English Stooges reviews from people who just didn't get them

From Melody Maker and NME 1970:

hey nice reading MC!!!! more stooges magazine

Thanks mc! Oh I wonder how they must feel now.

wow...among all the obtuseness, Dave Alexander being singled out for a bit of praise

thanks mc

Nice stuff MC!

You don't have the "Fat Angel" article to hand do you?

Petrie Terrace wrote:

Nice stuff MC!

You don't have the "Fat Angel" article to hand do you?

Hi Paul,

no I haven't got it. Actually, I never heard of Fat Angel Magazine before, but I will ask the guy who passed me those other reviews - Do you know what year / month the Fat Angel Stooges article is from?

MC

Fat Angel was an early 70's fanzine from South Harrow (west London suburb). A bit like the early Zig-Zag's content wise, so The Stooges article was way outside it's usual remit. Though now I've said that, Zig-Zag did a Stooges article/interview.

Re what issue/year, I have it in a box somewhere, but god knows where. It's from '73 I'm pretty sure. If the guy has some Fat Angel's it shouldn't be hard to find, that issue has Iggy on the cover.

The writer spends a lot of the article apologizing for making "tasteful" music lovers, ie hippies, read about a band as horrible as the Stooges. But, to his credit, he argues that horrible or not The Stooges are what rock'n'roll is really meant to be about.

It's quite a long article, and a treasure trove of Stooge myths that must've been doing the rounds in London circa 72/73. Something I remember being in there is that the Stooges had never met each other until the day they went into the studio to record their first album (not sure how that would work when two of them were brothers).

The final summing up is the most hilarious description of the Stooges I've ever read, made all the better by the writer almost apologizing for saying anything good about them. Includes an immortal line something to the effect of "I'm not going to recommend you go out and buy a Stooges album, why would I when you can get the same effect by sticking your fingers in a light socket, or by smashing yourself around the head with a frying pan".

Believe me, you'll want to read the whole thing.

I'm trying to track it down now, seems the editor of ZigZag put out Fat Angel as well. He's still in Harrow and into fishing - I'm trying to contact him though a fishing blog!

mc that is some true dedication!

mc wrote:

I'm trying to track it down now, seems the editor of ZigZag put out Fat Angel as well. He's still in Harrow and into fishing - I'm trying to contact him though a fishing blog!

That's hilarious! If you grew up there, as I did (on the Rayners Lane Estate, don't bother looking for it in the guides to "Picturesque Harrow"). Hardly anyone ever escapes Harrow, it's like a black hole, and everyone that stays there ends up going fishing. No joke. I bet he goes fishing at Rickmansworth!

It's no coincidence that some of the earliest Pistols fans were from Harrow, it's a place that breeds boredom and a desire to rebel against anything and everything (or give up and go fishing). I think there was even a Lydon quote about going to visit Marco Pirroni and having to run all the way from South Harrow tube station to Pirroni's front door to avoid a kicking. I think it was Lydon?

Good luck with tracking the guy down, and many thanks for making me laugh so hard my jaw aches!

P.S. Now I think about it, it all makes sense. Re Why a guy publishing a fanzine named after a Donovan song would find himself drawn, almost against his will, towards the Stooges. I was forgetting where he lived.

Well I made contact with the guy from Fat Angel through the fish bloG, he emailed me, but he hasn't replied to my asking him if he still has his Fat Angels. Failing that I just noticed that Iggy-Fan lists that he has this issue on his website so maybe you could post if it's to hand?

Fat Angel here - https://stoogesforum.forumotion.com/raw-power-era-1972-1974-f14/fat-angel-stooges-article-t2677.htm#41427

Cheers MC!