KILL CITY CD - Iggy & James Williamson

I am surprised nobody has mentioned this disc here! I just got it for Hannukah, and the disc is great! It is definitely the missing link between The Stooges and Iggy solo...some good rockers and some decent slow numbers thrown in.

Essentially, it's a demo, but the sound ain't bad at all!

Kill City is great. A very overlooked and underrated album in my opinion.
It is a bunch of quality demos which, in 1975, Williamson was unhappy with. Iggy however, down on his luck, considered the songs to be of good enough quality to sell - but Iggy in 1975 was not a bankable proposition and no record label would touch him or the demos.
It was only in 1977, after Iggy was considered cool again by the media, The Idiot was a critical success and the Stooges were constantly cited as Punk Godfathers, that the Kill City tracks were picked up. Williamson arranged for some overdubs (mainly saxophone) to commercialise the sound a little, and he properly mixed the tapes. Quite rightly it became minor success with the music press, if not the buyng public, going nuts for the album.
Iggy, by now promoting Lust For Life, was a little more sniffy about it this time, calling the record 'unfinished'.
But it is telling that during the following few years quite a number of Kill City songs would become fixtures in his set lists, and key tracks were resurrected on the Stooges-heavy set lists of the Instinct tour. As late as 1994 "Johanna" was still regularly played. For an unfinished album it's had an impressively long life.
Cheers,
Richard

Its a brilliant album, one of iggy/willamsons best, along with raw power, its got some damn good songs on it, i wish someone would find those missing tapes the real masters, i think i read in open up and bleed that they blew peoples minds but were stolen r sumthin u'no? i also wish someone would fix it up a bit, put in the proper guitar overdubs and stuff, or simply recreate it, i dunno, its a damn fine albu tho

adams66 wrote:

Kill City is great. A very overlooked and underrated album in my opinion.
It is a bunch of quality demos which, in 1975, Williamson was unhappy with. Iggy however, down on his luck, considered the songs to be of good enough quality to sell - but Iggy in 1975 was not a bankable proposition and no record label would touch him or the demos.
It was only in 1977, after Iggy was considered cool again by the media, The Idiot was a critical success and the Stooges were constantly cited as Punk Godfathers, that the Kill City tracks were picked up. Williamson arranged for some overdubs (mainly saxophone) to commercialise the sound a little, and he properly mixed the tapes. Quite rightly it became minor success with the music press, if not the buyng public, going nuts for the album.
Iggy, by now promoting Lust For Life, was a little more sniffy about it this time, calling the record 'unfinished'.
But it is telling that during the following few years quite a number of Kill City songs would become fixtures in his set lists, and key tracks were resurrected on the Stooges-heavy set lists of the Instinct tour. As late as 1994 "Johanna" was still regularly played. For an unfinished album it's had an impressively long life.
Cheers,
Richard

i read otherwise in an iggy interview in an old 70's mag. james williamson released kill city when iggy wouldnt do it, and james did it anyway...

JESUS_LOVES_THE_STOOGES wrote:

adams66 wrote:

Kill City is great. A very overlooked and underrated album in my opinion.
It is a bunch of quality demos which, in 1975, Williamson was unhappy with. Iggy however, down on his luck, considered the songs to be of good enough quality to sell - but Iggy in 1975 was not a bankable proposition and no record label would touch him or the demos.
It was only in 1977, after Iggy was considered cool again by the media, The Idiot was a critical success and the Stooges were constantly cited as Punk Godfathers, that the Kill City tracks were picked up. Williamson arranged for some overdubs (mainly saxophone) to commercialise the sound a little, and he properly mixed the tapes. Quite rightly it became minor success with the music press, if not the buyng public, going nuts for the album.
Iggy, by now promoting Lust For Life, was a little more sniffy about it this time, calling the record 'unfinished'.
But it is telling that during the following few years quite a number of Kill City songs would become fixtures in his set lists, and key tracks were resurrected on the Stooges-heavy set lists of the Instinct tour. As late as 1994 "Johanna" was still regularly played. For an unfinished album it's had an impressively long life.
Cheers,
Richard

i read otherwise in an iggy interview in an old 70's mag. james williamson released kill city when iggy wouldnt do it, and james did it anyway...

