The Tubes (album)
| The Tubes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 1975 | |||
| Recorded | March–April 1975 | |||
| Studio | Record Plant (Los Angeles) | |||
| Genre | Rock, art rock, glam rock | |||
| Length | 38:15 | |||
| Label | A&M | |||
| Producer | Al Kooper | |||
| The Tubes chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | [1] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B−[2] |
The Tubes is the first album by the Tubes. Songs which received significant airplay from this album include "What Do You Want from Life?" and "White Punks on Dope", the latter of which peaked at number 28 on the UK singles chart.[3] The album was dedicated to Bob McIntosh and Tom Donahue, the former of whom had originally played with the band until his death in 1973.
Re Styles, who models on the front and back covers of the record sleeve, would join the band as a vocalist for the following three studio albums.
Track listing
Song timings and credits taken from original LP.[4]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Up from the Deep" | The Tubes, Ray Trainer | 4:30 |
| 2. | "Haloes" | Al Kooper, Bill Spooner, Roger Steen | 4:55 |
| 3. | "Space Baby" | Mike Carpenter, Spooner, Vince Welnick | 4:26 |
| 4. | "Malagueña Salerosa" | Pedro Galindo, Elpidio Ramirez | 4:51 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5. | "Mondo Bondage" | The Tubes | 4:34 |
| 6. | "What Do You Want from Life" | Michael Evans, Spooner | 4:02 |
| 7. | "Boy Crazy" | Spooner | 4:12 |
| 8. | "White Punks on Dope" | Evans, Spooner, Steen | 6:45 |
| Total length: | 38:15 | ||
Personnel
- The Tubes
- Fee Waybill – lead vocals
- Bill Spooner – guitar, lead vocals
- Roger Steen – guitar, vocals
- Michael Cotten – synthesizer
- Vince Welnick – keyboards
- Rick Anderson – bass
- Prairie L'Emprere Prince – drums
- Additional
- Dominic Frontiere – string and horn arrangements
- Lee Rhett Kiefer – engineer, mixing
- Al Kooper – mixing
- Roland Young – art direction
- Michael Cotten – design
- Prairie Prince – design
- Ian Patrick – photography
- Harry Mittman – photography
- Re Styles – modeling (hands on front cover and body on back cover)
Cover versions
- Mötley Crüe covered "White Punks on Dope" on their album New Tattoo, and performed it live in concert on their "Lewd, Crüed, & Tattooed" DVD. The Nina Hagen Band interpreted the song in a German-language version, translated to "TV-Glotzer" (with re-written lyrics about being an East German who lives vicariously by staring at West German television all day) on their self-titled debut album in 1978. In the 1993 film Fear of a Black Hat, the band N.W.H. (with Ric Ocasek of the Cars) perform a parody of "White Punks on Dope", titled "White Cops on Dope".
References
- ^ "The Tubes - The Tubes | Album". AllMusic. Retrieved June 3, 2025.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: T". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
- ^ "White Punks on Dope by The Tubes". Songfacts.com.
- ^ The Tubes (album). The Tubes. Santa Monica, California: A&M Records. 1975. SP-4805