Stooges rehearsal tapes 1973

This is an attempt to make some sense of the various '73 rehearsal tracks that are circulating on vast numbers of official and semi-official releases and bootleg tapes. Most of the information originally appeared in this thread, and what follows is my attempt at putting it into a slightly more presentable form. Any corrections and comments are very welcome.

All in all, when you take out all the duplicates, the circulating material (that I'm aware of ) boils down to 4 and a half hours of unique material across 6 separate tapes, which I've listed below. Tracks in Red are available in the Heavy Liquid box (many are also available on other releases, but I think Heavy Liquid can be considered the definitive release for most of this stuff); tracks in Blue are available on other releases.


1. Detroit Rehearsal February 20 1973
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Johanna (4:45) - D4 T2 (also Studio Rehearsals 73-74, Rubber Legs, Open Up and Bleed (Bomp release)
Rubber Legs (5:12) - Open Up & Bleed (Revenge release); also Year of the Iguana (track 5 - faded at end)
Rubber Legs (5:34) D4 T1, D4 T7 (included twice at different tape speeds); also Studio Rehearsals 73-74, Rubber Legs, Open Up and Bleed (Bomp) tracks 1 and 12
Till the End of the Night (aka I Gotta Problem) (7:40) - Wild Love, Till the End of the Night
Open Up and Bleed (1:27, breakdown)
Open Up and Bleed (5:06, breakdown) - D3 T11 and D4 T5; also Studio Rehearsals 73-74, Rubber Legs, Open Up and Bleed (Bomp), My Girl Hates My Heroin
Open Up and Bleed (0:30, breakdown - fast)
Open Up and Bleed (3.14 - fast) - Till the End of the Night track 3
She Creatures of the Hollywood Hills (4:41) - D3 T15; also Till the End of the Night (Revenge), Open Up and Bleed (Bomp)
Jesus Loves the Stooges part 1 (2:51 - piano/live vocals/drums/bass) - I'm Sick of You (1981 Bomp LP); Jesus Loves the Stooges (1977 Bomp EP)
Jesus Loves the Stooges part 2 (1:01 - piano/bass/drums instrumental)
Jesus Loves the Stooges part 3 (0:35, piano doodlings)
Jesus Loves the Stooges part 4 (4:57 - piano, drums and overdubbed vocals. Some copies do not have vocals and/or have ~57 seconds cut from the middle) - I'm Sick of You (1981 Bomp LP, joined to part 1 above), Jesus Loves the Stooges (1977 Bomp EP, joined to part 1 above); also on Heavy Liquid (D3 T13) and My Girl Hates My Heroin track 10 as a backing track only
Gimme Danger (3:10 - breaks down)
Gimme Danger (4:20 - breaks down)
Gimme Danger (6:01) - D3 T6
Total length: 62m approx

2. Detroit Rehearsals March 11 and 19 1973
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Cock In My Pocket (3:55) - D3 T5; also My Girl Hates My Heroin
Head On (5:07) - D3 T2; also on the Extended Play bonus disc
Search And Destroy (4:22) - D3 T9; also My Girl Hates My Heroin
Search And Destroy (ending only - ~0.45 x 4)-
Search And Destroy (0.10 - false start)
Search And Destroy (4:09)
Raw Power (4:13)
Raw Power (0:53 - false start)
Raw Power (4.38)
Studio chat (on some copies only)
Raw Power (0:14 - false start)
Raw Power (0:10 - false start)
Raw Power (4:39) D3 T1
I Need Somebody (brief excerpt dubbed from Raw Power LP - on some copies only)
Death Trip (dubbed from Raw Power LP) D3 T7; also My Girl Hates My Heroin track 4
*Nowhere (aka Born in a Trailer) (7:32) Wild Love (slightly more complete than other versions); also on Heavy Liquid D3 T12 and Till the End of the Night
*Mellow Down Easy (2:03) - Wild Love, track 10
*Instrumental jam (5:18)
Total length: 62m 43s approx

* Nowhere and Mellow Down Easy are listed in Bomp’s archive as appearing on the non-circulating 25 February tape (see below). However, they routinely circulate at the end of this tape. It is not clear which tape they originally come from, especially as no other material from 25 February appears to be circulating.


