Customer Reviews

Heroin Hates You-A Damned Stooge With a Pistol

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had a tough time finding a copy of this CD.'Heroin...' was recorded at a Los Angeles gig in November,1979.From the sound quality,I believe this may have been a soundboard recording.This is the title's first authorized release as it's been put out before as a 2-lp bootleg.So,when you get 'Heroin...',you won't get side four of the boot.Rest assure,this is still a great archive show by the Igster.The line-up for this gig included original Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock and The Damned guitarist Brian James.Who could ask for more?As for the tunes,most of them are good to hear played live,I liked "Real Cool Time","Dog Food","New Values","Five Foot One" and "No Fun" the best.Comes with a 16-page informative booklet.One of those CD's that's nice to play at 2am.

I saw this show.....Checking my tape recording off KROQ the next morning. Couldn't believe it was the show I had just seen. The sound at the show had been unbelieveable. This mix was awful in comparison. I've gotten over it as the years have gone by, and this is no doubt the best representation of the show thats available. A GREAT IGGY performance. What you can't see as you are listening to this would boost the approval to a 10. The stage slowly sinking lower and lower as the band disappears before your eyes. The stage and band on the verge of total collapse thru out. Iggy engaging/confronting the audience like it was the Grande Ballroom in 1969. Punks hanging from the ceiling gurders at the Stardust, upside down , having midget fights. Spit, gobs and insults flying everywhere. I can clearly hear meself and partner in crime Rusty at points thru out this recording. What a treat this cd is from a personnal stand point. What a vital RnR document of Iggy on the edge from a historical stand point. As I slumped to the sidewalk outside the Stardust after this gig and gazed towards the stars, there it was! The local L.A. t.v. station that at that point, Connie Chung was doing the news for. The beauty and the beast indeed!!
A seminal show. BUY IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

This was a classic bootleg documenting Iggy's SOLDIER tour as it played Los Angeles. It's from a KROQ broadcast, and though some will quibble with the dodgy mix it remains one of the best quality live recordings from this "super-group" period in Iggy's long career, thus making it a must have item for collectors of live Iggy. Less well-known is a corresponding broadcast from KSAN in San Francisco the week previous, a show I attended. As far as I know (which is not much) this show hasn't been legitimately (or even ill-legitimately) released, yet it is the superior performance. The band is tighter and rocks harder. I remember being shocked with how sloppy the playing was on Heroin when I first heard it back in its vinyl incarnation. Iggy and band played several nights at Wolfgang's, a smaller SF club run by Bill Graham. The venue hosted many great punk/new wave acts from that period. The live Television CD issued by Rhino Handmade several years ago was sourced from a radio broadcast originating from there, so here's hoping that a companion release to Heroin Hates You, one that captures Iggy in better form, will materialize at some point.

First off let me start by saying, wow, what a title! The killer title as well as the cheap packaging led me to that I had stumbled upon something quite magnificent; if not a hidden gem it was at least a novelty recording of an iggy pop concert. Unfortunately, 'Heroin Hates You' falls into that later catagory.
We realize by listening to this cd that without the stooges backing him up onstage that the sonic power of the music is greatly diminished almost to the point where it becomes hard to enjoy once you've been familiar with his other more groundbreaking work.
Some people swear by Iggy Pop's 'The Idiot'; an album which has intgrueged me at times but never manages to distinguish itself to me as an all time classic. That album's fine studio work (Bowie) kept in the backround a flaw that becomes much more apperent on Heroin Hates You.
The flaw is that without the brothers Ashetone backing him up much of the passion, focus and intensity we saw in the stooges is, 10 years later, missing.
The sound quality in Heroin Hates You is pretty good, well above what I expected based on its' very basic packaging. And there are even a few moments of brilliant furious sonic intensity that reverberate blissfully into the listeners eardrums. Just a few though; and while having this cd in my collection isn't a bad thing it's just not neccesary.
Unless you are collecting all the iggy pop cds for some reason, then i suggest to skip this one. Instead I suggest looking at the first three stooge CDs, all of which have recently been expaned and remasted. A live concert from that era might be a better option- Telluric Chaos or Metallic KO, for instance. Also check out Lust for Life and the Idiot before you spend your time and money on Heroin Hates You

Originally released as a two-album bootleg set soon after the raucous November 1979 gig at the Stardust Ballroom in Los Angeles, the single CD features the live radio broadcast on KROQ in Pasadena, but omits the fourth side, which was four numbers from a pair of 1977 concerts.

