Disco de The Stooges: “Anthology Box: The Stooges & Beyond”

Those who collect Iggy/Stooges material surely decry this release for once again recycling the same material for the billionth time, adding only two tracks that (supposedly) don't appear anywhere else. "The Ballad Of Hollis Brown," a cover of the ancient Bob Dylan, is actually really good musically, some great guitar and some basic yet effective organ. Pop's vocals sound like they were recorded in a tin can which will no doubt annoy some listeners but I think it actually sounds cool and appropriate for this song. The other "new" track might sound like a joke to some but it's actually great for what it is - a shambling version of "White Christmas" with honky-tonky-ish piano, tuba, other horns and orchestration, female background singers, a dog barking and Iggy crooning in a deep voice. Throw it on at the old folks house for the holidays!

Although haphazardly thrown together, there's no arguing against the greatness found on disk 1 which includes many of the "lost" Stooges tracks from the mid-70s. To my mind, much of this stuff beats the songs on their first two albums. Tracks like the supercharged 50s-style rock n' roller "Cock In My Pocket" with its searing guitars and Jerry Lee Louis style piano are essential Stooges. And their lethargic, stoned version of "Purple Haze" is so cool. Every track here is at least good and most of it's fantastic. The sound is about as good as can be expected considering the source material. I think it sounds great. While disk 1 is all Stooges material, disk 2 comprises alternate and live versions of solo Iggy. It's mostly great too. The live "Nightclubbing," lasting over seven minutes is especially wiggy. The live versions are typically bootleg quality but that doesn't really inhibit the enjoyment of this music, to my ears anyway.

Mea culpa....I used to think The Stooges sucked. Nothing but lumbering, scuzzy, trashy rock n' roll. I actually had the same reaction first time I heard Nirvana. Now I'm a big fan. And once I finally heard a decent remix of RAW POWER (1997 version), my reticence finally melted away. Funny how tastes can change...some people refine their tastes to include classical or other more high-brow music. My tastes expanded to include everything from far-out Krautrock and avant-garde to death metal and Slayer. And now in recent years I finally know how great The Stooges were/are and how much they changed the course of rock music for the better. They were arguable the first punk band but no one can deny they are the most essential proto-punk band ever.