Georgia Peaches

Iggy Pop with Elton John at Richards club, Atlanta, 1973. Two men who probably know a lot about drugs... I've been listening to The Stooges' Atlanta show this evening, formally the Georgia Peaches bootleg, but now reclaimed for the 2nd disc of Columbia's Legacy re-issue of Raw Power. This is a terrific show, and at times a little terrifying - "You want to get your fucking face punched in, little cracker boy?" Pop screams at someone in the crowd. As the group prepares to thrash out Search and Destroy, Iggy requests that the house lights be turned on to "expose a few faces", and considering one eye-witness report claimed that the audience numbered just 20-30 people (and it sounds it!), there's a distinct Theatre of Cruelty atmosphere to the show. The hostility never quite descends into the warfare of the Metallic K.O. album but having such a clean recording of this Raw Power line up, one can better appreciate just how tight the band could sound, and the best moments are when Scott Thurston's honky tonk piano lets the music swing. And I love the LA Woman quotation in Head On...