3. Detroit Rehearsals March 17 and 18 1973
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Emotional Problems (aka Wild Love) (3:42 - breaks down)
Emotional Problems (aka Wild Love) (5:07) - D3 T3; also Year of the Iguana
Till the End of the Night (aka I Gotta Problem) (0:33 - breaks down)
Till the End of the Night (aka I Gotta Problem) (0:52 - breaks down)
[color=red]Till the End of the Night (aka I Gotta Problem) (7:29) - D3 T4; also Year of the Iguana (ending faded)
Head On (1:10 - tape cuts)
Head On (5:01 - breakdown in middle then starts up and runs to end)
Unknown song (not on some tapes)
Head On (4:18)
I Need Somebody (2:37 - cuts in - 'Sweet Child' end section only)
The section below does not appear on Bomp's listing for this tape, but seems to be from the same source for the following reasons:
(1) It tends to travel amongst traders at the end of the 'Detroit Rehearsals March 17 and 18 1973' tape
(2) Like that tape, and unlike every other Detroit tape, it does not feature keyboards
(3) the two tapes combined are roughly an hour long, which seems to be the standard length for the unedited tapes.
Johanna (2:30 - cuts in)
Johanna (2:25 - loud and distorted, cuts at end)
Johanna (2:43 - loud and distorted, cuts at end)
Johanna (3:04 - distorted at start then drops back down to normal)
Johanna (2:51)
Johanna (1:13 - breaks down)
Johanna (1:29 - tape cuts)
Johanna (0:38 - cuts in at second verse then cuts out before end)
Johanna (2:59)
Till the End of the Night (aka I Gotta Problem) (1:15 - tape cuts)
Till the End of the Night (aka I Gotta Problem) (1:42 - incomplete)
Till the End of the Night (aka I Gotta Problem) (6:36)
Total length: 60m 32s approx


4. Unknown tape February / March 1973
Note: This sequence of tracks circulates on bootleg tapes alongside several of the other tapes listed above. However, the tracklisting does not appear to fit in with any of the tapes listed as being in Bomp's vault. It may be a collection of tracks from some of the tapes that do not circulate - February 3 1973, February 25 1973 and 'Studio Session 1973' (see below). All of the songs seem to be in earlier, rougher form than any of the other circulating versions listed above, and as such it seems likely that they pre-date these - hence speculatively dating them with the 3 or 25 February tapes.
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Johanna (4:40) - 3feb73?
Johanna (0:39 - instrumental; false start) - 3feb73?
Johanna (2:45 - instrumental) - 3feb73?
Rubber Legs / How It Hurts (4:12) - D3 T9 - 3feb73?
Till the End of the Night (3:33 - cuts)
Johanna (8:34) - D3 T10; also on Till the End of the Night
Till the End of the Night (3:14 - cuts in and runs till end. May be continuation of version above?)
Head On (1:08 - cuts in and cuts out) - 3feb73 or 25feb73?
Head On (6:24 - cuts in) - 3feb73 or 25feb73?
Head On (4:12 - fades out) - 3feb73 or 25feb73?
Hey Baby (3:29 - not on some copies) - D3 T14
Nowhere (0:47 - incomplete riff fragment - not on some copies)
Total length: 43min approx


5. 'Detroit Rehearsal March 1973'
This is listed as a complete tape in Bomp's archives - however, around half of its contents are duplicated from the February 20 1973 tape. Again, it is possible that some of the unique tracks are from the uncirculated 'Detroit Rehearsal February 3 1973', 'Detroit Rehearsal February 25 1973', or 'Studio Session 1973' tapes. The duplicated tracks from Feb 20 1973 are in italics:
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Till the End of the Night (aka I Gotta Problem) (6:03) - 25feb73?
Raw Power (4:48) - 'Studio Session 1973'?
Rubber Legs (5:30)
My Girl Hates My Heroin (aka Emotional Problems) (4:06) - on My Girl Hates My Heroin; brief fragment also on Studio Rehearsals 73-74 - 3feb73 or 25feb73?
Wild Love (aka Emotional Problems) (3:35) - breaks down - 3feb73 or 25feb73?
Wild Love (aka Emotional Problems) (2.55) - ends abruptly - 3feb73 or 25feb73?
Wild Love (aka Emotional Problems) (4:01) - starts with solo - 3feb73 or 25feb73? - on Wild Love (minus first 56 seconds)
Open Up And Bleed (fast version - cut) (0:49)
Open Up and Bleed (fast version - complete) (3.14)
jam (She Creatures of the Hollywood Hills) (4:44)
Jesus Loves The Stooges (9:25 - 4 sections as per February 20 1973)
Gimme Danger (3:10 - breaks down)
Gimme Danger (4:20 - breaks down)
Gimme Danger (6:01)
Total length: 1h 3m approx
(31m unique material)

