Search - Iggy & Stooges :: Year of Iguana

One of the best 'unofficial' Stooges releases

carter smith | Australia | 12/20/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Delving into the market of the unofficial Stooges releases is without doubt a very daunting and confusing task initially. There are a whole heap of Stooges albums out there with unreleased material, a lot of questionable quality. This is without doubt one of the better unofficial Stooges albums you will find. The tapes that BOMP! own consist of these four groups: 1972 pre-Raw Power demos, 1972 Raw Power sessions, 1973 tour rehearsals or 1973-74 live shows. All of the songs you hear on this and every other Stooges cd (not counting the 3 studio albums of course) come from one of these groups (except for the Funhouse sessions boxset).Easily the best thing about this cd, and the one thing that makes it a great 4th purchase, is the fact that you're getting 3 mastered songs of commercial cd quality (I Got a Right, Scene of the Crime, Johanna). I Got a Right comes from the pre-RP demos and would've been on a 3rd Elektra album, and it definitely holds its own against any other Stooges song out there. Scene of the Crime was a song rejected from Raw Power and Johanna turned into a solo Iggy song later on (see Kill City).The rest of this album comprises of one live recording and the rest are studio sessions/rehearsals. 'Open Up and Bleed' is the live track, captured here during one of their very final shows in Detroit. Witness the abuse Iggy hurls at the crowd as he slows down the song to exchange insults with the savage crowd. It's a great song however admittedly the version here isn't the best one you'll find, go elsewhere for that. But it's a great taste of the band in a live setting and what you'll find on the Metallic k.o. cds.A few of the studio rehearsals are songs that were performed on the tour following Raw Power's release however never properly laid down in the studio. Thank god someone in the studio those days hit the record button and put these on tape! Songs like 'Till the End of the Night', which is a 6+ minute ballad, were never explored fully and make you wonder what the band would've turned into had they fulfilled their contract for another album with Bowie's company. Tracks like the one mentioned, Rubber Legs, Johanna Head On & Wild Love suggest that James Williamson was pushing the band back to a more conventional direction (though I guess anything would be a more conventional direction after Raw Power).There are, in my opinion, a couple of tracks here that you'll want to skip and these are the two songs that also appear on Raw Power (Death Trip & Raw Power). Inferior quality (Raw Power
is the worst song on the cd in terms of sound quality) and versions of the song that are very similar to the finished versions. Unless you are a complete Stooges fanatic you'll get nothing out of these versions. If you want to hear a different version of Raw Power see the version on Studio Sessions featuring backing vocals. One more complaint is the absense of arguably the most known unreleased song 'I'm Sick of You'.Overall this is a great portrait of what the band were and what they could've become. You get a number of great mastered tracks and this for me is what puts it above Studio Sessions (which
is also decent). Any Stooges fan who isn't incredibly fickle about sound quality will enjoy this - the live track is decent sound quality and the studio outtakes are very listenable. After getting the 3 studio albums I highly recommend getting this."

Pretty good sample pac...but not the best versions.

carter smith | 10/27/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm still giving four cause its the stooges and the version of Head on is great and there are some songs I hadn't heard on it like Gimme Some Skin. The main reason I'm writing this review is to disagree with what "somebody who cares" said about this being a great album if you have all three studio recordings. I'm sorry but this is just plain wrong. I bought it cause of that review and I already had the Stooges Studio Sessions and the Live in LA73 and both are better the Year of the iguana. The versions of Johanna and Open up and Bleed are way too short and lack a little umph especially in the backing vocals on Open Up, although its nice to really hear the words, I'd rather have the feeling. I would NOT recommend this as a forth Stooges Purchase, get Studio Sessions instead."

Year Of The Iguana

I. Cohen | brooklyn, ny United States | 08/27/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Starting off with the definitive version and rock n roll classic "I got a right" Year of the Iguana is a ferocious mix of lost vocals and buzzing guitars. "Head on" is next and even though Iggy is almost totally lost in the mix, it is made up for by James Williamson's powerful guitar. Here is a great version of "Joanna" and then comes the version of "Death trip" that you wish was on "RAW POWER" complete with crucial guitar solos whose newness seems to blast out of your speakers from seemingly no where. "Rubber legs" and "Wild love" would lead one to believe that if there was a fourth Stooges album it would surpass "RAW POWER" in rawness and greatness. Then we slow down for a spot on live version of "Open up and bleed." "Gimmie some skin" with it's fun lyrics and powerful rhythm would have also been a great inclusion for a fourth album. The album ends with a raw mix of "Raw power" that blows the album version even now (Iggy's mix) out of the water. For Williamson's guitar playing alone this is an essential piece of the Stooges rock n roll. The year of the iguana is in fact a very fine year."