The Stooges - Fun House

1.    Down On The Street
2.    Loose
3.    T.V. Eye
4.    Dirt
5.    1970
6.    Fun House
7.    L.A. Blues

“Do you feel it?”, Iggy Pop asks in “Dirt”. The answer is obvious to anyone who comes into contact with “Fun House” by The Stooges – an album where unrestrained emotion, wild abandon and raw energy take center stage. The electrifying chaos on the Detroit band’s second studio album, originally released in July 1970 on Elektra Records, is almost impossible to put into words. Robert Christgau, the legendary Village Voice journalist, even admitted that “language was not designed” to convey what many critics and artists regard as the ultimate rock ’n’ roll statement. Even more than 50 years after Iggy Pop and company let loose, “Fun House” continues to leave listeners in awe. Ranked number 94 on Rolling Stone’s list of the greatest albums of all time, described by Jack White as “the best rock ’n’ roll album ever made” and celebrated by renowned critics such as Lester Bangs and Ben Edmonds, as well as musicians including Henry Rollins and Steve Albini, “Fun House” simply feels good!

From start to finish, the live-in-the-room qualities so characteristic of “Fun House” and Don Gallucci’s acclaimed production are unmistakable: the relentless groove, the sheer force of the rhythms, the unrestrained volume, Pop’s fiery vocals, the hard-boiling bass lines… The rawness and grime created by the four musicians and saxophonist Steven Mackay seem intent on breaking through into another dimension – with gripping presence, physicality and power. Intense, cohesive and aggressive, “Fun House” differs from The Stooges’ groundbreaking debut in several ways and even surpasses it. First of all, the quartet developed nearly all of the songs over several months. This time, they were not under pressure to write additional material. Equally important was their encounter with Gallucci. The Stooges’ instinctive trust in Gallucci paid off, as the producer immediately set out to capture their unique live atmosphere. He defied convention and removed all curtains, carpets and other sound-dampening furnishings from Elektra Sound Recorders – the studio located just a short walk from the group’s temporary accommodation at the Tropicana Motel. He also had Pop sing, grunt, scream and bark live through a handheld microphone routed through two Marshall amplifiers, serving as his personal PA system. Engineer Brian Ross-Myring was the final piece of the puzzle for a recording that would go down in history. Gallucci and Ross-Myring had another brilliant idea: they planned for The Stooges to record one song in the studio each day, in the same order as the final album sequence. First, they invited the band to run through the songs – essentially a preparation day during which levels, baffles and positions were adjusted. Then they got to work and achieved their goal of capturing one song per day, giving Gallucci around 15 to 25 takes to choose from for each official version. Reportedly, apart from two guitar overdubs, every note of “Fun House” was created exactly as it is heard today.

MFSL now presents “Fun House” in audiophile reference quality for the first time! Mastered from the original tapes at MoFi’s California studio, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, and housed in a deluxe Stoughton Printing gatefold jacket, this numbered 180-gram 45 RPM double LP offers the finest sound quality the album has ever received on vinyl. This collectible reissue sets new standards in spatiality, transparency and dynamics. No previous version bursts with as much energy, immediacy and force as this new MoFi edition!