Live At Goose Lake: August 8th 1970

Almost from the beginning, the Stooges had a reputation as one of the most incendiary acts in the history of rock & roll, and the shows they did after reuniting in 2003 certainly confirmed that. However, there was precious little physical evidence of the on-stage firepower of the groups original lineup; beyond the brief but amazing video clips of their set at the 1970 Cincinnati Pop Festival, there was extremely little documentation of how they sounded in front of an audience with Ron Asheton on guitar. (To his credit, James Williamson was far more diligent in taping the performances of the Raw Power edition of the group.) So when it was discovered that a stereo soundboard tape existed of the Stooges set at the 1970 Goose Lake International Music Festival in Jackson, Michigan, fans around the world were abuzz at the prospect of finally hearing a Stooges show recorded at the peak of their powers in decent fidelity. As it turns out, that description proved to be a bit optimistic. Live at Goose Lake, August 8, 1970 preserves what proved to be bassist Dave Alexanders final performance with the Stooges. The story (repeated frequently over the years by both Iggy Pop and Ron Asheton) was that after months on the wagon, Alexander got stoned on booze and hash and went on-stage incapable of playing a note, and was fired immediately after the show. A careful listen to this recording confirms he was indeed playing, but he wasnt having a good night at all, which is all the more problematic since the set was drawn entirely from the soon-to-be-released Fun House, where his bass lines were vitally important in anchoring the songs. Alexanders lackluster playing threw the Stooges for a loop, and there are more than a few moments where the band is clearly scrambling to make up for the lack of a foundation; comparing these performances to the majesty of the studio versions on Fun House doesnt flatter them. Though this is indeed the best-sounding live recording of the original Stooges lineup that had emerged to date, that says only so much. The audio is still more than a bit muddy and blown out, and the lack of clarity blunts some of the chaos. All that said, this is still a truly fascinating historical document, and if Dave Alexander (and to a lesser extent drummer Scott Asheton) doesnt bring his A game, Iggy Pop and Ron Asheton sound gloriously feral (as does Steve MacKay on sax), and they truly live up to their hype in front of the biggest audience of their lives (nearly a quarter-million people). Live at Goose Lake, August 8, 1970 isnt the gloriously transformative historical document some might have dreamed it would be, but it is a recording of a genuinely great rock band playing a pretty good show with genuine enthusiasm, and you can never have too many of those on hand. ~ Mark Deming