Protometal Report - A Triple Dose of Iggy - Have Some Fun: Live at Ungano's, Popped: the Fan Club Package, and Kill City

The past year has been a bonanza for Stooges fans. In October 2009, four concerts of the 1971 line up were released by the UK label Easy Action as a box set titled You Want My Action. This is the band that featured both Ron Asheton and James Williamson on dueling lead guitars and the earth shattering rumble of Jimmy Recca on bass alongside Iggy and drummer Scott Asheton. In May 2010, Sony put out the deluxe Raw Power box set that came with a previously unheard concert of the Iggy & The Stooges version of the band in Atlanta from 1973. But now we have what we’ve all been waiting for – the Funhouse-era Stooges captured in all of their maximum 1970 insanity on a limited edition CD from Rhino Handmade entitled Have Some Fun: Live At Ungano’s.

For decades, survivors have been talking about the incredible run of shows the band played at a New York City club called Ungano’s around the release of the Funhouse album in the summer of ‘70. Now we have the audio evidence and it confirms the legend - The Stooges were an ferociously kick ass live band. Sound quality is a bit rough since it’s an audience recording but this is all that we have so I’m not complaining. The show was taped by Danny Fields, who signed them and the MC5 to Elektra Records. At the start of the disc there’s some very entertaining banter between Danny and a few others on the way to the show, including (rumor has it) Patti Smith.

The hilarious discussion sets up the main event perfectly. The club owner tries to introduce the band but Iggy screams “TAKE IT” and the band crashes into “Loose.” The tempo’s way up, faster than the studio version but the band is extremely tight and in control while being out of control at the same time. First thing you notice is how hard Scotty hits the drums. Jeezus, that cat can groove. Ron’s guitar playing is razor sharp and former roadie/new bassist Zeke Zettner replicates Dave Alexander’s parts just fine. Iggy’s voice is great and he lets out lots of howls and screams. Every song from Funhouse is played and it’s a real treat to finally hear an unedited live version of “TV Eye.” Unfortunately, the song “Funhouse” is truncated but there’s a killer jam that evolves out of “L.A. Blues” that’s titled “Have Some Fun/My Dream Is Dead.” These songs might have been improvised on the spot or could possibly be an unrecorded song called “Way Down In Egypt.” Whatever the case, the band really cuts loose, especially sax maestro Steve MacKay. Steve’s playing has always been an excellent mix of Junior Walker R&B and Archie Shepp free jazz.

Packaging on this disc is good but not great. There are some cool shots of Iggy flipping off the crowd (who are sitting on the floor!) but not much of the rest of the band. There’s a reproduction of an advertisement for the show. It’s interesting to note that the week before The Stooges played was the debut of Tony Williams’ band Lifetime featuring Jack Bruce, John McLaughlin and Larry Young. Iggy and Ron have always claimed that they did a bunch of coke with Miles Davis at one of the Ungano’s shows, but others say that although Miles was there he basically had his fingers in his ears. Johnny Winter is also rumored to have been at one of the shows, too.

Buy here: Have Some Fun: Live At Ungano's

For the real hardcore collector, Easy Action has released Popped: The Fan Club Package with reproductions of newsletters that were put out by Natalie Schlossman from 1969 to 1971. The Stooges were an extremely unpopular band and it’s amazing that someone went out of their way to document what they were doing with so much care and attention. The newsletters are fascinating to read but the real shake appeal here is a CD containing more 1970 live recordings titled A Thousand Lights. The mint deluxe packaging also comes with some great photos, a t-shirt and a booklet with a great interview with Jimmy Recca about his time in the band.

There are versions of “Dirt” and “1970” recorded in NYC but it’s not clear if they are the August 1970 shows or from a prior engagement. Either way, they’re great performances. A show from Chicago in July 1970 has been floating around on bootlegs for years and the audio has been cleaned up a bit for this CD. The sound is pretty rough but the unhinged versions of “Funhouse” and “L.A. Blues” make up for it. There’s even 1 song from the infamous Goose Lake festival where bassist Dave Alexander supposedly got so drunk and forgot all the songs. To wrap it up, there are the audio fragments of the 2 songs and that got aired on the Midsummer Night's Dream television special from a festival in Cincinnati that also featured Traffic, Grand Funk Railroad, Alice Cooper and Mountain. Chances are you’ve seen the famous photos of Iggy walking on the crowd and flinging peanut butter around from this show.

There aren’t a lot of these box sets, so get one while you can.


