Stooges - Fun House (Dlx)
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Free Music Notes for Fun House (Dlx)
Free Music Review: The animal is loosed and stalking you thru the FUN HOUSE
Hit: 5 Stars
With the follow up to their eponymous debut, THE STOOGES make that "quantum leap" one often reads about, and in this case, FUN HOUSE is, in a word, stunning! Never pleasantly or hilariously "dumb" like the debut, FUN HOUSE is an amazing and perplexing advancement from that debut record which of and by itself would have sealed THE STOOGES' reputation. This band was even better than anyone could have ever guessed (though their record sales quickly relegated their two Elektra releases, the debut and FUN HOUSE, to the bargain bin). FUN HOUSE is jaw-droppingly unforgiving, a punch in the gut, a splash of acid in the face, hard power and hot metal, a lurching monster, referred to as "proto-punk" because of its influence on every Punk and Grunge band since, but really, such bands are belittled and reduced to mere "poodles" by this far-end risk that in fact is the most unique record of its era and a hybrid of 50s rock, 60s psychedelia, and that which was as yet unnamed (Punk) and no band has yet matched the achievement. Few records have predicted the coming decades as FUN HOUSE did in 1970, though typically unrecognized in its time. As Iggy Pop (a.k.a. Iggy Stooge) himself said, and to paraphrase, THE STOOGES could "eat all those poodles for breakfast." With a scorched earth policy that leaves no listener unscathed, this record is probably one of the most challenging records in the Rock n' Roll catalog, and not for the faint of heart, such as those moments all over the record when one hears Iggy blatantly snorting. If you ever listened to CAPTAIN BEEFHEART's TROUT MASK REPLICA you might get an idea of the accessibility of "L.A. Blues" which is a non-song cacophony of horror with the carnivorous animal Iggy loosed, roaring, and stalking the complacent world. But for the student and lover of Rock n' Roll, this record is a must. I think the primary reason Rock critics and diehard fans continue to cite THE STOOGES, especially FUN HOUSE, is because of the foresight of this material. The experimental aspect of the record is indicative of its era (it is completely un-commercial, but many bands included such material on their records in those days, though, frankly, lame by comparison) yet, like all three of THE STOOGES albums, FUN HOUSE never sounds dated. Tracks like the sustained tension of "Down On The Street", the superbly nasty and compelling "Loose," the luscious blues of "Dirt," the burping, mesmerizing "T.V. Eye," and the sucker-punch "1970," in which Iggy shrieks "...I feel alright" ending with a major snort (the sequel to "1969" when Iggy had "nuthin' ta do") are supremely realized and uncompromising, and if it weren't for their shocking effect, I'd be wearing a s**t eatin' grin. One of Rock's great romps, FUN HOUSE is not for the uninitiated, the timid, or uninspired. That being said, FUN HOUSE is one of the greatest records of Rock, a whole hell of a lot of fun, possibly my all time favorite, and one of the very few records of Rock that upon listening to for the first time I said to myself, "WOW!" In another word, a masterpiece.Free Music Review: Self Destruction Never Sounded Better.
Hit: 5 Stars
"Fun House" grooves with an unholy mixture of sex, violence, and hard drugs. With only the main riffs written out before hand by Iggy, the band viciously jams behind their unstable frontman; willingly following him into the mad depths of the abyss and beyond. When he's not howling and screeching like a wild animal, Iggy often croons the mostly ad-libed vocals with sneering meanace. His performance creates the impression of a desperate man that's a danger to himself and those around him, someone who's struggling to maintain control of his most primitive sexual and violent impulses(not far from the truth actually). This isn't completely the Iggy show either as the Stooges do the seemingly impossible by keeping it natural and chaotic without sacrificing the tightness of the groove.
The A side features the shorter more accessible tracks. "Down on the Street" lurches with a guitar crunch that resembles a conveyor belt feeding the listener into a chomping steel crusher, while "Loose" halts the spinning chainsaw guitar just long enough for Iggy to calmly make the suggestive threat,"I'll stick it deep inside." The side's climax,"T.V. Eye," begins with one of all time great howls before it eventually descends into un-intelligble babble and screams before returning to the addictive lead riff. The bluesy ballad "Dirt" closes the half on a clam note but it's clear the band is far from finished.
