Stooges - Fun House (Dlx)
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Free Music Notes for Fun House (Dlx)
Free Music Review: The hardest rocking album in history!
Hit: 5 Stars
The Stooges in their driven naivete have seemed to recorded an album that rocks so hard, that no other album has yet to match it's awesome majesty, and even the great reviver of the garage rock sound Jack White quivers in its presence. These guys knew how to tap into the most primal parts of the mind and expand it into throbing waves of noise and sonic fury. They take the general "T. Rex" boogie and send it into the outer stratosphere on every track. "Down on the Street" sucks you in with it's brooding groove, which completely knocks you against the wall when it kicks in halfway through. Then "Loose" takes the same general idea but increases the energy and turns into a swirling molten river of sound that never dies down. Afterwards the band kick it into even higher gear on "T.V. Eye", in which Iggy wretches the most agonizing sounds from his vocal cords that is humanly possible (it's kind of funny to hear him coughing afterward, but it doesn't matter because the song rocks that hard). After the listener is pummeled with that amazing trilogy of songs, "Dirt" brings down the mood for a breather. This song isn't at all boring though, it rocks on a slow blues groove with plenty of funky wah-wah guitar thrown in for that trippy sound. Then "1970" kicks in to rev you up again into "Fun House", during which the whole band and a sax player play a proto-punk avant-garde jam while Iggy sings the words. Finally, "L.A. Blues" roars in with 4 minutes of complete, chemically-induced noise, in which the guitars, drums, a saxophone, and Iggy's throat go all out in creating the most racket possible. The bottom line is that this album gnaws up and spits out any other album recorded before or after it, and any musician with dreams of experiencing rock ecstacy should pay homage to this manna from the Gods of Rock.
*just to add, Fun House owns any track on Raw Power, except for maybe Search and Destroy!
Free Music Review: Has The Rest Of The World Ever Figured These Guys Out?
Hit: 5 Stars
Most of what you'll need in order to fully comprehend 1970's "Fun House" lies somewhere between Iggy's admission that he dropped acid every day during recording sessions, with an occasional psylicibin or Peruvian pink cocaine chaser, and the strident squawking, bleating, and screeching which punctuates "Down On The Street," "Loose," "1970," "T.V. Eye" and the title track.
Producer Don Gallucci's decision to record Iggy's vocals with a hand-held microphone amplified through a mini PA, along with Iggy's coercion of Steve MacKay to add saxophone stylings, coated the album with a sheen of raving lunacy, Ron Asheton cutting back on the fuzz but not the menace, Rock Action and Dave Alexander forced to pick up the beat a wee bit in order to keep pace.
There's a few curves here; "Dirt" is just what you'd expect the blues to sound like if filtered through the psyches of four guys cooped up indoors all winter in Michigan and although "L.A. Blues" has always caused me no small amount of heartburn, it ain't a bad way to clear a wedding reception.
The bonus disc will be familiar to owners of "1970: The Complete Fun House Sessions"; demos, multiple takes, and spit polishing of various album tracks as well as single mixes of "Down On The Street" and "1970."
And in an entirely unintended moment of liner note hilarity, you get a buffoonish, completely misguided Jack White trying to distance himself from those who "watch a music TV station that's never heard of 'T.V. Eye'" and "shop at record stores where those who have only imitated Iggy's power are selling by the truckload." Whatever you say, Jack, whatever you say...
The recent glut of Stooges manna begs the question just what might still be laying around out there waiting to be uncovered. The sphincter tightens in anticipation.
Free Music Review: A modern American classic
Hit: 5 Stars
A seminal album when it was first released but sadly overlooked. Jack White's notes in this cd reissue pretty much sum up the importance of this album . It defines American rock music -but still sounds years ahead of its time. There are numerous influences buried in here -Sun Ra, John Coltrane, [a hint of] blues, the Doors, Hendrix, Beefheart, etc- but this was, and remains, a unique album that actually sounds better with age. What really stuck me was how well the album flows. Although the Stooges were not particularly noted for their musical virtuosity (nothing wrong with that) these tracks had, by the time of the recording, been finely honed to perfection on the road. This also finds the band on the cusp of self-destruction but at their creative (substance fuelled) peak. Many of the vocals were live takes, but this is vital to the raw sound.
Overall, this is an incredibly powerful album and represents a real hybrid of the free- form acid drenched jamming of the last sixties, whilst looking forward to punk, new wave and grunge!
It would be wrong to use the term "deluxe edition" on a Stooges release! However it is worth mentioning the quality of this cd upgrade. On the second disk we get the cream of the long-deleted complete Funhouse sessions box set. The alternate takes are interesting and, if further proof was needed, confirm that the bad really were "in the zone" during these recording sessions. However it is the sonic upgrade on disc one that justifies the purchase. Rhino gernally do a great job on the remastering side but this is a huge leap from the previous cd version. And thankfully, polishing the sound has not in any way tampered with the original feel of Funhouse. A long overdue release and highly recommended to any rock fan (including Jack White).
Free Music Review: Why Haven't You Heard of This Album?
Hit: 5 Stars
And by you, I do, in fact, mean me. For the most part.
I, as I imagine were many of those to buy the re-issue, bought this album at the insistence of Jack White, who just can't say enough good about it (he even wrote the introduction into the linear notes).
When I first bought the album, I sat there, pondering, thinking of how to describe it to someone. To try to relate it to a friend, I said "You know how Mick Jagger occasionally lets out a bit of a scream when he sings, like at the beginning of 'Sympathy for the Devil'? Well ... imagine that, except in a hyper-accelerated and constant state." That is a highly inaccurate way of describing Iggy Stooge, but it at least gives some idea of what he sounds like.
The album is exhausting, in a good way. From the scream at the beginning of "TV Eye" to the dolphin noises in "Fun House," there's something odd and disctinctive about each track. "LA Blues" is literally the musical equivalent of an orgasm. I don't mean that in the sense that you'll have one while listening to it, but the song goes on and on for something like 4 minutes in just a sound of pure ecstasy, pounding drums, wailing sax, screaming Iggy. It's all raw, and it works so well.
I've barely scratched the surface on the features of my second disc, but that's mostly just because it's hard to break away from disc 1. This is an album that you'll pick up and not ever want to put down again. But share the experience! Keep in mind the words of Jack White, and once you get done with it, when you put it down, put it on your brother's pillow. "You're it, like in tag. [Give it to your brother] and run freely."
Free Music Review: Affordable Rock History
Hit: 5 Stars
I purchased this CD (and The Stooges) primarily to give my modern stereo a work-out. Anyone who has the pre-remastered Stooges CDs knows how muddy the quality was on those past releases, especially compared to today's artists and their CDs.
Not only did Elektra do a phenomenal job remastering the tapes, they turned both albums into necessary collector's editions for any Stooges fan. In addition to a legendary album remastered and brought up to today's standards, you get a bonus disc full of unreleased material.
The second disc here is for anyone who missed Rhino's ultra-limited release "The Funhouse Sessions" boxset. While not as inclusive as a 7-disc boxset, it's definitely the more affordable way to get a glimpse of the creative process behind this album. We're treated to multiple takes of the songs, each one remastered to the same high quality as the first disc. Additionally, two songs that were left off of the final album see the light of day here. Finally, the shortened single versions of "Down On The Street" and "1970" are tagged on the end of the second disc.
Unlike the remastering job that Columbia did with Raw Power, Elektra kept the rawness and the energy intact and created a mix that sounds great. None of the overmodulation and distortion -- you can turn this mother up LOUD. A very clean mix that still manages to keep the volume, danger and intensity of America's greatest rock band. Ever.