IGGY AND THE STOOGES - FROM KO TO CHAOS
Synopsis: Here are all of the Skydog label's Iggy releases, remastered, in a clam-shell box set containing seven CDs and a DVD – a fitting tribute to the label’s punk pioneer boss Marc Zermati, who passed away in June 2020. Marc started Skydog in 1973, arguably Europe’s first independent rock label, and in the same year that Metallic KO was released he organized the "First Punk Festival" in Mont de Marsan. He worked closely with The Clash, Johnny Thunders, Wilko Johnson, and Chrissie Hynde and many others.
DISC ONE:
METALLIC KO CD
The original version compiled from Michigan Palace shows on October 6th,1973 and February 9th, 1974
- Raw Power
- Head On
- Gimme Danger
- Rich Bitch
- Cock In My Pocket
- Iggy Talks
- Louie Louie
DISC TWO:
METALLIC 2xKO - OPEN UP AND BLEED CD
The full tape from Michigan Palace, Detroit on October 6th 1973, remastered and adjusted tape speed.
Disc two is the full tape from Michigan Palace, Detroit October 6th,1973 (44:00) show, half of which made up the first side of the original Metallic KO release. This has been remastered and pitch-corrected after a tape speed fault was discovered. This set is heavy on the Raw Power era tracks, opening with the title track, then into a visceral "Head On". The sound on this one is not the most fidelic but it's a fantastic raw document of the Stooges live volatility and fire power. They hammer through a blistering version of "Search and Destroy" followed by what is one of my favorite renditions of "Heavy Liquid", and later taunting the crowd with the oft requested "I Wanna Be Your Dog", but playing "Open Up and Bleed" instead.
- Raw Power
- Head On
- Gimme Danger
- Search and Destroy
- Heavy Liquid
- Open Up and Bleed
DISC THREE:
METALLIC KO - OPEN UP AND BLEED CD
The full tape from Michigan Palace, Detroit, February 9th 1974, remastered and adjusted tape speed.
Disc three is what would be the final Stooges show for thirty years, recorded at Michigan Palace in Detroit, MI on February 9th, 1974 (38:38:), which has also been pitch-corrected for this release. Iggy and the Stooges plow through six post Raw Power songs including "I Got Nothin'", the crusher "Rich Bitch" and "Cock in My Pocket", plus a sinewy rendition of "Gimme Danger". All the while we get some fantastic stage banter from the adversarial Iggy who seems to have had just about enough of the tough biker crowd hurling jelly beans, beer bottles and lightbulbs at them before launching into a droll, antagonistic version of "Louie Louie" to close down the night, ending with Iggy encouraging audience member who hurled and missed him with a bottle of Stroh's beer to come back and try again next week.
- Heavy Liquid
- I Got Nothin'
- Rich Bitch
- Gimme Danger
- Cock in My Pocket
- Louie Louie
DISC FOUR:
WE ARE NOT TALKING COMMERCIAL SH!T CD
Disc four is the We Are Not Talking About Commercial Sh!t (74:44) mostly live rarities collection first released by Skydog back in 1995. Much like the three discs that preceded it the audio fidelity of the recordings vary but are generally of bootleg quality. Iggy and his live touring band at the time tear through tunes from 1979-1983, the majority of which feature his touring band consisting of guitarists Rob Duprey and Ivan Kral, bassist Michael Page, and drummer Douglas Bowne. More than half of what we get here are covers versions of The Batman Theme, The Kinks ("You Really Got Me"), The McCoys (Hang On Sloopy"), Velvet Underground ("Waiting For My Man"), The Animals (I'm Crying"), The Kingmen ("Louie Louie"), a not that great deconstruction of Question Mark and the Mysterians' "96 Tears", Bo Diddley ("I'm Alright") and Sly Stone ("Family Affair"). The cover of "Family Affair" is the sole studio recording on this disc, featuring none other than Steve Jones (Sex Pistols) on guitar, and fellow Sex Pistol-er Glenn Matlock shows up on the live version of "The Batman Theme" and of The Kinks "You Really Got Me". My favorite on the set is a charging medley of the Stooges "No Fun" and the Velvet Underground's "Waiting for My Man" from '83. On the over nine-minute attempt on "One For My Baby", a song made popular by Frank Sinatra, the song comes to a halt several times as Iggy pleads for the crowd not to crush those in the front row, imploring them to move back and free up some space, and then again to tell the crowd to shut the fuck up so he can sing the damn song. This disc also features three bonus songs, all live versions of The Stooges "I Wanna Be Your Dog", including an acoustic version from the Sputnik TV Show in '93, which also appears on the DVD on this set.