The B-Side is much more Avant Garde with a Free Jazz Saxophone being added to the mix for the hell of it. "1970" is the most urgent exhausting track on the album with the band performing like it's the last song their ever going to play, you can literally feel the sweat, slobber and blood spewing at you. The circus tinged title track follows the climax with a weary jam in which the band appropriatley sounds like a spent force running low on steam. However it's just the calm before the meltdown that's "L.A. Blues." The grooves that drove the album are completely dropped in favor of all out chaos while Iggy rants, screams, and growls jibberish before the band reluctantly burns out and slips away. Not so much a song but the sound of some great dying beast going down fighting, fitting in that the whole album best works as a single organism as opposed to a collection of individual songs. The magic is in how the songs work together and build from one another. Nothing on here stands out as the best song the Stooges or Iggy Pop ever produced but when taking in as a whole it's their greatest towering achievement.
This isn't Rock N Roll at least as it's ever been known before this release but something else entirely. Violent Free Jazz and all out Avant Garde peformed by a somehow even more drug and sex crazed James Brown is probably the most accurate but even that goofy analogy fails to give this masterpiece justice. Don't forget the bonus disc which features alternative jams that rival the ones that made the final cut. For more funky avant/rock madness check out: Can: Tago Mago and Tim Buckley: Starsalior.
Free Music Review: A Strong, Ferocious Record.
Hit: 5 Stars
Iggy Pop and his Stooges are one of the great underrated classics of rock n' roll history. We owe this band so much and yet give them such little attention even on VH1 Classic (though VH1 has at least put the band on its 100 Greatest Artists Of Hard Rock list), but those who truly love rock music and what it can do will eventually come across the snarling music contained in "The Stooges" and "Fun House," not to mention the timeless third album "Raw Power." Though "Raw Power" received a shining, brutally loud remix a couple of years ago, the first Stooges albums are barely getting the deserved special editions aficionados and rock enthusiasts have been waiting for. Now "Fun House" really comes alive with remastered sound that truly exposes the intensity and fire Iggy Pop let loose on the world. The story goes that in 1967 Iggy caught a Doors show and was so impressed by Jim Morrison that he decided to invent his own brand of shock rock theatrics, this of course resulted in being one of the most memorable acts hard rock has ever produced. The sound and attitude of the Stooges is everywhere, especially in bands like Marilyn Manson, Guns N' Roses, Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana, Green Day, R.E.M., The Vines, The Hives, The White Stripes etc. etc. etc. The Punk movement claimed Iggy as its godfather and artists like Blondie and The Sex Pistols payed homage to this, one of their great heroes. "Fun House" embodies all that made The Stooges great, it's a mix of raw sound with wild theatrics, images. Think of William S. Burroughs framed by Nine Inch Nails (Iggy is in fact a Burroughs fan recorded with the legendary beat writer before he died). The songs have catchy, heavy hooks and a seductive, animalistic air as in "Down On The Street," a crawling jam that can be the soundtrack for a night of lust and fun. "T.V. Eye" is the wildness of Iggy and The Stooges caught on tape with it's primal screams and burning guitar licks. "Loose" is an interesting number that progresses from chaos to an almost poppy chorus. "L.A. Blues" is pure expressionism while "1970" has that anthemic feel of all great Punk (and this was BEFORE the genre even existed). "Fun House" is in a sense a packaging of all the craziness, sex and musical creativity evident in American music. It feels as if the Stooges took all of America's most notable genres like blues, jazz and rock n' roll and filtered it through their bold, excess-drenched concepts. Here is music that is up to the level of the legend. Iggy Pop of course garnered fame cutting himself with glass on stage and even having audience members perform oral sex on him during shows, but the music personifies completely the wild theatrics and even the more intellectual ideas behind the shock and provocation. Like all great rock "Fun House" stands up to the best music hard rock bands have offered us in the past few years. Listen to The Stooges and you realize Disturbed, Staind and Godsmack are pretty much just p---y music.Free Music Review: One Funhouse You'll Never Leave
Hit: 5 Stars
. . . even if you wanted to; but if you're a fan of pure rock I can't imagine you'd want this wasted soundscape to ever end. The only complaint one could make about _fun house_ is that it ends; this is about the best criticism one could make of an album, as I'm sure you would agree. Iggy, the Asheton Bros. & Co. get more out of sludgy three-chord rants than pretty much anyone before or since (see anything by Boris for a worthy contemporary heir). The Stooges live up to their namesake perfectly here and continue to set the pace for extreme music on this CD, be it punk, metal, experimental, or otherwise.
