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| The Fugs: "Be Free!" out February 23 / All-Star Tribute & Benefit January 22 in NYC Legendary rock pioneers THE FUGS - the world's first major underground/punk group - will release their final, and arguably best-ever studio recording, Be Free (The Fugs' Final CD, Part 2) on CD and digital download on February 23, 2010. Producer Hal Wilner is organizing an All-Star tribute concert to benefit Tuli Kupferberg, who founded THE FUGS with fellow poet Ed Sanders in 1964. Tuli, now 86, has suffered several strokes and has lost his vision, and has enormous monthly medical costs. Major rock artists and film stars have agreed to perform along with THE FUGS. The benefit concert is scheduled to take place on Friday, January 22, 2010, at St. Anne's Warehouse in Dumbo (Brooklyn, NY). Be Free (The Fugs' Final CD, Part 2), available February 23 at CD and digital retailers, is truly the final album of THE FUGS. Several years in the making, it is a rich and rewarding album that is destined to be considered one of their best. From the opening psych-rocker "Be Free" (written in the studio by the group - it 'passes the baton' with its mantra "we are all Fugs now"), to Tuli Kupferberg's transcendent, chill-inducing closer "Greenwich Village of My Dreams" - THE FUGS deliver 14 tracks of pure sonic joy, brilliant new songs with impeccable performances and production. Featuring the band's 25-year-strong lineup of Steve Taylor (former musical collaborator with Allen Ginsberg) on guitar and vocals, Coby Batty on drums and vocals, and co-producer Scott Petito on bass and keyboards - this is a monumental recording of two great American poets and songwriters: Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg. Tuli's condition prevented him from joining the band in the studio, his vocals were recorded with remote equipment from his Manhattan home. Be Free is a fitting bookend to a remarkable 45-year career. The Fugs have had a significant impact on the evolution of rock music, their influence was apparent in their Village contemporaries Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention and The Velvet Underground, just as it is in today's indie rock and freak folk. The release of Be Free comes amidst a flurry of activity for the revolutionary rock band. On November 3rd, THE FUGS released five classic concert and studio recordings to digital retailers, spanning their first concert at the Peace Eye Bookstore, to The Real Woodstock Festival (1994) with special guest Allen Ginsberg. Ed Sanders has just issued a new collection of poems (Let's Not Keep Fighting the Trojan War: New and Selected Poems 1986-2009, Coffee House Press); Ed will publish a new memoir covering his time with the THE FUGS with Da Capo Press in Spring 2010. THE FUGS debuted new material, which included recorded performances by Kupferberg, at a reunion concert at The Bell House in Williamsburg. In late November, Ed Sanders debuted a new song-cycle collaboration with Jules Shear, dedicated to their home: The Surreal Housewives of Woodstock. write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Jazz News :: home page |