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Thursday 29 April 2010

No fun? Not likely.

Many, many moons ago I witnessed the mighty Iggy Pop pull off an electrifying gig on the Cold Metal tour.
It was the sort of show where people say “you had to be there” and I was. It’s went down in history as the show mentioned in the Irvine Welsh novel “Trainspotting”, but no matter how much Welsh loves Iggy he fell far short of capturing just how wild the show really was.
It's most definitely a top ten gig for me, but strangely enough although he has toured since I have never actually been to see him again.
So it’s time to rectify that this Sunday when I catch him with the Stooges playing Raw Power in its entirety.
I ask you. Does it get any better than that?
The answer is actually yes it does, because in support are New York legends Suicide who are going to be doing their debut live for the masses.

I can feel it in my blood that this show is going to fuckin’ rock big stylee.

The excitement is starting to build already.
I'm blasting out some Stooges right now while I wait for a show to upload for you guys.
Tomorrow is when it will really register though as that’s the day before we start our journey down south.
My day of preparation.
In my head I’ve already got it planned out. Stooges for breakfast, Stooges for lunch, Stooges for dinner, Stooges all motherfuckin’ day maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan.

It’s just crashed in that I haven’t been this excited about a gig in a long time. I think I’ll keep my fingers crossed in case I bloody jinx it.

From my own collection I dug deep and found this for all you Stooges fans.
Years ago I had worn out my vinyl copy of Raw Power and as this was way before CDs my only option was to buy it new, or go out and score a second hand copy that was in a better condition that my own. So that's what I did. Then when I got home I found that the previous owner had cut out and sellotaped the original review of the album into the inner sleeve. Result.

RAW POWER
In 1972, the Stooges were near the point of collapse when David Bowie's management team, MainMan, took a chance on the band at Bowie's behest. By this point, guitarist Ron Asheton and bassist Dave Alexander had been edged out of the picture, and James Williamson had signed on as Iggy's new guitar mangler; Asheton rejoined the band shortly before recording commenced on Raw Power, but was forced to play second fiddle to Williamson as bassist. By most accounts, tensions were high during the recording of Raw Power, and the album sounds like the work of a band on its last legs -- though rather than grinding to a halt, Iggy & the Stooges appeared ready to explode like an ammunition dump. From a technical standpoint, Williamson was a more gifted guitar player than Asheton (not that that was ever the point), but his sheets of metallic fuzz were still more basic (and punishing) than what anyone was used to in 1973, while Ron Asheton played his bass like a weapon of revenge, and his brother Scott Asheton remained a powerhouse behind the drums. But the most remarkable change came from the singer; Raw Power revealed Iggy as a howling, smirking, lunatic genius. Whether quietly brooding ("Gimme Danger") or inviting the apocalypse ("Search and Destroy"), Iggy had never sounded quite so focused as he did here, and his lyrics displayed an intensity that was more than a bit disquieting. In many ways, almost all Raw Power has in common with the two Stooges albums that preceded it is its primal sound, but while the Stooges once sounded like the wildest (and weirdest) gang in town, Raw Power found them heavily armed and ready to destroy the world -- that is, if they didn't destroy themselves first. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide

25 comments:

  1. http://rapidshare.com/files/381493194/IgStge.rar

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  2. Cheers for this...I shall be making the trip south as well on Sunday..can't fuckin wait!

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  3. I hope you have a belter of a time.
    I've been listening to The Stooges all day and this is really something pretty special for me. I mean Iggy is great, but this is Iggy AND The Stooges.
    For me it's a once in a lifetime gig.

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  4. Mark. A bunch of us from all over will be meeting for a pre gig drink here.
    http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/16/1644/Blue_Anchor/Hammersmith
    I doubt that you will miss us as it will be like a UK version of the united nation. Just look for the group with all the accents.

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  5. I saw The Stooges at Harewood House in Leeds a few years ago, I was on the stage too lol. Can't wait to compare with James on guitar instead.
    I'll check out the Blue Anchor, about what time?

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  6. Everyone is turning up at different times, but I'll be there for about 5 I reckon.

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  7. Ok, maybe see you in there.

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  8. i dont mean to rain on anyones parade. but the stooges are a joke now. a sad mockery of what they used to be. Now the plus side of this show is SUICIDE who will more than likely ether bomb hard or steal the show. I love Iggy so much but I feel so sorry for him and how he is bent on ruining the myths and the stories behind amercias greatest rock n roll band THE STOOGES!!

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  9. Hi!

