Is it moral to review a bootleg CD? The artist is getting no royalties for his or her work. The artist can’t approve or disapprove the content of the disc. It’s wrong, isn’t it? The trouble is, this is obsession we’re talking about. This is Iggy and the Stooges with James Williamson on guitar. This is the CD you never thought you would hear. This is fucking history. More importantly, it’s fucking great.How could it live up to your wild expectations? How could it take your expectations and crush them under foot with its brutal majesty? It’s easy. You just press the play button and get blown away. My God! I may have just found the Holy Grail of rock and roll.
I won’t steer you wrong here. There are many poor saps who have rummaged through the rubble of various Stooges’ dustbins looking for gold. I’m as guilty as anyone. I’ve bought the CD containing all the different takes of “I got a right” and the endless deluge of the Iguana Chronicles. This disc is wild. Don’t bother that the mix is a little rough for the first couple of songs. It clears up as it goes along. Don’t bother telling me that both band and performance are chaotic. Give me a break. It’s the Stooges not the fucking Wiggles.
You get the expected run of songs from “Raw Power” plus a shit pile of “Kill City” songs sounding like they fell off the back of the “Raw Power” sessions. You get “Funhouse” songs with James Williamson adding his own brand of fury. Did you ever wonder what “I Wanna be your Dog” sounds like with Williamson on guitar. Wonder no more. “The Passenger”? “Lust for Life”? A sterling version of “Five Foot One” from the Williamson produced “New Values” album? All present and correct. Even “Skull Ring” passes muster.
Words absolutely fail me. That guitar paying! That fucking guitar playing! Listen to Iggy. The man is overjoyed to be playing with this band. It’s like his wildest dream has come true. Amazingly, someone pulled a recording off the sound desk in Brazil and it’s landed in my lap. I don’t care if the ads are right. I don’t care if piracy is financing criminals, terrorists and the fall of Western Civilization as we know it. I don’t care if piracy is killing the music industry. I hate Western Civilization, and the music industry, but I love this CD. If this band comes to Australia and I can’t get a ticket, I will kill someone if I have to. That is how good this CD is. Imagine “Metallic KO” performed by a band with a re-found passion. Where that album marked a band falling to pieces under the weight of drug induced horror, here we are presented with the rebirth of a great rock and roll band. Finally, Iggy has managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Find it, buy it and bear witness.