Adams66 does a great job at summarizing the liner notes (quite extensive). I'd say Adams66 and Bomp have more insight (and objectivity) than a 70's music rag...especially in an interview with Ig in an era where he was trying to separate himself from his past.

That said, I ain't a psychic...

I find the history of it facinating and the album "Kill City" is excellent IMHO. I had the vinyl, I think it was green, but its long gone. I think its time I replaced that one on disc....

Nice! I've not seen a white one before. I've got a green one and a black one.

Oh, and I should have mentioned. A great album.

Great underrated album that he would pick more songs from during his sologigs!

Apparently the original mixes of Kill City were even better. Ben Edmonds (who still works on Stooges stuff, he heped with the Rhino reissues) funded the sessions, and he said the orignal versions "rocked lik ea mother".

It is one of the most poignant albums ever. Iggy, still driven to make music, when it seemed no one in the world gave a shit.

Wouldn't it be great if one day the original Kill City sessions could be issued alongside a carefully remastered version of the proper album?
I can dream can't I?
Cheers,
Richard

Hey Adams66, is there really anything "remaster-able" on Kill City? It was produced on the cheap, and James W. did a good job w/ the overdubs...but it isn't like the mix is muddy or anything.

One thing that would be nice is for an editor to correct all the grammatical errors on the CD!

Oh, who is the chick in panties and garters on the back? Anyone we should know?!

Evita, think the name was, look up the blog on stooges' myspace, has an indepth interview, sorry dont have time to get the address, its just in the blog tho

I was disappointed with that album, thought it was kind of boring after listening to the Stooges, especially raw Power, it's kind of low key, has some great songs on it like Johanna and a couple of really weird ones that should have never seen the light of day. It is definitely not a high energy album. Sounds like a bunch of studio guys dialing it in to me after listening to Stooges albums and bootlegs, it's OK though, just not of Stooges caliber. It does sound unfinished to me also and kind of washed out. Is not a rock album.

yeh, i can get wat ur saying bobyoung, but i feel its a fantastic album, its also looked upon as the bridge between stooges and iggy's solo career, some songs on it cant be denied tho, kill city for one, beyond the law, sell your love, i got nothin, johanna, consolation prizes or no sense of crime, lucky monkeys isnt bad either, i think its a tremendous album, i wish rhino's researcher would find the original tapes tho - apparently they rocked ''like a mother..''

mg196 - I too doubt that anything could really be done with Kill City, as yes, it sounds pretty good considering the circumstances surrounding the recording, and the masters have probably been lost years ago, but it would be cool to hear the original mixes wouldn't it? All this talk about Kill City made me dig it out again and it's been blasting out in the car for the past few days. Even the kids like it now!
Cheers,
Richard

same here richard, i listened to it last nite, and its a damn fine album, one of iggy's best, and one of the best ive ever heard, it was these songs that got me into iggy/stooges when i bought - on impulse - ''penetration: best of the demo and rehearsals'' and they still blow me away, also i was wondering, if the lost songs are the ones that appeared on ''jesus loves the stooges'' theres definitely a clearer and harder sound on consolation prizes and johanna, can anyone clarify, have i found those lost tapes, lol?

i LOVE KILLY CITY ! get the Vinyl though and then do a transfer to disc, i had it done for 20 bucks, its absolutly amazing that way

really? JLTS? would it not sound worse than CD, no? i know vinyl is better, but a transfer? also how do u get it transferred

a vinyl to cd transfer won't improve quality at all.

homesickwilliamson - It has a different sound, if you want a vinyl sound, ths way is best very much more raw and untampered with. take it to a record shop and have them transfer it to a disc for ya

maybe he would do it if you didn't rip people off in the trading communities so often.

Does the vinyl sound better than the CD, different mixes maybe? I'll have to play it again later on today and see what I'm missing, I could do without the witch's (or whatever she was) singing though.

witches ?