- The Winter of My Discontent
- Batman Theme
- Louie Louie / Hang On Sloopy (Richard Barry/The McCoys)
- No Fun / Waiting for My Man (The Stooges/Velvet Underground)
- 96 Tears (Question Mark & The Mysreians)
- I'm Crying (The Animals)
- I'm Alright (Bo Diddley)
- One for My Baby (Frank Sinatra)
- Hassles
- Puppet World
- Flesh And Blood
- Family Affair (Sly Stone)
- You Really Got Me (The Kinks)
- I Wanna Be Your Dog (acoustic, Barcelona '93)
- I Wanna Be Your Dog (San Diego)
- I Wanna Be Your Dog (Switzerland)
DISC FIVE:
WAKE UP SUCKERS! CD
Onto disc five we have the Wake Up, Suckers! (67:56) release which was originally released in 1995 by Skydog. This is a second collection of rarities containing fifteen tracks spanning two decades from 1972-1991. Most of these are again dubious sounding live audience recordings, including three Stooges live tracks recorded in Detroit in '74. We do get a total of five studio recordings, which includes a pair of pre-Raw Power studio tracks ("I Got A Right", "Gimme Some Skin") recorded in London's Trident Studios, which I have heard previously on various other releases. We also get the 1985 studio track "Woman Dreams" featuring Steve Jones (Sex Pistols) which has a very Billy Idol-ish sound. Three bonus studio recordings produced by Rick Ocasek of The Cars in 1983 also show up as bonus tracks. These include rocker "Fire Engine", the lackluster "Warrior Tribe" and "Mule Skinner", in which Iggy seems a bit bored by the song as he goes about exaggerating his delivery of the vocals. Live treats include three tracks from the '77 Lust For Life Tour, three tunes from the Zombie Birdhouse. I think this has the edge over the We Are Not Talking About Commercial Sh!t compilation, simply for the presence of more studio recordings, particularly the Rick Ocasek demos, and overall quality of the live tunes better.
- I Got a Right
- Gimme Some Skin
- Gimme Danger
- Heavy Liquid
- I Got Nothing
- Rock Action
- Modern Guy
- Run Like a Villain
- Eat or Be Eaten
- Sixteen
- Woman Dream
- Love Bone
- Fire Engine
- Warrior Tribe
- Mule Skinner
DISC SIX:
ACOUSTICS KO (DVD)
Disc six is the Acoustic KO DVD collecting a rare solo performance from the Paris Megastore on December 9th, 1990 and Iggy's solo acoustic performance on The Sputnik TV Show in 1993 (33:16). During the Sputnik TV program Iggy sits in a chair on a stage and manages to bust a pair of strings during his first two songs, undaunted he carries on with only four strings, playing a few American Caesar tunes ("Mixing the Color", "Social Life"), but also offering up some stripped down but still charged versions of Stooges tunes ("I Wanna Be Your Dog", "Loose") and some choice covers including The Modern Lovers "Pablo Picasso", an ad-libbed version of "Gloria" from Them, as well as The Kingsmen classic "Louie Louie". This is a broadcast TV version that was professionally filmed and shot with several cameras, it's a cool gig and Iggy comes of as pretty punk rock for an acoustic show, but it is a bit restrained as he is seated for the whole show.
The Paris Megastore performance from December 9th, 1990 (17:46) is also a solo gig with Iggy standing shirtless for an in-store performance, this time armed with an electric guitar and an amp, playing stripped own but rowdy versions of his solo and Stooges era stuff. He opens with the Funhouse tune "Down on the Street" and later playing "Loose", also digging into earlier stuff like "I Wanna Be Your Dog". He also plays several tunes from the then current Brick By Brick album ("I Won't Crap Out", "Butt Town", "Brick By Brick"), before closing with Stooges "1969". It's a fan shot video but the quality of picture, framing and audio are decent. I can imagine anyone who was there that day watching this must have been a highlight of their lives at the time, I know I would have been stoked to see Iggy at this show up close and personal. There are also three bonus tracks totaling about seven-minutes tagged on at the end. "Skydography" is what looks to be montage of all the Skydog Iggy/Stooges releases with "I Got A Right' playing over it, plus we get a brief interview clip of Iggy ("Planet of Dogs"), and a live on-air acoustic performance of the Avenue B album track "Miss Argentina" .
- Mixing The Color
- Louie Louie (Richard Barry)
- I Wanna Be Your Dog
- Pablo Picasso (Jonathan Richman)
- Loose
- Gloria (Van Morrison)
- Social Life
- Highway Song
- Beside You
- Intro
- Down On The Street
- I Won't Crap Out
- Loose
- I Wanna Be Your Dog
- Brick By Brick
- Butt Town
- 1969
- Skydography
- Planet of Dogs
- Miss Argentina
DISC SEVEN:
ACOUSTIC KO CD
Disc seven is the Acoustics KO (28:41) album with ten acoustic tracks recorded in the studio during the Brick By Brick-era, plus we get acoustic renditions of the Funhouse tune "L.A. Blues" and a flat sounding rendition of the Lust For Life tune "Nightclubbing". Iggy's voice and strumming are fine, but these Brick By brick tunes are not among my favorites and the skeletal acoustic arrangements are anemic. Nothing here knocked me out by any means but the audio quality is quite good. I was a bit disappointed that we did not the Sputnik TV acoustic performance as an audio-only version on this disc, that would have been cool.
