Funhouse Recording Type ?

I know Funhouse was recorded with them all playing together instead of each band member playing there part seperatly, but I've been wondering, I think the first album was recorded with each member doing their part seperatly... it sounds cleaner than funhouse, although i like funhouse more, it dosent have the raw sound of the members all playi ng together live like the fuinhouse did, This is just a thought.
Let me know what you guy's thnk.

anyone ?

Exactly. I think that's one of the keys to success of the 'Funhouse' album.

The first album is great, but it lacks the immediacy of 'Funhouse.'

Isn't this also because John Cale had a bit too much of a hand in the recordings of the first album?

The band did play together for The Stooges - Iggy had to dance for them to get the tempos, he said - but it was a small studio, they had to keep the levels down to prevent the sound bleeding between the different microphones. It's possible they might have done bass and drums before they did the guitar, but I suspect they puit drums, bass and guitar down at once. (Ron used a Flying V for a lot fo the record). Essentially, they wanted a more hi fi recording. Plus there are a lot of guitar overdubs, so the whole thing is clearer and more defined. (I like the production, and indeed the contrast between the two albums). Incidentally, while it's always been said they recorded the album in just a couple of days, they over-ran and changed studios half way thru.

THe band were very lucky to get someone as open-minded as Don Gallucci, and his engineer, Brian Ross-Myring (who'd recently worked with Barba Streisand!) for Fun House. No one else had, to my knoweldge, recorded anything quite as live, and quite as rough, not since the 50s, anyway, when they'd record entire bands with just a couple of mics.

Incidentally, when I was working on the Rhino Fun House two-fer, I heard that there still remains an unreleased track from The Stooges. It's pretty wild, freeform, and is quite possibly an early version of I'm Sick (although it would be unwise to give these early jams the status of true songs, as they were often just a line and one riff). It didn't get put on the RHino reissue because of a complicated contractual fuckup.

True Stooges fans can check out the source of Little Doll - which is Upper and Lower Egypt, by Pharoah Saunders (the riff is a straight lift). But even more mind blowing is the source of 1969, which comes from one of the worst songs The Byrds ever recorded. Borrow yourself a copy of The Notorious Byrd Brothers and play Tribal Gathering. You will probably fall asleep - then get woken by what sounds like the presence of Ron Asheton on guitar, almost exactly one minute in.

Talent borrows, genius steals...

Don Gallucci interview:

http://www.trynka.net/Site/Open_Up_Blog/5853D27B-8AC7-45D3-A92B-AA8105109487.html

Thanks for that info, Paul!

I just found this info whilst clearing down files on my computer - it's part of an early draft of the chapter on the first Stooges album and is somewhat different to the finished chapter in "The Complete Iggy Pop."
Thought you might like to see it -



After the first two days The Stooges assumed they were done. “No Fun”, “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, “1969” and “Ann” had been taped, all adhering to the bands usual song structure of a couple of minutes of tune followed by a guitar freak out. Each track ran for at least 7 minutes, just as they did in concert. But John Cale wanted to edit the songs and Elektra demanded that the Stooges should record more tracks. With Iggy’s bluff called (he’d told Elektra that the band had dozens of songs) he and Ron retreated to their hotel to come up with enough extra tracks to fill an album. Somehow, they did. “Little Doll” has much the same riff as “1969” which was in turn derived from an earlier song called “Goodbye Bozos” and “Real Cool Time” was short and snappy and had the least number of words yet. “Not Right” comes across as unfinished with its fragmentary lyrics and incomplete sounding riff. By drawing upon Dave Alexander’s love of chants “We Will Fall” was extended to over 10 minutes and became an oasis of calm oddly stuck right in the middle of the album. Cale added his droning viola to this track, which thus owes a fair amount to the electric drones of the early Velvet Underground. These new songs were captured a day or so later as the band had used up their allotted couple of days at the Hit Factory. At 34 minutes the album was still relatively short but was now an acceptable length.

