New photo book from The Whisky 1970

This looks pretty cool (not out until April 2017):

https://www.amazon.com/Iggy-Pop-Stooges-Night-Whisky/dp/1851498540/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1478061864&sr=1-11&keywords=iggy+pop

Steve

It would be a major understatement to say I was excited about this.

Yes please

I'm In, I love Ed Caraeff's photos. Looking forward to more glorious shots of Iggy covered in melted wax, dancing on the tables and swinging from the chandeliers.

Was this the gig where Iggy tried to borrow coke money from Jack Nicholson before the set?
Please, please let that be captured on film ...

Oh good lord yes. With due respect to the Total Chaos book and the Gimme Danger film, this has the potential to be the most significant Stooges artefact since the Funhouse boxed set. April 2017 can't come soon enough.

Photographs might have been thrilling back in the 19th century but they never did much for me. I guess I'm just accustomed to more stimulation. I passed over on the Mick Rock photo book and I'll probably pass over on this. I'm not knocking it though. With a new doc ready and several new books in the works it seems like we are in a Stooges Golden Age. Could a new CD be in the works? I don't think that Columbia's Stooges vault has been tapped by any means when it comes to alternate versions at least.

So the Doors are coming out with a new live recording, a newly discovered reel-to-reel audience recording from their early days at the London Fog night club in 1966. I heard a clip on youtube and it sounds great. But it makes you wonder. Could another vintage Stooges live recording be out there? I mean if a band as famous and lucrative as the Doors could have an historic audience tape collecting dust, could there be another vintage Stooges live tape that we don't know about?

Got the book yesterday. The photos themselves are very good although they are mostly of Iggy Pop rather than the band, unless the band happen to be in the background. Having said that, there are a few good band shots here, especially those with Steve Mackay honking away on his sax. There are also some nice images of the underphotographed Dave Alexander looking soulful and reflective.

I'm no expert on these matters but the technical quality of the photos is excellent - high resolution, well lit, no blurring etc.. The split of the 200 or so pictures is probably about 50/50 between colour and black and white. Pretty much all of the colour photos have the red/orange tinge as per the Funhouse cover. I'm guessing 90% of these images are being published for the first time.

The pages of the book are of extremely high quality (appreciably thicker than the recent Total Chaos book which didn't lack in that department). Having said that, the page size is small. The cover of the Total Chaos book was 13" x 9" while this book is 10" x 8".

The text that accompanies the photos is a disappointment. The advance blurb suggested new/previously unseen interviews from Danny Fields, Jac Holzman, Mikael Magliere and others. Well, Danny Fields writes a few hundred words (not an interview) and there's no sign of Jac Holzman or Mikael Magliere. The most interesting contribution comes from Deedee Keel, a patron and then booker at the Whisky A Go Go, who gives some background info on the owners and how the club came into being (again, not an interview).

In summary: photos good, page thickness good, page size bad, text bad. Certainly worth purchasing but it's a 6.5/10 verdict from me.

The street date has been moved up to June 22. Did you get an advance copy perhaps?

No, not an advance copy but purchased from a Waterstones shop in London. Was originally going to buy through Amazon but they let me down badly with the Total Chaos book so cancelled my pre-order and went elsewhere. The June 22 date that you quote may be an Amazon date, but it looks like a few other places already have it in stock.

Rigsby wrote:

No, not an advance copy but purchased from a Waterstones shop in London. Was originally going to buy through Amazon but they let me down badly with the Total Chaos book so cancelled my pre-order and went elsewhere. The June 22 date that you quote may be an Amazon date, but it looks like a few other places already have it in stock.

What's the price in shops?

GBP25 is the price in the shops which is the same as what Amazon UK were selling it until a few days ago. I now see Amazon UK are selling at at GBP19.99.

Not sure how relevant this is to US and general worldwide availability but the Whisky book is published by Iconic Images/ACC Art Books both of which are both UK companies unlike the Total Chaos book, a US publication.

One last point - in an earlier post, I said the best written contribution was from Deedee Keel. Actually, I'll revise that as there's a lengthy interview from Creem writer Dave Marsh lifted from a 1970 issue of ZigZag magazine which is also good.

I love this funny little book. One one hand, the fact that one night - one hour, probably? - could generate an entire book is the height of rock nerd decadance. On the other hand, it is surprising how many iconic photos came from this single evening - not just the Funhouse shots, but also the color oven mitts, the melted wax, etc.

I think the book's great. Size is fine. I haven't read the text yet, just looked at the pics - all very pretty.