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The Stooges-HAVE SOME FUN: LIVE AT UNGANO'S CD (Electra/Rhino Handmade)

Well we sure hadda wait a long time didn't we, like why couldn't this've manifested itself in 1977 when it woulda had a bigger impact on the frazzled brains of suburban youth who were a little more'n ticked off at Robin Trower. Really, this recording of the Stooges at the beginning of their 1970 FUNHOUSE tour live at the infamous New York hanger-outery Ungano's woulda made a dandy bootleg back then pressed on cheap vinyl with a paper insert, or better yet Skydog coulda put it out in one of their low-fidelity covers like they did with METALLIC KO complete with that wondrous European-styled budget sleeve design. Some enterprising young fan coulda done wonders with this tape!

As it is, the packaging is about as good as a major operation could get. The Leeeee Black Childers snap of Iggy flipping the fingers seen in that old Richard Robinson/Andy Zwerling ROCK SCENE book makes for a fine cover, plus the flip box package with inserts (including an actual mimicked clipping outta THE VILLAGE VOICE and some postcards) remind me of those old promos of the early-seventies only not as elaborate but at least getting the goods out to da people 'stead of the industry wonks! The enclosed poster even reproduces the bird-flipping cover in case you want to pin it up on the bedroom wall to send your parents a message, and not only that but on the other side's an essay on the show written by none other than Lenny Kaye! Did I ever tell you that when I was in my late-teens the one person I really wanted to look like in this world was Kaye???

The disque begins with a snippet of recording from the party which would record the show on a standard cassette of the day, with high-larious talk about whether or not Iggy was a member of the MC5 as well as his persona with one girl expressing disgust at his stage diving since in no ways would she want his cooties to get on her! The funniest part of this segment is when some guy describes Iggy as being a "baby Jagger" which I'm sure conjured up a whole load of bizarre images in these teens' beanies as to what was gonna be in store for 'em this evening!

Throughout the standard bootleg-quality recording is a band that sounds as if they're trying to get a bearing on their new material. The familiar FUNHOUSE numbers just barrel on; some might think that's because it's "under-rehearsed" but I prefer to think of it as the Stooges were tackling their material the way General Sherman tackled Georgia in his march to the sea. No holds barred attack here, and it sure is a pleasure hearing the FUNHOUSE show live and sounding fresh in its own way considering that Iggy was supposed to be thrice as wild on stage as his was in the studio.

The lack of "LA Blues" sending the listener into mind-boggled loathe of life is bound to upset those of you in for the purer aspects of the quest but don't fear...the addition of a new track entitled "Have Some Fun"/"My Dream is Dead" is bound to reach the upper echelons of Stooge mythology with its equally atonal bleat (thanks to Steve Mackay's boundless sax playing) and utter scraping above and beyond the ken of human comprehension. I wonder if this track (which starts off as a bizarre swipe of the Stooges' own "1969" riff) is in fact the legendary "Way Down in Egypt" showstopper during gestation? Whatever, this truly is avant garde jazz-rock that had just as much of an importance within the realm of the really new thing as much as Archie Shepp or Pharoah Sanders did, only it's being made by a buncha looped-out guys who were playing free jazz filtered through the hard rock explorations of the late-sixties bound to upset more than a few cultured DOWN BEAT-bred critics out there!

I'm sure there's more in the poop-chute waiting for release. Really, one only wonder whether any of those really early Stooges rehearsals survive let alone more of the FUNHOUSE-era gigs which were rumored to have been taped nightly in anticipation of a Stooges double live set of Budokan dimensions. Personally I believe it's all extant and bound to make it to our abodes with much fanfare and self-backpatting and at the most opportune time, like as soon as the record labels have milked their previous platters for all they can! I only hope that Rhino or Easy Action or one of those grey area labels gets this stuff out immediate-like now that the Stooge star is shining bright and you know it's a lot more salable'n the same retreads heard repeatedly ever since the first big Iggy putsch of early '77 had us all wondering...isn't that the baby Jagger who jumps in the audience and spreads his cooties???