The Fugs Atlantic Album (Partially lost rock album; 1967)

The Fugs were a satirically charged psychedelic rock band from the 1960's, their music has been discussed as being likely influential or resembled several genres that would come forth after their dissolution including Punk Music, Freak Folk and Alternative Rock. [1][2][3][4]

Before The Atlantic Deal (1964-1966)

The Fugs formed around the late autumn of 1964 in the lower east side of Manhattan by two beat poets, Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg the duo started writing several songs during late 1964 and would enlist the help of their more musically trained friends Ken Weaver, Steve Weber and Peter Stamphel. The band were mainly inspired by experimental art/music, american folk music particularly ones involving the civil rights movement, the jazz music popular with new york beatniks, rock&roll music and the band wanting to "use their constitutional rights to express themselves through rock music" [5][6] throughout their short time in the 1960's the band would go through several line up changes and by 1966 they had released two albums the latter being a self titled album "The Fugs" (although at least in and after the 1970's-80's the album would be known as "The Fugs Second Album") which despite its primitive yet experimental garage-psych/proto-punk sound and radically vulgar and political lyrics which wouldn't be played on most if not all radio stations managed to break into the Billboard 200 charts in July 1966 likely by word of mouth alone [7] this event lead to fame and an underground following for the band and their members leading to mainstream attention to the band and infamy via rumors and the FBI. This combined with the limitations of their independent label ESP Disk which was mainly involved with Avant-Garde Jazz lead to major label Atlantic Records and The Fugs to try to work on a record deal.

The Atlantic Deal (1966-1967)

Sometime around late 1966-1967 The Fugs began recording demos for Atlantic Records, during the sessions Atlantic Records personnel Jerry Wexler told the band to record "whaatever they wanted witgout censorship" as well as wexler which lead the already out there band to record new versions of songs from the fugs first album sessions that didnt make it onto the final album and completely new tracks including the 10 minute long "Aphrodite Mass" during this time they also did photoshoots for the album cover which was shown on a March 23rd 1967 issue of the Village Voice [8] the atlantic deal was likely to start out with at least 1 lead single which was possibly either "Supergirl" or "I'm Gonna Kill Myself Over (Your Dead Body)" and then a full length album called "Eat This" with a risqué album cover. [9] according to co-founder Ed Sanders in his book "Fug You" the tracklist for The Atlantic Album is as follows:

1. Knock Knock
2. Wet Dream
3. Wide Wide River
4. Dover Beach
5. Aphrodite Mass
6. Carpe Diem
7. Hare Krishna
8. Nameless Voices Crying For Kindness
9. Turn On/Tune In/Drop Out
10. Coca Cola Douche

It is possible there were more tracks considered and even recorded, possibly just as planned tracks on singles or EPs or even for the full length album but concrete evidence for them has not currently been found. After recording and mixing the band had a meeting with Atlantic Records where they played the album for the head executives to which one of them complimented Sanders for his production work, despite what seemed to be a good sign for the band a few days after the meeting Wexler called up Sanders and told him that they would not be releasing the album and would drop the band from the label to the shock of Sanders, the band was apparently dropped from Atlantic due to negotiations with Warner Brothers on a possible purchase of the label and the fear that the band's offensive and radical nature would lower the price of the label.[10] [11.]

Post-Atlantic Records (1967-)

Despite the loss of major label support the band carried on through 1967 in hopes of attracting another major label which to the bands luck happened to be Reprise Records through which some of the songs on "Eat This" appeared on from the original recordings or at least with a re-recording from a reprise session on their first major label album "Tenderness Junction", while the track "Wide, Wide River" would be re-recorded for their second reprise album "It Crawled Into My Hand, Honest", "Coca-Cola Douche" wouldn't appear on any Reprise release until the live album Golden Filth contained a live version recorded at the Filmore East in 1968 although the name was shortened to "CCD" on the album, it is likely that this version more resembles the version that might've been recorded for the Atlantic album than the version on the supposed official bootleg "Virgin Fugs" released by their old label ESP Disk in 1967 which contained some of the tracks that didnt make it onto the fugs first album in 1965. After The Fugs disbanded in 1969 and their reformation in 1984 more tracks from the Atlantic album would be released, the first of these releases being "Carpe Diem, Wide Wide River and Nameless Voices Crying For Kindness" as bonus tracks on the 1993 CD Remaster of The Fugs Second Album and several of the remaining tracks including "Knock Knock, Carpe Diem, Wet Dream, Nameless Voices Crying For Kindness and Aphrodite Mass" on the rhino records boxset "Electromagnetic Steamboat", although strangely at least on the streaming version "Turn On/Tune In/Drop Out" is listed but does not appear to have been included and was replaced with Knock Knock, the track labelled as "Knock Knock" is replaced with Wet Dream and the track listed as "Wet Dream" is replaced with Carpe Diem, but through this release we can see wet dream originally ran longer than it did on Tenderness Junction, having a runtime of over 15 minutes due to an estranged and long opening skit proceeding the song. Currently "Coca Cola Douche" and likely "Turn On/Tune In/Drop Out" are lost as well as any possible outtakes that were not listed on the track list above are still lost media.