The reunited Stooges are back and here's the proof. Recorded live in their hometown, this DVD looks and sounds great.
The cover is a standard sort of photo of Iggy, shirtless and intense. The back has all the necessary tracklisting and message from Iggy while the insert has some photos and essays. A nice looking package.
The main part of this disc is the live show from the summer of 2003. The audio on this is flawless. It is perfectly mixed, the band is incredible, and this is really what a DVD should sound like.
Solid all around with the crowd for the most part behind you and band kicking your ass in front of you.
The song selection features classics from the self titled album, Fun House, and even a few off the new Iggy album "Skull Ring." Sadly, no "Raw Power" cuts made it, but that's a lineup issue I suppose as Raw Power was not the original. It's a shame, I would've liked to have heard "Search & Destroy" but what can you do?
The video of this is pretty amateur I must say. It's not bad, but it just has a bootleg look to it. The camera work is just very standard, a few cameras must've been mid way back and they use various degrees of slow panning, zooming, and cross fading. I suppose there's a lighting issue...when many live DVDs are filmed, the show is lit a bit differently so you can see the band clearly, here the band gets washed out with different colors or Iggy will be leaning off the stage and with no spotlight, he just sort of disappears.
This gives it a very nice, raw look, but it's almost strange hearing such a perfect mix with such a shoddy video. I don't know how many people actually sit and "watch" live DVDs, I fell they're good in the background to listen to but not something I ever really sit and watch.
Lots of extras...the "Creem Archive" is a lot of stills and flyers through the years that's pretty interesting. There's the "Legendary NYC instore gig" that's a single camera, side of the stage that's not all that great soundwise. The video is clear but the sound is probably just the mic on the camera. The show is cool, Iggy tells some interesting stories and it's a very different show then you'd see otherwise, the band for the most part is sittingon stools and it's laid back. You can hear everything fine but the sound is just a bit lacking. It's an extra so I am not complaining, it's great to have. "Sing-a-long with Iggy" is just the live video with subtitles, I wish the whole disc was subtitled, it's a cool feature. "Mike Watt's journal reading" is just that...Watt reading his journal entry about playing the reunion show with the Stooges over still shots of the band playing. It's alright.
If you are a Stooges fan, this is worth it. Not many of these new reunions are worth much but The Stooges probably is the best one going around...the band still has it, Iggy is still insane, and you can just tell they're happy to be playing. This is a great disc and highly recommended.
