Of early Fugs performances, founder member Ed Sanders recalls : "Our harmonies still lacked the polish of the Beach Boys, but...(The Fugs)...crowded in front of the microphones and gave forth all the totally attentive energy and genius that...(the band)...could summon."Though the early incarnation of the band only lasted four years (this period is documented in the three releases :
THE FUGS FIRST ALBUM - CDWIKD 119
THE FUGS SECOND ALBUM - CDWIKD 121
THE FUGS LIVE FROM THE 60s - CDWIKD 125
by the 1980s the band were still refusing to be burnt out. This collection of "live" recordings made in 1984 at New York's Bottom Line amply demonstrates that fifteen years off the road had not diminished their zest for performance. In the intervening years, Fug Tuli Kuperfberg had become a well-known political cartoonist and solo performer while Ed Sanders also became a solo performer (with albums for Reprise) and a celebrated writer (he wrote "The Family", about the Manson group, as well as volumes of fine poetry). The Fugs return came at an appropriate moment in American political and cultural history. The original group's final gig had been with The Grateful Dead in 1969 as the 60s hippy dream began to die. Their return in 1984 came as America choked on the twin grip of Reaganomics and the Yuppie culture. The reunion repertoire was part new songs and part songs from the past. Some of the lyrics were updated to the spirit of the new times but the band aimed for the usual Fugs spirit of fun, rebellion, satire and poetry. The twin themes that fired performances was "Refuse To Be Burnt Out" and "Keeping The Issues Alive". If You Want To Be President sets the tone with "If you want to be President/A very long while/Be sure you invade/A very small isle".The original 1985 album has been expanded to include two previously unissued songs. Additional material was recorded at the Bottom Line in 86 and 87 and at the Oslo International Poetry Festival, also in 86. The Fugs story continues