The Stooges

1970: The Complete Fun House Sessions (Rhino)
by Brian Varney

Let me begin by saying that Fun House is my favorite album of all time. I can’t even begin to estimate how many times I’ve played it. When I was 16 and had my first car, there were only three tapes in it, and Fun House was one of them. I used to torture everyone who got into my car with it. And because I played it so often, I began to get ideas about how the album might’ve been created. It seemed to me that something that sounded like Fun House must’ve just happened, you know? There was just no way anything that raw and untamed could’ve been meticulously rehearsed or practiced. It just didn’t jive with the album’s unwashed sound.

I must now report that I was officially wrong. What the people at Rhino Handmade (who apparently don’t have anything better to do) have done is assemble the complete studio sessions for the Fun House LP onto a seven-CD box set. That’s every take of every song recorded for the album, this album which I was certain had to have just spontaneously occurred on tape. There are 18 takes of “Down on the Street,” 31 takes of “Loose,” 15 takes of “Dirt,” etc. etc. Hell, there are even two takes of “L.A. Blues”! Needless to say, I was very fucking wrong.

Let me preface this by saying that I’m not normally a “studio outtake” sort of geek. I figure the reason those outtakes aren’t released is because they’re not as good as what’s on the album. I trust the artist to select the best version of each track. But this is Fun House. My favorite album. My curiousity was aroused; the temptation was too strong. I had to hear it.

Do I think everyone will enjoy this? Hell, no. And apparently, neither does Rhino. This box was released in a numbered limited edition of 3,000 copies which you can only buy on the Internet, and the price tag is a steep $120. Clearly, this monstrosity is strictly a geek piece. But I’m a geek. Granted, I don’t think it’s something I’m gonna pull out often and play all the way through (and if I do, I hope my friends have the good sense to have me committed), but it’s still nice to have around.

So it seems the set’s main appeal for geeks like me is to watch the album take shape. What is pretty impressive is just how similar most of the takes are – most of the songs had already taken their general shape by the time the sessions began. Take after take after take of each song is spent fine-tuning, honing each song into the flawless, feral shape it took on the album proper. Every little last detail is accounted for (during one take of “Loose,” Iggy stops the band because, “I forgot my ‘hey'”), and much time and effort is expended to make the album perfect.

I think it’s pretty cool to hear a band so obviously at the height of their power entrenched in the creative process. And because these unused takes don’t have the effects that were added to the album masters (echo, double-tracking, etc.), they offer a more intimate look at the process. The drums in particular sound so raw that you’d swear you’re in the room with the band.

Doesn’t sound exciting to you? That’s OK. I know, it sounds like a pretty small reward for such a large undertaking, and it probably is. To tell you the truth, it even surprises me that I can sit and listen to take after take of the same song, but I find it oddly engrossing. Besides, I already warned you, I’m a geek. When I really like an artist or an album, I want to know the story behind the story. And that’s what this box set gives. I certainly wouldn’t want to hear one of these for many other albums – perhaps no other. But it’s Fun House. A gift from God. Don’t you ever wonder how the Bible was written?
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