- Butt Town
- Foolish Dreams
- Beggar
- The Wind
- Starry Night
- Brick By Brick
- I Am
- Think Alone
- LA Blues
- Nightclubbing
DISC EIGHT:
TELLURIC CHAOS CD
Live at Shibuya Axe in Tokyo, Japan on March 22nd, 2004
Disc eight is the reformed Stooges live album Telluric Chaos (79:27) recorded live at Shibuya Axe in Tokyo, Japan on March 22nd, 2004. This reformed Stooges line-up consisting of founding members Iggy on vocals, Ron Asheton on guitar, Scott Asheton on drums, along with new recruit Mike Watt (Minutemen, Firehose) on bass and Steven Mackay, (who performed on Funhouse) on sax. This is another audience recording but the audio while not audiophile captures the raw intensity of the reformed Stooges in all their glory. The band slice through nearly all the cuts from their eponymous debut album with the exception of "Ann" and "We Will Fall", and all of Funhouse minus "L.A. Blues". We also get a single tune from The Stooges comeback album The Weirdness ("My Idea of Fun") and a smattering of songs from Iggy Pop's solo album Skull Ring ("Little Electric Chair", Skull Ring", "Dead Rock Star") which featured the Asheton brothers on a few cuts. We get nothing from the Raw Power era, and that is because Raw Power featured James Williamson on guitar and Ron Ashton was relegated to bass, so that era is avoided. They open with the one-two Funhouse punch of "Loose" and "Down on the Street", before getting into "1969" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog", these guys were full-tilt and tight, rocking with a sinewy swagger for the whole show. Ron Asheton's guitar cuts and slices, delivering behemoth riffs from a seminal catalog of proto-punk and acid-tinged rock, while drummer Scott Asheton and new recruit Mike Watt drive home the rhythm section. Iggy is in top form being back with the boys after thirty years, howling at the moon from start to finish, never letting up, not for a second. It's a glorious celebration of the music this band made, and it comes off as something meaningful, not some dopey reunion fueled by the promise of a lucrative payday. Literally every track on this set is a hot-burning three-alarm fire of proto-punk glory. This is far and away the best disc on the set and it left me with a big smile on my face, and as soon as it finished I hit "play" again.
- Loose
- Down on the Street
- 1969
- I Wanna Be Your Dog
- TV Eye
- Dirt
- Real Cool Time
- No Fun
- 1970
- Fun House
- Skull Ring
- Dead Rock Star
- Little Electric Chair
- Little Doll
- My Idea of Fun
- I Wanna Be Your Dog
- Not Right
The eight-disc set arrives in a sturdy clam-shell keepcase with that cool Metallic KO large lettering font on the cover and spine, and I love that image of Iggy laying on the floor knocked-out cold. On the back side of the clam-shell are thumbnails of each of the eight artworks for the albums inside with a brief bit of information about each release. Inside there are eight cardboard slip-sleeves housing each of the discs with track-listings on the reverse sides. We also get a fat 48-page illustrated booklet with detailed writing by Iggy Pop biographer Paul Trynka, a tribute to the late Marc Zermati of Skydog, reprints of articles on these recordings by Lester Bangs (Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung), Giovanni Dadomo (Sounds) and Nick Kent (NME) and a metric fuck-ton of pictures spanning from the early days of the Stooges on through to Iggy's 90's solo career. My favorite take away from the Trynka writings are how in 2007 Sterling Roswell of Spaceman 3 was in the studio for the remastering of Metallic K.O. when he noticed that the recording was in the wrong pitch, and thus discovered the original tapes had been transferred at the wrong speed!
If you're a deep-diving fan of late-era stooges and Iggy Pop's solo career there are treasures here to be found within this sprawling eight-disc set, with lots of great, if not great sounding, live stuff from the post Raw Power era and on into Iggy's lengthy solo career. A bit of warning though, I think you have got to be a hardcore Stooges/Iggy Pop fan for this to be essential purchase, particularly since there is such a preponderance of not particularly well-recorded stuff, this is not a set for the casual fan. However, if you're the sort of fan that likes to dig deep and thoroughly explore a band's catalog beyond the studio albums I believe there is enough meat on the bone here to make it worth a purchase, particularly having both the October 6th, 1973 and February 9th, 1974 shows at the Michigan Palace remastered and pitch-corrected. This set collects all the Stooges and Iggy Pop recordings released from Skydog Records, which is a wonderful tribute to not just the band but to Skydog founder Marc Zermati and his decades long collaboration with Iggy & the Stooges. It's not the most audiophile collection of tunes you will ever hear but it is authentically raw and visceral. A note to prospective buyers, I do believe that all of these recordings have previously been issued by Skydog and other distributers over the years, with only the pitch-corrected versions of the Michigan Palace performances being "new" to the set. That said, this is a cool collection of Iggy & the Stooges tunes with an eye-catching clam-shell packaging.
