Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Rare Stooges live recording from 1970 unearthed

Said to be found in a Michigan farmhouse, a tape of The Stooges entire show at Goose Lake in 1970 has been restored for release by Third Man on August 7th. 

Here's the scoop...
Third Man Records is excited to announce The Stooges' Live At Goose Lake: August 8th, 1970. This previously-unheard, high-quality soundboard recording of the original Stooges lineup's final performance -- recorded just before the release of their earthshaking 1970 album Fun House -- will be available on vinyl, CD and digital on August 7th, nearly 50 years to the day after the performance.

The audio was lovingly restored by Vance Powell (The White Stripes, Chris Stapleton) and mastered by Bill Skibbe at Third Man Mastering, and liner notes were written by Jaan Uhelzski (Creem Magazine). There will be two limited-edition colored vinyl variants available as well -- the Rough Trade version will be on purple-colored vinyl with a standard LP jacket, and the indie exclusive version will be on cream-colored vinyl with a screen-printed LP jacket. Pre-order the standard black vinyl version directly from Third Man right here.

The apocryphal tale of the Stooges performance at the Goose Lake festival has been told countless times over the past five decades. Bassist Dave Alexander, due to nerves or overindulgence or whatever you choose to fill in the blank, absolutely spaces in front of 200,000 attendees. He does not play a single note on stage. He is summarily fired by Iggy Pop immediately following the gig. Here starts the beginning of the end of the Stooges. But what if that simply...wasn’t the case? What if you could prove otherwise? Well, it’d be the proto-punk equivalent of having an immediate, on-the-scene, man on the street report of all those folkies booing Dylan’s electric set at Newport in ‘65. Irrefutable evidence  of what ACTUALLY went down.

Found buried in the basement of a Michigan farmhouse amongst other tasty analog artifacts of the  same era, the 1/4” stereo two-track tape of the Stooges complete performance at Goose Lake on August 8th, 1970 is the Rosetta Stone for fans of this seminal band. Not only is this the last ever performance of the original godhead Stooges line-up, but it is the ONLY known soundboard recording of said line-up. Playing the entirety of their canonical 1970 masterpiece Fun House, the sound, the performance, everything about this record is revelatory.

Would you believe that...Alexander actually DID play bass on this occasion? Or that, despite a handful of flubs, he manages to hold his own? Especially on the bass-led songs “Dirt” and “Fun House”? Does Iggy provoke the crowd to tear down festival barriers? Did the powers that be pull the plug on the Stooges? So many questions are answered only to have more arise. Released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the performance, Live at Goose Lake: August 8th, 1970, is the rare release that literally rewrites the history of these Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees. Listen to "T.V. Eye" below.



The Stooges – Live at Goose Lake: August 8th, 1970 
SIDE A
1. Intro
2. Loose
3. Down On The Street
4. T.V. Eye
5. Dirt

SIDE B
1. 1970 (I Feel Alright)
2. Fun House
3. L.A. Blues


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