Ah, yes. Here we have the poets of the lower East Side. Ed Sanders, Tuli Kupferberg & Ken Weaver, known to the world as The Fugs. In a short period of time, The Fugs formed, recorded a couple low-fi masterpieces for the ESP-Disk label, and, in a strange twist of fate, were signed to Reprise. There they first cut “Tenderness Junction”, but it is “It Crawled Into My Hand, Honest” which is at hand.

Much has been said of this album. At first, it sounds cohesive, the opener, “Crystal Liaison” is a nice pop-sounding song, with goofy lyrics (‘In the great bowling alley of your mind/I am your pinboy) and from that it would seem The Fugs have lost their touch. This track was even released as a single in the UK. The next track, “Ramses II Is Dead, My Love” is even more of a detraction from The Fugs’ past efforts. It is woven into an arrangement straight out of Nashville-pop, complete with orchestration. Once again, this is rather ‘goofy’ and lyrically is not up to Fugs standards. Over the course of the next three tracks, things get a little more poetic, The Fugs always included something poetic on past efforts, so no surprise. The whole second side is something of “Sgt. Pepper” porportions. Totally cut-and-paste. This, however, is what has gotten this album good reviews. It’s entertaining enough that it makes up for the disappointing aspects of the first side. Must be heard for what it is, as it is not easy to really interpret.

A seemingly fun album, but don’t expect anything on the level of “Slum Goddess”, “The Ten Commandments” or “I Want To Know”. One might view it as perhaps the underground answer to “Sgt. Pepper”.

Maybe they’re right…