Buy from Easy Action


 

After the Stooges exploded in 1974, Iggy and guitarist James Williamson soldiered on and eventually made the album Kill City under difficult circumstances. Iggy hit rock bottom in Hollywood and wound up in a mental institution. While on weekend leaves, he cut his vocals on Kill City at a studio owned by soft rocker Jimmy Webb. Originally intended to be demos to score a better record deal, it was eventually released by Bomp Reocords in 1977. There’s always been a lot of discussion over the mix of the album. Many complained that the sound lacked balls while others noted the lack of cohesion.

Despite all of this, Kill City is a pretty decent album but now it’s much improved that James Williamson did a complete remix of it. The guitar is much more potent and upfront in the mix. The title track is still one of Iggy’s best and “Consolation Prizes” contains some excellent sleazy slide guitar work from James. “I Got Nothin” and “Johanna” were performed on the last Stooges tour and they were redone here with some occasionally overbearing saxophone. Iggy and James were obviously going for a Rolling Stones-type of sound here and are moderately successful at it. If they had done some of these songs with Ron and Scott Asheton along with some of the other great lost Stooges songs, it would have made a great 4th album for the band. Since that never happened, this is all that’s left and is a worthy addition to any Iggy-phile’s collection.

--Woody

Buy from Bomp (green vinyl)

“Kill City” promo clip

Ripple Library - Cheetah Chrome: A Dead Boy's Tale: From the Front Lines of Punk Roc

The fact that this book even exists should motivate you to buy a copy. If you know who Cheetah Chrome is, then you know that he’s a true rock & roll wildman who’s lived a lot harder than you ever will. He’s survived drugs, alcohol, Stiv Bators, Cleveland, New York City and then some. The dude deserves the happy life and family he’s created for himself in Nashville.

Cheetah was born Eugene O’Connor in Cleveland, 1955 and became a rock & roll fan, guitarist and pot smoker at an early age. His musical course was forever changed when his mother bought him the first Stooges album by accident. Young Cheetah’s mind was blown and it put him on a path that eventually led to meeting up with other weirdos in the mythical proto-punk band Rocket From The Tombs. Once that band splintered into Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys, Cheetah and his blood brother Stiv Bators went on to create one of the most full-on high energy punk rock bands of all time.

Cheetah pulls no punches in his autobiography. He’s very forthcoming about all the horrible things he’s done to himself and to others. The chapters on his years as a junkie are harrowing and an excellent deterrent for anyone considering dabbling in that area. So many of his friends and collaborators are dead and gone – Stiv, Johnny Thunders, Jerry Nolan, Dee Dee Ramone, John Belushi, Nico, etc and there’s no real reason why Cheetah’s still around other than being a tough mother fucker.

But the best parts of the book are the hilarious situations he’s gotten into over the years. Even as a kid in the audience he managed to make an impact. For instance, he once gave his hero Iggy Pop a bunch of free downers before a Stooges show only for Iggy to turn into an incoherent mess onstage. There are plenty of sex, drugs and rock & roll stories from the 1977 ground zero days at CBGB and tours with fellow mental patients The Damned. As debauched as some of the tales are, you definitely get the feeling that a lot of the gory details have been left out.

Even if you’re not a fan of the Dead Boys or punk rock in general, this book is a must read for any music fanatic. I was lucky enough to witness most of the Dead Boys reunion shows at the Ritz in NYC and his band the Ghetto Dogs a few times. Cheetah was always a completely inspiring lunatic on the stage. On a more personal note, as a young dipshit coming into NYC on the weekends to see shows and buy records I used to see the street walking Cheetah all the time in the early to mid-80’s. He was usually nice enough to stop and talk to me and answer all my moronic questions about the Dead Boys or which MC5 albums I should track down (“all of them” he told me). Some days Cheetah didn’t look so good and I knew to stay the fuck away. Long live Cheetah!

 --Woody

Buy here: Cheetah Chrome: A Dead Boy's Tale: From the Front Lines of Punk Rock

Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power (Deluxe Edition)

This is the 4th, and hopefully the last, time I have bought Raw Power by Iggy & The Stooges. First there was the LP, then the CD in 1989, then Iggy’s remix in 1997 and now the remastered deluxe version. I even went whole hog and bought the overpriced box set because I’m such a fanatic. So do you need this new version of Raw Power? Of course you do. Despite all of it’s sonic problems, it’s still one of the greatest rock albums of all time.

For the uninitiated, The Stooges hit rock bottom and broke up in 1971. Iggy Pop got lucky and met David Bowie in New York which led to deals with Bowie’s manager and CBS Records. Originally signed as a solo artist, it evolved into a new version of The Stooges. James Williamson became Iggy’s new musical partner, and after trying out some musicians in England, they decided to recruit Scott Asheton on drums and brother Ron Asheton switched from guitar to bass. The music this band created was just as intense as their previous material but had some a bit more conventional songwriting structure.