6. 'Studio Rehearsals 73-74' bootleg LP
This mid '80s bootleg LP contains a mixture of tracks from Feb 20 1973 tape above plus some unique tracks from elsewhere. This LP was subsequently used as source material for the semi-official album Rubber Legs (Fan Club Records, France, 1987), albeit with a few differences: on Rubber Legs, all tracks run much faster, the fragments of Cock in My Pocket and Emotional Problems were removed, and Cry for Me was truncated with a fade at 6m 46s. There is a dub of the Rubber Legs album in Bomp's archive, and it has been used as source material for subsequent releases such as Open Up & Bleed and the Heavy Liquid box set - this seems odd as Bomp presumably have the original masters of all these tracks elsewhere in their archive. Again, the non-unique tracks below are in italics.
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Rubber Legs (5:48) - Heavy Liquid D4 T1+7, Rubber Legs, Open Up and Bleed
Open Up And Bleed (5:23) - Heavy Liquid D3 T11 and D4 T5, Rubber Legs, Open Up and Bleed, My Girl Hates My Heroin
Johanna (4:53) - Heavy Liquid D4 T2, Rubber Legs, Open Up and Bleed
Cock In My Pocket (4:05) - Heavy Liquid D4 T3, Rubber Legs, Open Up & Bleed - from 'Studio Session 1973'?
Cock in My Pocket (0:37 - truncated excerpt of above)
Rubber Legs (5:14 - same as version above but cut at end) Heavy Liquid D4 T7, Rubber Legs, Open Up & Bleed
Head On (6:05) - Heavy Liquid D4 T4; Rubber Legs, Open Up and Bleed - 25feb73?
Cry For Me (aka Pinpoint Eyes) (9:34) - Heavy Liquid D4 T5; also Rubber Legs and Open Up and Bleed - all faded at 6m 46s
Emotional Problems (My Girl Hates My Heroin) (very brief excerpt) - same version of the track that appears in full on the Detroit Rehearsals March 1973 compilation tape, and My Girl Hates My Heroin
Total length: 42m approx
(20m unique material)


Non-circulating tapes
These tapes are in Bomp's archive (as listed in Per Nilsen's book The Wild One), but don't seem to have made it onto the bootleg circuit. It's possible that parts of them make up parts of tapes 4-6 above:

Studio Session 1973:

Search And Destroy
Cock In My Pocket
Come Hungry Sweet Child part 2
Come Hungry Sweet Child
Cock In My Pocket
Raw Power
Come Hungry Sweet Child
Come Hungry Sweet Child part 2
Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell


Detroit Rehearsal February 3 1973:

Rubber Legs
My Veins Are Crying
Rubber Legs
I Need Somebody
Black Ace
Johanna
Head On
Emotional Problems


Detroit Rehearsal February 25 1973:
Johanna
On The Beach
Problems
* Nowhere (aka Born in a Trailer) (7:32)
Johanna
* Mellow Down Easy (2:03)
Love Light
Sack O’ Shit
Problems
Head On
* see tape 2 above

Thank you for this great thread! I'd like to throw in some observations of mine.

Disc1: Gimme Danger (6:01) - D3 T6 - this was taken from the same tape as MGHMH (I mean the quality is the same). Same, BTW, is true for HL CD3 Tracks 5-9, 13-14.

Disc 2: Raw Power (4:39) D3 T1. This one can be found on Open Up And Bleed (Revenge). True ending of this HL track can be found on Open Up And Bleed (Revenge), but that release lacks the true beginning. Quality markedly better on HL, though the Revenge mix has vocals nastier.

Head On (5:07) - D3 T2; also on the Extended Play bonus disc. Snare in the end (heard on the Revenge releases like Open Up And Bleed) is faded on HL, but drums are heard in this mix, unlike the Revenge releases.

Open Up and Bleed (5:06, breakdown) - D3 T11 and D4 T5; also Studio Rehearsals 73-74, Rubber Legs, Open Up and Bleed (Bomp), My Girl Hates My Heroin. This one is mixed differently to MGHMH, better quality, but a tad shorter in the end.

Thanks for the comments and extra info (and thanks also to whoever has stickied this thread). I'd add your extra info to my original post but editing seems to have been disabled

How can there be a thousand views and only two comments?
thanks Mark

I'll just say well done. That's a hell of a job. Can't really get my head around it all, but that's a great resource for researchers right there already.

Hope you can get to edit the post with updates, maybe admin can free that up for you...

Keep up the good work.

great job!! never seen this thread before!!

Shouldn't Purple Haze and I'm Waiting For The Man appear in there somewhere? I am no exert, just thought those tracks circulated on some of those tapes.

Despite appearing on numerous semi official albums credited to the Stooges, Purple Haze and Waiting for the Man are just Iggy and that mysterious Unknown Guitarist.

Cheers,
R

Has anyone tried contacting Bomp about the supposed "Non circulating tapes"?

