Damn, man, this historically relevant disc possesses all of the tortured sonic chaos I’ve come to expect in a live Stooges recording, yet with topnotch surprisingly clear sound quality (as recorded on a reel-to-reel at the time by Stooges’ guitarist James Williamson). The drumming is frenzied and tribal; the bass thumps along at breakneck spine-snappin’ speeds of thunderin’ fury; the piano deviously meanders throughout like spiderleg tinklings of dark and scary creepiness; the guitar struts, rattles, and roars with unrelenting urgency; and, of course, Iggy’s vocals are as taunting, nihilistic, threatening, and dangerous as a demon-spawned hellhound. Although the musicianship contained herein fits neatly into well-shaped spurts of agitated energy, Iggy & The Stooges were splintering and fragmenting as a group at the time of this performance (just four months later, they would chaotically careen their way through a final show, and the rest is probably all notoriously exaggerated history). Yep, sure as shit, I vigorously recommend this aurally stunning CD alone just for its sheer ability to shake and startle the inner workings of my soul (plus I’m dazzled silly by the rousing inclusion of three of my fave Stooges songs: “Gimme Danger,” “Search & Destroy,” and “Open Up & Bleed”). Indeed, it’s a harried humdinger of a disc, so get yers today if’n ya know what’s good for ya...
–Roger Moser Jr. (Bomp)