My favorite moment on the CD is when Iggy yells "I feel all right" repeatedly over the sloppiest detuned dirge one could imagine. Andy Mackay lands in the middle of the wreckage with a sax solo; he sounds like an alien playing an instrument in tune here, making things as weird as they could be. Note to extreme musicians: Iggy & Co. made the prototype for your kind of music THIRTY-FIVE years ago using more than just guitars & drums . . . IT CAN BE INTERESTING TO USE OTHER INSTRUMENTS BESIDES THESE TWO BASICS, as _fun house_ all too clearly shows.
"t.v. eye" is another scummy jewel, perhaps one of the most memorable riffs in the history of rock (perhaps because it or something like it has been in a thousand other songs before and after--regardless, this is the best version of this riff). Iggy pegs paranoia to a tee and says volumes for anyone who has ever felt weirded out (a great portion of us, to be sure). The miracle is that he does it in a few words ("she got a t.v. eye on me . . .). An absolute masterpiece of minor-key minimalism.
"L.A. Blues" is another fitting and memorable ending to this inferno of a funhouse. Coming as this album did in 1970, this instrumental somehow serves as the capstone for the decade without anyone emitting a word. It sounds like a Grateful Dead jam gone way, way wrong, as if to say "Well, here's where your drugs and free love got you: straight in the sh**ter. May as will make the hippy dream sound like what it's come to!" The miracle on this song is that Asheton & Co. manage to show no musical proficiency whatsoever, just a mass noise freak-out without sense or sensibility. "Welcome to the '70's," they seem to be saying, "it's gonna get way stranger from here on in." Listen to it really loud and I can pretty much guarantee that you'll understand why Lester Bangs couldn't stop singing the praises of these guys and this song in particular. It takes great music like this to inspire the greatest rock writing ever.
Like I said, the CD ends here and the listener wants way, way more. Iggy never quite captured this sort of glory again, but fellow gutter-snipes like the Ramones, the Clash, and the Pistols were able to make some equally worthy trash-thrum on their own. Guess one never does leave this funhouse, after all.
Free Music Review: Outta My Mind On A Saturday Night
Hit: 5 Stars
The other day, I heard the riff from "TV Eye" in a car ad. Times have indeed changed. Doesn't take more than 30 seconds to ruin a good song, does it? Atleast it was just the riff. I guess they needed the money.
So is this brilliant piece of madness finally getting mainstream attention? I suppose Jack White's endorsement in the liner notes doesn't hurt matters. In any case, it's about time this was given the reissue treatment. As always, Rhino has done a top notch job here. Sonically, it blows the low budget Electra releases away. And they kept the mix, which is more than you can say for Raw Power.
"Down In The Street" opens a vein of pure anarchy right from the start. And that's only the beginning. If Rock & Roll is all about sex & violence, then "Loose" is the poster child. The sound of repressed lust finally set free to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting world. A war cry for the sexual revolution, or just a tune about some crazy guy flashing chicks on the street? Either way, it's one of the best tracks on this album.
As for "TV Eye", guess it's about dropping acid & being stared at by your cat, but who really cares when you're hit with what Ron Ashton's delivering. Proof you don't need formal training to be a guitar god. Or hell, even know what you're doing. Things may mellow out a bit with the gorgeously sleazy dirge, "Dirt" but then "1970" kicks in. If there ever was a song about being "outta my mind on a Satuday night", this is it. Rumspringa from hell. Enough scorn & dersion to almost be a satire on Teenage Wasteland. Or drunken suburban brats everywhere. As for the title track, they emptied out the asylum here. A psycho jazz freak out, thanks to Steven McKay's manic sax.
Serious collectors & audiophiles can amuse themselves with the bonus disc of alterternate takes & there's even an unreleased gem in, "Lost In The Future".
Critics will tell you this is one of the most influential records of all time. Without a doubt, there would be no Ramones. No Clash. No Sex Pistols. No Nirvana. Not to mention hacks like Red Hot Chili Peppers. But leave all that for journalists to pontificate on. Virtually ignored at it's release, bargain binned through the years---I guess that's the price you pay for being ahead of your time. The reissue of their debut is just as essential. Simply one of the most explosive & unforgettable records you'll ever hear.