The Shaggs
  Philosophy Of The World
Third Word Records (Third World 3001) - 1969
Philosophy Of The World - That Little Sports Car - Who Are Parents? - My Pal Foot Foot - My Companion - I'm So Happy When You're Near - Things I Wonder - Sweet Thing - It's Halloween - Why Do I Feel? - What Should I Do? - We Have A Savior
I make three categories for the records I own. The good ones, the bad ones and… The Shaggs. After all those years I still don’t know what to think about it. I even came to doubt about the story that goes along with this album and sometimes believe it’s a hoax. It has been supposedly recorded in 1969 by three sisters (Dorothy, Betty and Helen Wiggins) and produced by their father. The first surprise comes with the cover. What is this? Are they men with wigs? But wait until the needle hits the groove or whatever you call it in those digital times. The Wiggins sisters can’t play to save their live! They don’t even know how to tune their instruments and the drummer can’t keep a steady beat for more than 2 bars. They seem to play three different songs in the same time in a parody of the worst free jazz you could ever hear. And the lyrics are simply dumb, but you don’t even care about them because their voices are simply unbearable! But somehow this record is fascinating. Maybe it’s their will to play despite all this handicaps, the testimony of a father’s love or something you can’t put in words. It’s so naïve you come to think it’s calculated. Finally, more than music, you have the feeling to own of piece of conceptual art coming straight from Fremont, NH, or something like that. Later Frank Zappa would admit that “Philosophy Of The World” is one of his favourite records, which is, after all, logical. It’s the kind of platter you hardly play but you want to own.
Fred "Virgil" Turgis