KILL CITY (CD)
Kill City is a studio album by Iggy Pop and James Williamson, both ex-members of the Stooges. It was recorded as a demo in 1975 but released in altered form in November 1977 by record label Bomp!. (More from Wikipedia)
Additional information on Kill City is found in the liner notes for the CD reissue of Kill City in 1992. Most of the liner notes were written by Tim Stegall of Alternative Press Magazine, but Greg Shaw also has a few pages under the heading “. . . As I Recall It”. For one thing, Shaw remembers “. . . [the Stooges’] amazing ‘last ever live show’ (Metallic K.O. notwithstanding) at some ‘Death of Glitter’ fest at the Palladium in ’75”.
Greg Shaw recalls fondly: “Kill City, besides being Bomp’s first LP (although this [the 1992 Kill City CD] is in fact the first time we’ve ever put it out ourselves!) also had the distinction of being the first LP on England’s legendary Radar [Records] label, as well as Germany’s equally notable Line Records. It was seen as one of the year’s more significant releases, and looking back over 15 years, I’d have to say it’s still the album I’m proudest of.”
Besides the Kill City CD and a Kill City LP on hand-mixed colored vinyl in the stack of albums that I am currently playing my way through (this pressing presumably uses a 2010 remix of the album from the original multi-track tapes by James Williamson and engineer Ed Cherney), I have other copies of Kill City around here, including a copy on purple vinyl and even a 10” vinyl release of Kill City – that one has 8 cuts rather than 11 and omits the two “Night Theme” tracks at the end of Side 1 and the beginning of Side 2, with the only full song omitted being “Master Charge”. I thought that I had ordered many years ago a package that included a copy of the original 1977 album on green vinyl (that would be one of the LP’s pressed and sold by Jem Records) plus a later copy with a better sound mix, but I cannot seem to put my hands on the green album.
* * *
Kill City could be viewed as the original Iguana Chronicles release, although the LP’s were not marked that way in the beginning. The 1992 CD of Kill City that I have shows The Iguana Chronicles printed on the back page of the booklet, but the listing in Discogs showing the same page does not.
* * *
Based upon the Discogs listings, the earliest album in The Iguana Chronicles series is Rough Power; Discogs shows a 1994 date for the earliest copies, while Allmusic has a release date of January 30, 1995. The back page of the CD booklet has a list of 5 other releases in The Iguana Chronicles; though they are not all marked that way (at least in early copies), in order they are the 7” EP I’m Sick of You, the reissue as a 10” EP of Jesus Loves the Stooges, the 7” single of I Got a Right and the 12” single of I Got a Right, the Kill City CD, and the 10” vinyl edition of Rough Power.
(December 2017)