    Great stuff. I can't get enough of Stooges Bootlegs since there's allways something "Extra" I have a recording with Iggy from The Domino Club in Stockholm 1978 with Sonic's Rendesvouz Band that I treasure but my absolute favourite is a compilation of four (out of ten) shows in 1971 with the legendary 2 guitarist line –up, James Williamson & Ron Asheton... magic. I first saw Iggy in -77 on the Lust For Life tour and have seen him since many times but when I saw the Stooges..man, I NEVER thought I'd get to ever but there they were. I think I cried when Ron came in with his leatherjacket with that skull on the back. That was my grail.

    Cheers, Kasper

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  10. By the way, if there's any interest I'd be happy to send link for the bootlegs in previous comment

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  11. Oh I don't know Nekro. Well I sincerely hope not.
    I wasn't impressed with the Weirdness and I'd put that down to a crap production and Iggy being particularly lazy with the lyrics and his delivery.
    I remember at the time saying that if they weren't going to do it right they shouldn't have done it at all. I think they would have been better going for a Detroit native like Jack White to produce it and maybe he would have kept on top of Iggy and made him deliver for the sake of the band that they used to be.
    Regardless of that I have friends who seen the reformed Stooges and they were blown away. So I'm hoping that it's going to be the same deal for me. It's Sad that I'll not see Ron, but then again I reckon James Williamson will pull it out of the bag.
    He was jamming with some punk bands in your neck of the woods a few months back and reports were positive.
    Grab that Belgian gig. I think you might be surprised at the power.

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  12. I'd love to hear them Kasper and if you want me to upload them and credit them to you I would be happy to do that to.

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  13. Kasper. Some more Iggy stuff here.
    http://punknotprofit.blogspot.com/2010/04/iggy-pop-cobo-detroit-77-wbowie-rainbow.html

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  14. Here's the link for Iggy with Sonic's Rendezvous..

    http://rapidshare.com/files/381703846/Iggy_Pop___Sonics_Rendezvous_Band_-_1978_-_Domino_Stockholm_1978-05-24.rar.html

    The other one is uploading at the moment and will put it in comment in a while. However I'm not sure if it's a boot or a proper release, you can decide what to do with it if official will be a problem. Credits will go to original uploaders who's names I've forgotten.

    To nekro..

    I thought that The Stooges reunion would be a joke to but I really like The Weirdness album and the show was mindblowing. Iggy has done some less fortunate choises lately me thinks, the car insurance ad was a travesty but I really think he still has a lot of cred on stage. With the rest of the guys it was fantastic.

    Punk not profit blog boots and your posts here will make for great listening, can't wait

    //Kasper

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  15. The Sttoges with 2 guitar line-up

    http://rapidshare.com/files/381706509/Iggy___The_Stooges_-_2009_-_You_Don_t_Want_My_Name__You_Want_My_Action_-_1971_The_Missing_Link_-_Sto.html

    I also have a question. I had an album long ago, never seen or heard of it since. The name of the band Is "Undertaker" and Wayne Kramer (MC5) plays on it. It's a 70's album.. and that's all I know. There's several bands called Undertaker or Undertakers. Jackie Lomax was in one and one is a Fuzz 60¨s revival something or rather. I'm just out of luck with this album, does anyone know just anything about it?

    Thanks again, Kasper

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  16. Looks like messed up the URLs a bit but just add .rar to it and then extract it. It works

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  17. I think I have the the Undertaker stuff. I will have to have a good look though. If I do find it then it will probably be at least next week.

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  18. i could not stand the weirdness, i threw that cd out the car window after buying it. I am hoping with james back in the fold they will kick ass. i personally prefer james on guitar. then they sound like a real band. and not my kids playing in the bedroom. but the show will rock, somehow iggy always pulls threw.

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  19. jamming the stooges show here, i think i have it already stuck away on a usb stick. but i said fuck it, so i downloaded it again. it is very good , have fun matey. i feel like i just stuck a needle full of myth into my arm and now im getting off. to the stooges, i stand corrected my brothers.

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  20. Have you got Kill City. That's a seriously under rated album.

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  21. I downloaded one of the Iggy shows Kasper and my pc didn't recognize the file.
    I didn't have to extract it from a rar file either. It was just a sort of blank file.

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  22. The URL name became to long, just add ".rar" to the end of the filename. Then it's a RAR file again. And extracts proper. Sorry bout the hassle

    //Kasper

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  23. Take a listen to this..great sound

    http://www.mediafire.com/?mgmmzdhtwmm

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  24. please please re-up this and other stooges posts!!!

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  25. Can I thank you all for your little to-and-fro there because I was able to lap-up(download)the results...cheers all of you-great blog--much appreesh here in Brighton ;-)

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