The Stooges
My Girl Hates My Heroin

Maybe I'm annoying you with the old remnants of the Stooges, but I swear on Iggy's head that they make any junk produced by the Iguana after the band's break, which greatly influenced rock and roll in the last thirty years, pale in comparison. Did I blurt out a nonsense? Try asking around, I don't know... maybe the Sonic Youth, Mudhoney, Suicide, Loop, etc., and especially half of Australia.

We are living in sad and dull times; we need someone to grab us by the balls and shoot us "down in the street", but unfortunately, today's Iggy Pop is a parody of himself, he even started singing "Les Feuilles Mortes" to the immense delight of musical -radical chic posers. And so, there is nothing left but to dig into the past, and perhaps pull out material with high emotional impact, like this handful of tracks recorded live in the studio in 1973 by the most motherfucker group in the universe. A sort of rehearsal for the series of concerts that would culminate the following year in their infamous final live act at Michigan Palace in Detroit, known as the glass-breaking concert immortalized in "Metallic KO".

It is 1973 and Iggy is tired, moving forward on rivers of heroin, Ron Asheton is pissed off for being relegated to the bass but James Williamson on guitar is a sharp blade, the morphine-saturated pianist Scott Thurston does an exceptional rock and roll job on the keys... and then who cares if the recording leaves something to be desired! I started loving the Stooges when they crackled from a half-broken recorder, and these tapes, handed over by Ron Asheton to the French label Revenge which cleaned them up a bit and released them in 1989 in this sort of studio bootleg, have not only historical but absolute value.

Just play the record, and the miracle repeats itself like the blood of San Gennaro that punctually flows for the joy of the parish, because the punk boogie of the title track ("My Girl Hates My Heroin"...one of the most beautiful titles in rock, by the Asheton brothers!) tells us everything about what Iggy & Co. were dissolving in those years. And then another unreleased track like "Cock in My Pocket" to jump out of your seat searching throughout the house for another head to bang with, even if it's grandma's. Unfortunately, the most violent tracks like these, played at full volume, have instruments that "blend" together, but "Search & Destroy" here you'll hear it like you've never heard it in Iggy's live performances after the Stooges era. His voice seems to come from a megaphone from the underworld in the next room while the guitars raise a terrifying wall battered by Williamson's piercing solos. In the "slow" tracks, the sound quality improves and I assure you that here is one of the most beautiful renditions of "Gimme Danger", as well as that sweet, unreleased ballad "Open Up and Bleed" and the doorsian ride of "Head On", another unreleased track by Ron Asheton. In these three tracks, you can hear the splendid work of Scott Thurston on piano, while to return to making a mess, there are still raw & wild versions of "Raw Power" and especially "Death Trip", with bulldozer-style rhythm from Ron and Scott "Rock Action" Asheton.

To the worshippers of the Stooges cult, I say that this poorly recorded album doesn't need to wait for May, September, or December to renew the miracle. Have faith, play it every day and you'll see the blood melt in your veins.