The original mixes prepared by John Cale didn’t meet the approval of the band – ‘too arty’ was Iggy’s dismissive verdict. Elektra graciously allowed more time for a remix, apparently overseen by Jac Holzman and Iggy. The main differences are a general toning down of the tambourine style percussion and the potentially irritating handclaps. Ron’s guitar is also boosted slightly. The original mixes are available on the bonus disc of Rhino’s reissue of The Stooges, along with a number of songs with alternative vocals. These add little to the story, as they are simply weaker vocal takes – hence their rejection.

More interesting are the full-length versions of “Ann” and “No Fun” rescued before the scissors were wielded. Sadly there is no sign of the presumably longer takes of “Dog” or “1969”. “Ann” is the most astonishing – after the plodding song and Iggy’s screamed ‘Right Now!’ the track just pounds away at the same martial beat for five minutes and Ron sounds like he’s destroying his guitar. It’s fascinating, but frankly not terribly good. The brutal pummelling of this part of the song which had been played in concert as the “Dance Of Romance” (though you’d have to be pretty twisted to find this romantic) doesn’t let up for a full five minutes. It was very effective and powerful in concert, but in the studio the band simply doesn’t have enough skill to make this part of the song rise. There’s no sense of dynamics, no progression in the music and you can see why it was decided that the song would be better edited. The familiar version that ended up on the album contains just 30 seconds of the “Dance” coda and is much better for it. On the other hand “No Fun” has a longer and different guitar ending and because it’s so much fun, (Ron flailing away, Scott thumping his drums with as much power as he could muster), it doesn’t lose the interest of the listener in the way that the longer “Ann” does.

Even after Iggy had remixed some of the songs the final version of the Stooges debut album contains a somewhat questionable mix. The handclaps, though toned down, are still intrusive and unnecessary. It still baffles me that presented with the suggestion ‘Don’t you think “Dog” would sound great with sleigh bells all over it?” the Stooges all agreed that it would. 36 years later I would still contend that the jolly jingling bells detract badly from the song, and neuter its power.



Cheers,

Richard

Paul T wrote:

. But even more mind blowing is the source of 1969, which comes from one of the worst songs The Byrds ever recorded. Borrow yourself a copy of The Notorious Byrd Brothers and play Tribal Gathering. You will probably fall asleep - then get woken by what sounds like the presence of Ron Asheton on guitar, almost exactly one minute in.

I'm SOOOOO excited!!!!!!
I've just managed to track down 'Tribal Gathering' and listened to it for the first time, and Paul you're SOOO right about that part!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Not QUITE as intense as Ron Asheton, but it DEFINITELY puts you in mind of the rhythm guitar on '1969'........ it really is practically identical, in fact, apart from not being so intense
Shit, I can't concentrate on anything else now

After reading that in your book I immediatly downloaded the song and was shocked, haha.

I was inspired enough to go on and listen to the Byrds' Eight Miles High' - another great guitar there - and hasn't Ron Asheton talked about 'Bells of Rhymney' ....haha, who knows where this may lead

Quote :

Incidentally, when I was working on the Rhino Fun House two-fer, I heard that there still remains an unreleased track from The Stooges. It's pretty wild, freeform, and is quite possibly an early version of I'm Sick (although it would be unwise to give these early jams the status of true songs, as they were often just a line and one riff). It didn't get put on the RHino reissue because of a complicated contractual fuckup.

Wow!! any chance of that seein light of day?!?!?! i'd love - as we all would - to hear that! i wonder if theyll release it, i remember hearing a while ago that there was some unreleased song but naturally assumed it was Lost in the Future, which i like tho am glad it was left off the album

Nadja wrote:

Paul T wrote:

. But even more mind blowing is the source of 1969, which comes from one of the worst songs The Byrds ever recorded. Borrow yourself a copy of The Notorious Byrd Brothers and play Tribal Gathering. You will probably fall asleep - then get woken by what sounds like the presence of Ron Asheton on guitar, almost exactly one minute in.

I'm SOOOOO excited!!!!!!
I've just managed to track down 'Tribal Gathering' and listened to it for the first time, and Paul you're SOOO right about that part!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Not QUITE as intense as Ron Asheton, but it DEFINITELY puts you in mind of the rhythm guitar on '1969'........ it really is practically identical, in fact, apart from not being so intense
Shit, I can't concentrate on anything else now

I"m really glad someone at last checked this out! I've always thought this hilarious, it's one of those crazy little details I liked in the book - but no one has ever commented on it.


