[DID NOT ATTEND: August 13, 2026] The Lemon Twigs / Brute Force
I really liked The Lemon Twigs’ Do Hollywood album and their follow up EPs showed even more development. Since then they have put out a few albums, and I have enjoyed them. Their sound has changed over the years and they are very settled in a kind of 60s pop vibe. They are excellent at it, but it’s not quite what I loved from them. I finally got to see them open for Car Seat Headrest and they were great. I definitely wanted to go to this show and up until the last minute I was considering going. But since I was going out the following two nights and my son was leaving for Europe in a few days, I figured I’d stay home.
I think my wife would really like them, so maybe next time they come around I’ll drag her along.
I can’t believe that I have never heard of Brute Force–look at this bio:
Stephen Friedland (born September 29, 1940), known as Brute Force, is a singer and songwriter who attended Asbury Park High School,. He wrote and performed with The Tokens in the 1960s and wrote songs for Peggy March, Del Shannon, The Chiffons and The Cyrkle, and others. Brute Force may be best known for a song that barely saw a release. Written by Friedland and produced by The Tokens, “The King of Fuh” is a story about a monarch in the land of Fuh referred repeatedly to as the “Fuh King”. John Lennon admired the record; so did George Harrison, who acquired the track and overdubbed eleven strings of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, arranged by John Barham. It soon became obvious that neither EMI nor Capitol Records would distribute the single, so Apple Records pressed and distributed 1,000 copies (catalog number Apple 08) in 1969. After the initial Apple pressing (and no radio play), Friedland teamed up with Jeff Cheen and issued the tune on his own Brute Force Records label (b/w “Tapeworm Of Love”, which later received airplay on the Dr. Demento radio show).
He played that song and many other funny songs.
Now I rather wish I had gone.
I Just Read About That... 