Iggy Pop and James Williamson

IGGY POP AND JAMES WILLIAMSON
 
They never went into the studio to record their fourth album; Iggy Pop decided to do something else since the Stooges’ records were not selling. Under the name Iggy Pop and James Williamson, these two ex-Stooges put together an album called Kill City in 1975. They brought a couple of the more mellow songs from the new Stooges material – “Johanna” and “I Got Nothin’” – but mostly this was new music and definitely a new direction.
(December 2016)
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After the Stooges broke up in early 1974, and before his first post-Stooges tracks were finally released by Bomp! Records as Kill City under the name Iggy Pop and James WilliamsonIggy Pop continued the collaboration with David Bowie that he had begun on Raw Power with his first two solo albums, The Idiot and Lust for Life.  Both are ranked 5 stars by Allmusic; the latter album includes what is probably Iggy Pop’s best known song, Lust for Life (it is sometimes mistaken for a Stooges song).  He was working fast, with all three of these albums released in 1977; all told, Allmusic lists a remarkable 26 solo albums in the Iggy Pop name, not counting the Stooges albums or Kill City
 
(March 2017)
 
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As I have written about previously, the first LP released by Bomp! Records was Kill City, representing music that Iggy Pop and James Williamson put together right after the Stooges broke up.  As Greg Shaw tells the story in the liner notes for the double-CD compilation album, Destination: Bomp! in the entry for the Stooges song “I Got a Right”:  “In 1976-77Bomp was about the only established label in America that was actively pushing the new music.  For a brief time, I could have had virtually any band that I wanted.  It couldn’t last of course, but while it did, it was a real rush. 
 
“But I never dreamed I could have the Stooges, until James Williamson showed up one day with a tale of woe:  Iggy, fighting to kick drugs, had finished most of a great new album, but his rep was so bad no label would touch him.  Even Sire [Records] had passed on Kill City.  Was I interested? 
 
“Even though I had to almost sell my soul to raise the needed cash, I wasn’t about to let this deal pass.  To this day, Kill City is the single most important item in the Bomp catalog; but what made it extra nice is that James also threw in a big box of unlabeled tapes that turned out to be mostly demos and rehearsals from the Raw Power days onward – hours and hours of stuff that became the foundation for my long-term Iguana Chronicles project of documenting the unreleased side of this incredible band.” 
 
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Whatever else might be said of the StoogesIggy Pop and the other bandmembers put their heart and soul into their music; but none of their first three albums were big sellers.  As fantastic as their new songs were sounding in concert, there was no reason to think that a fourth Stooges album would do any better.  Additionally, the excesses of the rock and roll life were taking their toll, particularly the drug use by Iggy Pop.  Thus, Kill City was a move in a different direction, and only two of the songs from the later years of the Stooges were included on the record, Johanna” and “I Got Nothin’.  Kill City is also different from Iggy Pop’s other records, in that it is not a solo album or a Stooges album; the artist is given as Iggy Pop and James Williamson.
 
As I might have mentioned already, the album that became Raw Power started off as a collaboration between Iggy Pop and James Williamson also.  Iggy Pop had been signed with MainMan Management, the company that handled David Bowie.  They were recording in England, and after many auditions for a rhythm section, James Williamson suggested that the Asheton brothers be flown over from the U.S.Scott Asheton sat in on drums, while the Stooges’ founding guitarist Ron Asheton reluctantly agreed to become the bass guitarist.  Only at that point did it truly start to become a Stooges album. 
 
(December 2017)
 
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I think that I have now purchased all four of the albums by past UARB the Loons, one of three UARB’s that number Mike Stax among the bandmembers. While I still do not have the EP 5 x 4 by past UARB the Crawdaddys (which also included Mike Stax), I did pick up the 45 that features There She Goes Again. Even more surprisingly, I came across the other two albums by past UARB Crystal Mansion in some record store or other: their 1969 album Crystal Mansion and also their 1979 album Crystal Mansion that is also known as Tickets. (More recently, I did come across a copy of the Crawdaddys EP 5 x 4 on Bomp! mailorder, along with the original 7-inch Jesus Loves the Stooges – but I still don’t have a copy of the green-vinyl Kill City by Iggy Pop and James Williamson that also came out in 1977).
 
(Year 10 Review)
Last edited: March 22, 2021