SKYDOG RECORDS
Jungle Records is a UK-based independent record label formed in 1982, specialising in punk rock, post punk, gothic and alternative releases. They are licensors of the legendary French label Skydog Records, including Iggy & the Stooges’ notorious Metallic KO, numerous other Iggy Pop releases, and albums by Flamin’ Groovies, MC5, Kim Fowley, New York Dolls, amongst others. (More from Wikipedia)
According to Greg Shaw, James Williamson was instrumental in saving the Stooges’ musical history; besides the treasure trove given to Shaw as part of the Kill City release deal, he had saved the tapes that became Metallic K.O. (1976), from live performances by the Stooges at Michigan Palace in Detroit on October 6, 1973 and February 9, 1974 – the album originally purported to be entirely from the 1974 show, which was purportedly the Stooges’ last live performance until reforming in 2003, but later releases of Metallic K.O. cleared up the confusion on the dates. The same thing said about Metallic K.O. in Wikipedia – “Considering [James] Williamson’s involvement, and the endorsement of Iggy, it was considered a ‘semi-official’ bootleg, when released on the Skydog label in 1976” – would apply to the albums in The Iguana Chronicles as well.
(September 2017)
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I have already discussed Metallic K.O., a 1976 release on the French label Skydog Records that was taken from live performances by the Stooges at Michigan Palace in Detroit on October 6, 1973 and February 9, 1974. Allmusic gives the album a 5-star rating, with Dave Thompson’s review of the double-CD reissue Metallic 2xK.O. stating: “Metallic K.O. means the world – to anyone and everyone who ever sat down and unsuspectingly dropped needle onto wax and then reeled back in horror; this ain’t rock & roll, it’s a snuff movie. And the fact that it all sounds so tame these days just shows how much it’s become a part of the language. . . . [T]hrough lurching takes of ‘Open up and Bleed’, ‘Heavy Liquid’, and the ever-inspiring ‘I Got S--t’ (all of which are new to the package), past the familiar dissolution of ‘Head on the Curb’, ‘Rich Bitch’, and ‘Cock in My Pocket’, and into the nightmare closure, this remains rock & roll so far out on the edge that you get dizzy just listening to it. And, by the time the last glass explodes at the end of the world’s greatest ‘Louie, Louie’, you’ll be ready to take on anything.”
While I don’t have Metallic K.O. yet, I do have a CD single by the Stooges on Skydog Records called (I Got) Nothing. According to Discogs, it is a 1989 reissue of a 12” single also called (I Got) Nothing that came out in 1977 – the year after the original Metallic K.O. album – that had “Gimmie Danger” (the song name is actually “Gimme Danger”) on Side 1, and “Heavy Liquid” and “(I Got) Nothing” on Side 2. “Gimmie Danger” is described as being different from the version on Metallic K.O..
Based on the listings in Discogs – and there are 24 of them for Metallic K.O. and 6 for (I Got) Nothing – nearly all of the Stooges releases on Skydog Records are vinyl. Interestingly, while the cover of my copy of (I Got) Nothing is basically the same as on the 12” single of (I Got) Nothing, the disc itself is marked “Metallic K.O.” and shows the same catalogue number – 622332 CD – as their double CD reissue of Metallic 2xK.O. the previous year.
(December 2017)
