Heavy Liquid

Is it possible that someone was following the Stooges around circa 1972-1973, taping their every move? It certainly seems that way, as evidenced by the overabundance of outtakes and demos that has surfaced from the group's Raw Power period. The most exhaustive collection to focus on these tracks arrived in 2005 -- the six-disc box Heavy Liquid. Set up similarly to a previous Stooges box set, Rhino Handmade's 2000 release 1970: The Complete Funhouse Sessions, this is not six discs worth of different rare songs, but rather songs that are repeated over and over again. And unless you're the biggest Stooges fanatic in the universe, there's simply no way you can sit through 13 takes of "I Got a Right." Longtime Stooges fans will undoubtedly be long familiar with most of these selections, as they've been included an countless compilations over the years (mostly on the Bomp! label) -- the aforementioned "I Got a Right," "I'm Sick of You," "Johanna," "Open Up and Bleed," "I Got Nothin'," "Head On," etc. There's not much here that most of the Stooges faithful haven't already heard countless times before. But the packaging is certainly appealing, as it comes with not one but two booklets (which feature essays, rare pictures, and articles from the era). The average Stooges admirer would be able to get by with any one of the single-disc collections of this material (Rough Power, Year of the Iguana, etc.). But if you want it all in one shot, Heavy Liquid is the way to go. ~ Greg Prato|