Long-Haired Filthy Hippy Punks
Last month, I went to the Fangoria Convention in NYC, which, honestly, was a bit a a disappointment. Fortunately, my girlfriend and I ended up at Manitoba’s on the Lower East Side where we had the pleasure of meeting Billy Joe White, guitarist of David Peel‘s Lower East Side and a completely forgotten MC5*style punk band called *Teenage Lust. He was a great guy, telling us stories and buying us drinks until he was way over his alcohol limit. This chance meeting with the guitarist of one of my favorite bands got me on a whole ‘nother trip of NYC ’60s punk. There was a lot more going on than just The Velvet Underground.
David Peel & the Lower East Side – The American Revolution (Elektra)
This is one of my most prized possessions in my vinyl collection. I literally yelled when I found it in the used record bins at Aron’s Records, Hollywood, CA (RIP). Just the opening track, “The Lower East Side,” with its refrain of “We are from the Lower East Side/We don’t give a damn if we live or die!” is enough to tell you this was an album way, way ahead of its time when it was released in 1970. I played this LP for a friend of mine who happened to be a big fan of The Clash. He said, “Wow, The Clash ripped this band off.” GG Allin covered “I Want to Kill You” on his Freaks, Faggots, Drunks & Junkies album. I don’t care what’s written in Please Kill Me – THIS was NYC punk.
The Fugs – The Fugs Second Album (Fantasy)
Yes, their first album is a bona fide classic (see below), but I love their second album for its ballsy warping of fuzzy Nuggets-style rock into lascivious debauchery. Songs like “Frenzy,” “Skin Flowers,” “Group Grope,” “Coming Down,” “Dirty Old Man” and “Kill For Peace” are punk rock stompers released a good year before The Velvet Underground & Nico that are more geared toward a Dead Boys mindset than the Warhol crowd. My girlfriend said that “I Want to Know” sounds like, “The Righteous Brothers got really drunk before they went into their recording session.”
The Fugs – The Fugs First Album (ESP-Disk)
Rougher, but no less raw than their second album, The Fugs First Album is a firm anti-establishment middle finger that turns all notions of 1965 rock’n‘roll on their head and laughs when the victims begin to bleed. Listen to “Slum Goddess,” “I Couldn’t Get High,” “Boobs A Lot” and “Nothing” and then try to tell me with a straight face that this wasn’t the true origin of NYC punk.
David Peel & the Lower East Side – The Pope Smokes Dope (Apple)
The last release on The Beatles‘ label, Apple Records, was this romping, gypsy-hippy, folk/punk LP. Thank you , John Lennon. (He produced it.) “I’m a Runaway,” “F*** Is Not a Dirty Word” and “I’m Gonna Start Another Riot” are punk, no matter how you look at it, so stop regurgitating what you read in rock “critic” tomes and listen to the real thing for yourself.
David Peel & the Lower East Side – Have a Marijuana (Elektra)
David Peel’s first album is acoustic punk that attacks politics, police, family dynamics and drug laws within the span of 30 minutes. Jello Biafra ain’t got nothin’ on David Peel!
Lester Bangs & the Delinquents – Jook Savages on the Brazos (Live Wire)
Lester wasn’t much of a hippy, but he definitely had that beat thing going, which fits in with The Fugs’ ethos. This, his only recording released while he was still alive, is a jangly post-punk country hybrid with shades of early rock’n‘roll. A lot of people refer to it as alt.country, but, to me, the bits of country seem more derived from The Rolling Stones than Johnny Cash or Merle Haggard. In any case, it’s a really good album deserving of a proper reissue. Several songs were originally recorded very differently with Birdland, his band with Mickey Leigh (aka Joey Ramone‘s brother) and those tracks were released by Bacchus Archives in 1998. (That CD is also excellent, by the way.)
The Fugs – Tenderness Junction (Reprise)
When The Fugs signed their major label record deal, they lost some of their grimy edge, as to be expected. They made up for it, however, with ultra-lavish production. The opening song, “Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out,” is a forgotten psychedelic rocker, which flows into the ethereal, hyper-sexual psychedelia of “The Garden Is Open.” “Exorcising the Evil Spirits” sounds like a creepy O.T.O. mass, while “War Song” nods to the rough sounds of the first two albums. Somehow, they manged to keep some dignity when they signed to Reprise.
The Fugs – It Crawled into My Hand, Honest (Reprise)
Like Tenderness Junction, It Crawled opens with a great psychedelic rocker, “Crystal Liaison.” The remaining first half of the album veers between blues, country and easy-listening vocal pop. The second half of the album is a strange sound collage of songs and vocal snippets. One of the funnier parts of the album, to me at least, is the recitation of the word “marijuana” as a Catholic Latin hymn. (Must be those years of Catholic school.)
The Godz – Godz 2 (ESP-Disk)
About ten years ago, a friend gave me the first Godz album, Contact High with the Godz, and I completely hated it. I still haven’t mustered up the courage to listen to it again. However, everyone said the second album was their best, so I gave it a shot and actually really liked it – well, most of it. Sure there are a few unlistenably obnoxious tracks, but dark, drone-y rockers like “Radar Eyes,” “Soon the Moon” and “Permanent Green Light” are right up my psychedelic alley. There’s also a really odd cover of The Beatles’ “You Won’t See Me,” where the The Godz stop just over a minute in, reorganize the song, then record the rest of it.
David Peel & the Super Apple Band – John Lennon for President (Orange)
This odd, later David Peel album was released before Lennon died in 1980. It includes a cast of characters, including John and Yoko, Harold C. Black from The Lower East Side and Tiny Tim. Overall, the album has a Frank Zappa vibe to it, especially in the nine-minute, eleven-second freak out, “Amerika.” Another album I’ve owned on vinyl for years.
