Fun House [Limited] (CD - 1970)

Additional personnel: Steve MacKay (tenor saxophone).

The Stooges' first album was produced by a classically trained composer; their second was supervised by the former keyboard player with the Kingsmen, and if that didn't make all the difference, it at least indicates why Fun House was a step in the right direction. Producer Don Gallucci took the approach that the Stooges were a powerhouse live band, and their best bet was to recreate the band's live set with as little fuss as possible. As a result, the production on Fun House bears some resemblance to the Kingsmen's version of "Louie Louie" -- the sound is smeary and bleeds all over the place, but it packs the low-tech wallop of a concert pumped through a big PA, bursting with energy and immediacy. The Stooges were also a much stronger band this time out; Ron Asheton's blazing minimalist guitar gained little in the way of technique since The Stooges, but his confidence had grown by a quantum leap as he summoned forth the sounds that would make him the hero of proto-punk guitarists everywhere, and the brutal pound of drummer Scott Asheton and bassist Dave Alexander had grown to heavyweight champion status. And Fun House is where Iggy Pop's mad genius first reached its full flower; what was a sneer on the band's debut had grown into the roar of a caged animal desperate for release, and his rants were far more passionate and compelling than what he had served up before. The Stooges may have had more "hits," but Fun House has stronger songs, including the garage raver to end all garage ravers in "Loose," the primal scream of "1970," and the apocalyptic anarchy of "L.A. Blues." Fun House is the ideal document of the Stooges at their raw, sweaty, howling peak. ~ Mark Deming

FUN HOUSE sounds like an extended, guttural war cry from deep within the psyche. While the Stooges' excellent debut, produced by John Cale, had a clean, punchy sound that introduced the band's ragged, stripped-down rock, it did not capture the chaotic fury of the band's live spirit. The Stooges hired Don Gallucci (formerly of the Kingsmen) to produce FUN HOUSE, and he gave the album a murky, swampy ambience that lacks clarity and precision, yet compensates for that lack tenfold with immediacy and a staggering sonic punch in the gut. And where THE STOOGES can sound like bratty teenaged music, this album sounds grown up, menacing, mercurial, dark, and relentlessly primal.

The muddied production may add to the primitivism, but it is the band that truly conjures the magic. The Stooges plays like unleashed banshees here: Ron Ashton's razory guitar riffs and swirling squall create clouds of noise while the brutal rhythms of bassist Dave Alexander and drummer Scott Ashton crash all over the place. Iggy Pop screams and howls like a man possessed, giving voice to a spirit that would find its final expression in the punk movement seven years later. From the panther-like strut of "Down on the Street" to the adrenaline-driven "TV Eye" through the caustic dirge of "Dirt" to the avant squall of "L.A. Blues" (complete with wailing air-raid saxophone from Steve MacKay), this set is one of the founding documents of alternative rock. And, like Pandora's box, once FUN HOUSE is opened there is no turning back. minimize