Iggy Pop was riding a new wave as the "Godfather of Punk," while resurrecting a stalled career after being dropped by RCA Records by signing with Arista Records and having a major promotional push in record stores and on tour. And he played the game for these playlists, which leaned heavily on new material - six numbers from Arista releases "New Values" and "Soldier" - with two covers (a solid rendition of "You Really Got Me" and a quality vocal rendition of the American pop classic "One for My Baby {and One More for the Road}," which appears as a studio bonus track on the CD version of his last Arista album "Party") and regulars like "T.V. Eye," "Funtime" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog."

With the energy from an all-star cast - Glen Matlock (b), Ivan Kral (key, g), Klaus Kruger (d), Brian James (g) - Iggy splits his time strutting the the stage dripping with satire as the anti-post punk artist, a tough guy who blasts those in the cheap seats for not delivering the proper adulation and as the ultimate peacemaker when a few clowns try to bully their way to the front of the stage.

One wild monologue nearly gets him yanked off the air and by the time he rips into the closer "No Fun," Iggy proves beyond any doubt that he is not some bizarre museum piece living off past decadence. The restored and remastered sound quality is good and the original album art - along with other photos - is included. That the Arista years became mostly blotted out of concerts when he left the label in 1981 makes it a solid acquisition for collectors.

First off, why five stars?

Why not...the "problematic" sound quality is actually rather good.

The concert itself is excellent, demanding listening...it's not pop (small p), it's not "radio-friendly" (ironically since it's from a radio broadcast)....but does it pull you in and make you part of that world for the hour and a quarter of its duration? It certainly does!

It is true that this release has been eclipsed a little, by the release of the excellent "Californian Hitch Hike" CD on Easy Action - from a concert around the same time (mostly from San Francisco 27th November 1979, and a little from 29th November '79).

So why this CD?

This concert, recorded at the Stardust Ballroom in Los Angeles, straight to air on Jed The Fish's programme on KROQ on 30th November 1979, is not quite in the same hi-fidelity as the above gig. The recording seems to be *almost* stereo....it's hard to tell if the soundmixers had enough on their hands mixing the sound to the venue itself or whether it's simply 'master' issues...what I do know is a stereo recording doesn't seem to have materialised so to date this is the best version we have got (sorry Easy Action...your own release of this on the Where The Faces Shine Vol 1 box set doesn't quite match up to the sound here in my opinion).

Part of me hopes a true stereo recording may surface one day, but given over thirty years have passed already, I won't hold my breath...

However, this gig really packs a punch, and certain tracks (China Girl, Real Cool Time and Knockin' Em Down In The City) are better than the versions on the aforementioned California...CD.

Moreoever, this concert is packed with bizarre, hectoring rants by Iggy...seemingly to troublemakers in the crowd, although surprisingly, Ivan Kral implies in the sleevenotes to the California CD that Iggy would actually be directing such rants at the most fervent fans in the crowd, who loved it!

It's an experience to savour...I used to listen to this concert complete, on tape, on journeys to London for record shopping in the 80's, and it made the day special.

Now, along with the California Hitch Hike CD too, I have a pair of souvenirs of two storming gigs Iggy did just before the 70's turned into the 80's, that I was too young and far away to attend, but I feel that have become part of my life.

Make them part of yours and see what you are missing!

But that's not why we listen to Iggy now, is it? The energy from this show you can feel. Especialy when Iggy tries to break up a fight ("Take Care of Me") - you can just feel the sweat condensation on the walls, feel the angst and raw power that makes up an Iggy live show. I only wish they had recorded it better. Otherwise, a kick ass show.

I am a huge Iggy fan. I own all official Iggy / Stooges albums and many "unofficial" or bootleg releases. The sound quality on this CD is poor. The sound is muffled throughout and you can hear the "tape hiss" during quiet sections. However the show itself is really good. I recommend this for Iggy completists and for its historical value of a recording with Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols) and Brian James (The Damned).

Great Iggy live CD! A must for the true Iggy fan. Crank up the volume to the max for No Fun. If that won't give you a rush I don't know what else to suggest!