank Zappa and Jim Morrison made bawdy lyrics fashionable, Ed Sanders, Tuli Kupferberg and their group of cohorts were out making trouble, giving the FBI migranes (the Chicago branch contacted the Washington main office at one point to ask if they should arrest the FAGS for obscenity and un-American activities). Far from being babbling idiots though, Sanders and Kupferberg were (and still are) incisive, accomplished poets. Their celebration of free love and marijuana was not done just to titilate but as an honest statement of purpose and freedom: you’re not going to find Howard Stern or Marilyn Manson trying to exorcise and levitate the Pentagon. This is probably why the Fugs are not Rock’n'Roll Hall of Fame residents or staples on VH-1 and are to be admired for it.

(from Perfect Sound Forever)

After the Fugs gained some fame and notoriety from their actions (they tried to exorcise the demons from the White House) and their recordings, they somehow managed to sign to a major label. From 1967 to 1970, hey released a number of albums for Reprise Records. While the label didn’t censor them or pressure them in anyway to make more “commercial music”, they also didn’t keep the records in print. These recordings have languished in “out of print” status for more than a quarter century and finally saw the light of day in 2001.

These recordings are made available from the most excellent Rhino Handmade division of Rhino Records. Rhino Handmade’s mission is to resurrect lost recordings, clothe them in excellent packaging and present them as collectible limited edition releases.

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