Let's face it, the Stooges make far better use of the riff than the Byrds did, so I consider it theirs by right.

Paul T wrote:

Nadja wrote:

Paul T wrote:

. But even more mind blowing is the source of 1969, which comes from one of the worst songs The Byrds ever recorded. Borrow yourself a copy of The Notorious Byrd Brothers and play Tribal Gathering. You will probably fall asleep - then get woken by what sounds like the presence of Ron Asheton on guitar, almost exactly one minute in.

I'm SOOOOO excited!!!!!!
I've just managed to track down 'Tribal Gathering' and listened to it for the first time, and Paul you're SOOO right about that part!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Not QUITE as intense as Ron Asheton, but it DEFINITELY puts you in mind of the rhythm guitar on '1969'........ it really is practically identical, in fact, apart from not being so intense
Shit, I can't concentrate on anything else now

I"m really glad someone at last checked this out! I've always thought this hilarious, it's one of those crazy little details I liked in the book - but no one has ever commented on it.


Let's face it, the Stooges make far better use of the riff than the Byrds did, so I consider it theirs by right.

Yeh, i remember checkin that out a while back after someone, possibly yourself paul, mentioned it, and was alarmed i guess you could say, lol, whn i heard it, it was so clearly from it, and like you said it was like someone placed a ron riff over this very tame byrds song

'hilarious' is the word, Paul! it knocked me for six
I listened to a couple more Byrds songs afterwards, I was so dazed...but I'm recovering now

Paul T wrote:

I heard that there still remains an unreleased track from The Stooges. It's pretty wild, freeform, and is quite possibly an early version of I'm Sick (although it would be unwise to give these early jams the status of true songs, as they were often just a line and one riff). It didn't get put on the RHino reissue because of a complicated contractual fuckup.

Could that be Asthma Attack which was recorded for the first album?

homesickjameswilliamson wrote:

[it was like someone placed a ron riff over this very tame byrds song

How can anyone call it a 'very tame' song in the first place if it contains a genuine Ron Asheton-esque moment??

G, F#, E wrote:

Paul T wrote:

I heard that there still remains an unreleased track from The Stooges. It's pretty wild, freeform, and is quite possibly an early version of I'm Sick (although it would be unwise to give these early jams the status of true songs, as they were often just a line and one riff). It didn't get put on the RHino reissue because of a complicated contractual fuckup.

Could that be Asthma Attack which was recorded for the first album?

Yes, this is the same song we've talked about elsewhere; the tape is in the possession of a collector, who bought it from Danny Fields. I'm sure it will make it out sooner or later. Can't remember too much detail now as I heard it just the once.

I wonder how they would release it? they'd hardly re-reiusse funhouse or stooges , and it would be stupid to put it on a (hopefully) proposed raw power reissue or something, spose theyt could make it a single or somethin, it'd be cool if stooges had a no.1 with asthma attack thru downloads, lol

On the end of Ungano's would be very nice

oh good one mc!!! never thought about that, or a special single thing to go with it!! that would be so cool! damn, looking forward to unganos now...well i was already desperate to hear it neway, lol

Perhaps it would be issued as a bonus track on a Stooges best of.

Damn, that could be the easiest way donald, now we have to buy another cd of songs we already have, lol

altho there is itunes, tho knowin them theyll probly make it album only, still definitly buy it if it had asthma attack, i really hope that that and unganos get a release

Maybe as a bonus track on a re-release of "1971 And Early Live Rarities" with better sound quality. It's asking a lot but I'd love to hear a cleaned up version of that, the riffs sound so great.

Well seeing as the guy who has Asthma Attack also has Ungano's that'd be my vote. Maybe it'll go down differently though.

Donald wrote:

Perhaps it would be issued as a bonus track on a Stooges best of.

'Stooges best of'...interesting concept Donald I wonder just what it would consist of.