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Friday 18 June 2010

The Stooges 'Down On The Street (Take 2) (False Start)


One of the few joys of cds overtaking vinyl in the late 80s/early 90s was the box set, and even this was a mixed blessing. The whole box thing was good, lovely booklets and packaging, essays, photos, facsimiles of ephemera (badges, tickets, tour laminates, press cuttings), personal accounts and the sense of having everything in one place. The Clash On Broadway and the Joy Division box set are both good examples. Some of them are a bit frustrating- New Order's missed off Love Vigilantes and Age Of Consent in exchange for a whole live disc. There was also the overfaced feeling of 'Christ, now I have to listen to all of this'. But generally, a good thing, if obviously aimed at middle aged completists. Not people like me obviously.

The Stooges The Complete Funhouse Sessions set a benchmark unlikely to be equalled. Take an absolute stone-cold killer album and include everything recorded during the whole time they were in the studio- chat, out-takes, false starts, tracks finishing abruptly, the lot. As wiki says 'it contains every note, word and sound'. As such the ordinary consumer might feel that over twenty versions of Loose might be overdoing it a bit, especially when every version is almost identical. Fifteen takes of Down On The Street. Fourteen takes of TV Eye. Has anyone ever listened to any of the discs all the way through? Furthermore, the band picked the right take for the album every time. The extras are all superfluous. It's completism gone mad, but I love it. I don't own it by the way. Amazon has a used copy for $999.99, but there are places you can find it on the net. So here you go, Down On The Street, killer track, Stooges tight as you like, Iggy in charge, false start.

Down_On_The_Street_(Take_2)_(False_Start).mp3

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