Recorded in 1972 but not released until February 1973, Raw Power in its original form was 8 classic songs delivered in 34 violent minutes. Over the years there has been much said about the sound of the album and the final mix that involved David Bowie. Iggy is credited as the producer of the album and his original mix (later to show up on many bootlegs and Bomp’s 1995 CD Rough Power) was rejected for being too insane. Bowie was drafted in to try and make sense of it all and to hopefully sell a few more units. Over the years Iggy and Bowie have made a lot of derogatory comments about each others work on Raw Power. Iggy says Bowie neutered it, Bowie says they made so many technical errors during the recording it couldn’t be fixed. No one will ever really know the truth since everyone involved was totally out of their minds on drugs back then. Bowie’s mix is pretty tame compared to Iggy’s original, and Iggy’s remix tried too hard to appeal to the Rage Against The Machine crowd.

So how does the original Raw Power remaster sound? Fuckin great! Bowie’s original mix totally buries the bass and drums, which is a shame because Ron and Scott play great. But truth be told, this is the version we all grew up with and how we first heard the songs. Every song on here is a stone classic. The anthems “Search & Destroy” and “Raw Power” are just as potent as ever. “Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell” and “Shake Appeal” kick ass, “Gimme Danger” and “I Need Somebody” are killer slow burners. “Penetration” is one of the greatest guitar riffs ever written while “Death Trip” acknowledges that they know their band is destined for failure. Iggy’s lyrics are excellent and his voice delivers them with much venom and determination. James’ guitar playing is stellar. This was his first time recording an album and he certainly left his mark. His sound and style made a huge impact on everyone from The Dead Boys, The Dictators, Sex Pistols to The Smiths and just about anyone else who picked up an electric guitar after 1973.

The real reason to pick this up is the previously unreleased live show from Atlanta, October 1973. The Stooges played about a week’s worth of shows at a club called Richards that have become pretty legendary. One night Iggy snorted so much crystal meth he thought he was hallucinating when a gorilla jumped on stage. Turns out it was Elton John in a costume. Iggy later said the only reason Sir Elton was interested in the band was because he wanted to get into James Williamson’s pants. This show was recorded for radio broadcast but never aired. It’s easy to see why. Iggy’s dirty talk and the bands sound was way too over the top for commercial radio, then or now.

There have been many Stooges bootlegs documenting the 1973 tour, but this one has the best fidelity. The performance is very good and there’s plenty of Iggy antagonizing the crowd. In between songs you can hear a woman in the crowd say “I don’t think he likes us.” Iggy confronts a heckler by yelling at him “hey, you want to get your little fuckin face punched out little cracker boy? Come up here little Billy boy, I’m sick of your shit!” Needless to say, the guy does not accept the offer.

James’ guitar cuts in and out for the first 2 songs but his playing is top notch. Ron often complained about getting moved to bass, but his playing is incredibly fluid and locks in with Scott like few rhythm sections in rock. Scott Thurston (later of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) joined the band on piano and harmonica and plays great. By the time Raw Power was released the band was already bored of the material and only playing a few songs from the album - the title track, “Search & Destroy,” “I Need Somebody” and “Gimme Danger.” The next batch of songs they were working on showed immense potential. “Head On” is easily one of their best songs and is driven by an incredible bass line by Ron (lifted from “L.A. Woman” by The Doors). “Cock In My Pocket” and “Heavy Liquid” are fast rockers. There are a few different arrangements of “Heavy Liquid” from other live shows out there, but this version is probably the best. “Open Up and Bleed” is another great unreleased song. Long, slow and moody, it highlights the frustration the band felt at the time.

For the maniacs that buy the box set, there’s a 3rd CD with some outtakes from the session. Most of them have been released before on numerous semi-legal compilations. “I’m Hungry” is new to me. It’s the same take of “Penetration” with Iggy trying out some different lyrics. Cool, but unessential stuff. The best part of the box set is the hour long DVD about the making of Raw Power. Chrissie Hynde, Henry Rollins, Johhny Marr and a few others talk about the importance of the album, but it’s even better to hear it straight from Iggy, James and Scott. You get to see James demonstrate how to play the riff to “Penetration” and talk about how he approached writing the songs. You also get to hear how Scott launched his copy out the front door the first time he heard the final mix of Raw Power. The box also comes with a big booklet with lots of Mick Rock’s iconic photos of the band and a 7” single that replicates the Japanese 45 of “Raw Power” b/w “Search & Destroy.”

Iggy & The Stooges will be performing Raw Power in its entirety at the All Tomorrows Parties festival in upstate NY this September as well as some European festivals this summer. 

--Woody

buy here:Raw Power
buy here: Raw Power [Vinyl]
buy here: Raw Power (Limited Deluxe Edition)

http://www.iggyandthestoogesmusic.com/