The Stooges – Iggy Pop, Ron and Scott Asheton and Dave Alexander – may have sounded like they were from the Stone Age, but the Ann Arbor quartet predicted the future of rock ’n’ roll more than 40 years ago with the untamable sonic assault of its self-titled 1969 debut on Elektra Records. Soon after the band’s March 15 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Rhino Handmade will celebrate the visionary group’s historic feedback-laden clarion call with a Collector’s Edition of that debut.

The 26-track collection will be issued in a 7” x 7” hardbound booklet that contains two CDs along with a 7” single that features the previously unreleased track “Asthma Attack.” A staple of the group’s early live shows, this is the first time a studio version of the song has been released.

The Collector’s Edition’s first disc combines the original album’s eight songs with producer John Cale’s original mixes, including unreleased versions of “We Will Fall” and “Ann.” Also featured is the mono single version of “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” a song Rolling Stone named #438 on its list of “500 Greatest Songs Of All Time” – right behind Elvis’ “Love Me Tender.”

The second disc opens with “Asthma Attack,” a breathless spectacle of a song written when The Stooges’ 20-minute live sets were dominated by arty experiments in feedback and improvisation. The remainder of the disc presents an alternate version of the original album with alternate takes of every song, including full versions of “No Fun” and “Ann,” plus unreleased versions of “We Will Fall,” “Real Cool Time” and the album closer, “Little Doll.”

“The Stooges’ influence is legion – to name all of the bands, singers, and would-be rock stars who drank from the well could fill 1,000 phone books,” writes author Mike Edison in the collection’s liner notes. “There is not a hard or heavy band anywhere on the planet that’s not in earnest awe of The Stooges.”

PRODUCTION NOTE:

We at Rhino Handmade wanted to shed some light on the questions that have been raised regarding several of the bonus tracks on our Collector’s Edition of The Stooges’ debut album.

The John Cale Mixes that were featured on the 2005 Deluxe Edition of the album were pitch corrected from the existing mix reel, which is the only existing master in our vaults. For the new Collector’s Edition, no pitch correcting was done and we left the songs exactly as they are found on the master. The same master was used for both releases.

The Stooges – Iggy Pop, Ron and Scott Asheton and Dave Alexander – may have sounded like they were from the Stone Age, but the Ann Arbor quartet predicted the future of rock ’n’ roll more than 40 years ago with the untamable sonic assault of its self-titled 1969 debut on Elektra Records. Soon after the band’s March 15 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Rhino Handmade will celebrate the visionary group’s historic feedback-laden clarion call with a....+Read More...