Just been looking at this extensive list again. Excellent work.
Have you figured out a way of editing it yet?
Cheers,
Richard

I think it can be repeated in the thread, at the very least?

Thanks for the info, mark and all. And I agree with mc. We definitely need these tapes to be released sometime soon in the near future, really bad too, and Bomp is the company to get the job done.

awesome!!!

Does anyone here have any bootleg copies of the unreleased stuff here? Ive heard of a 3 disc boot before.

blackout88 wrote:

Does anyone here have any bootleg copies of the unreleased stuff here? Ive heard of a 3 disc boot before.

3 disc.. on cd's?
Do you recall the title?

Thanks for all the hard work compiling this!
I frequently refer back to this thread when trying to identify material...
Has anyone been able to update this since the last post (Jan. 2012)?

Apart from Bomp records, and possibly James Williamson, another couple of people who might know a bit more about the tapes are Frank Meyer and Dino Everett of the band The Street Walkin' Cheetahs.

Frank Meyer wrote the sleeve notes on many of the Bomp releases and talks about the tapes briefly in this old interview where he says: "There is a lot more stuff that is still unreleased through most of it is not great quality-wise. There's no more soundboard or four-track tapes out there though, if that's what ya mean. I think there may be some more rehearsal tapes but it's just more false starts of so-so takes of the same tunes gain, "Head On," "Raw Power," etc. I have everything Greg Shaw and Asheton have and there is still definitely more that could be released."

Dino Everett many years ago posted on usenet a list of the tapes he had, which included the following:-

Stooges        2/20/73        DETROIT REHEARSALS        90min                
Stooges        2/25/73        DETROIT REHEARSALS        90min                
Stooges        3/17/73        DETROIT REHEARSALS        90min                
Stooges        3/18/73        DETROIT REHEARSALS        90min

The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs are playing with James Williamson and Cheetah Chrome at the Re-Licked show on January 16th. Anyone going?

I'd still like to see a decent release of the full tapes, if the still exist, with everything at the right speed etc. I don't know whether Re-Licked makes that prospect more or less likely.

Damn this is great info - frustrating, for sure, but great to know - and here I was thinking that Heavy Liquid was the last word in completeness! This extra stuff really needs releasing right now!

Has anyone been able to identify the unknown studio or studios?

Interesting, apparently Henry Rollins owns all the tapes, inserted a screenshot of the email response BOMP sent me


https://i.servimg.com/u/f11/20/39/29/27/screen11.jpg

Now that's very interesting. I wonder if Rollins is planning to share any of them in any form, or provide details of what's on them? Although he says there's little that's not been put out, according to Per's list there are two hour-long tapes that seem mostly to be unheard. New transfers of full archive would surely contain some 'new' bits, as well as probably being better quality than what we have.

Maybe someone should show Rollins this thread (if he's not lurking)...

mark wrote:

Now that's very interesting. I wonder if Rollins is planning to share any of them in any form, or provide details of what's on them? Although he says there's little that's not been put out, according to Per's list there are two hour-long tapes that seem mostly to be unheard. New transfers of full archive would surely contain some 'new' bits, as well as probably being better quality than what we have.

Maybe someone should show Rollins this thread (if he's not lurking)...

Considering Henry also worked with Elektra on the 50th anniversary ltd. edition Fun House boxset, let's hope he's planning something similar for Raw Power's 50th anniversary next year, maybe releasing the complete rehearsal tape anthology properly (re)mastered (if possible considering the barebones way of recording lol) together with perhaps the Raw Power out-takes featured on that almost mythical bootleg LP "Etiqueta Negra de Lugo" released back in 2013, I'd sell a kidney for a collectors edition like that lol.

At least we know the master tapes are still around and properly looked after by a fellow Stooge fanatic, let's hope Henry won't keep it locked away from the masses in shameless Collector Snobbery haha.

Gummo2020 wrote:

Interesting, apparently Henry Rollins owns all the tapes, inserted a screenshot of the email response BOMP sent me


https://i.servimg.com/u/f11/20/39/29/27/screen11.jpg

For convenience sake here's the response copied from the email in plain text:

"I had to ask my partner about that, for the most part our masters are with our friend Henry Rollins, he is able to take better care of them than we are, has special rooms for tapes. They will never be sold. Eventually donated to some museum I suppose.

But here’s some more info from Patrick:


Henry has everything Greg got from Williamson. He has been going through them and most of it has been released already but one label or another.

He is mistaken though, Greg took the time to go through all the “massive pile” of tapes eventually, which led to the Iguana series. The problem with wrong speed on Rubber Legs and other releases is because Greg used crappy bootleg cassettes as sources, if he didn’t have the tapes."