Pitchfork

Iggy Pop and James Williamson recorded only one proper album together, the classic and influential Raw Power. It's understandable, then, that every other year or so, a label like Bomp! graces the rock-loving public with yet another collection of recently unearthed, never-before-heard rough cuts and demos of Stooges projects that never were. Often, the value of such collections lies not in the quality of the music itself, but rather in the incidental trivia that can be gleaned from such recordings. For example, did you know that the Stooges actually practiced? Or that Iggy Pop had a recording studio inside his ass? No? Well, it's all true-- and Wild Love is here to prove it.

As suggested above, this most recent release suffers from two major problems: poor content and pathetic sound quality. First, the problem of content: on the CD cover, Bomp! dubs Wild Love a "stunning collection of never-heard songs, jams, and works-in-progress from the darkest closet of the band that started it all." This is part lie and part euphemism-- it's not stunning, and most of it essentially sounds like band practice. The liner notes are a bit more candid, noting that the disc is composed of various "false starts and halfway efforts," many of which were "abandoned along the way." Nonetheless, with barely a straight face, Bomp! would have you believe that Wild Love is an essential look into the Stooges songwriting process, and moreover, that it's necessary to look into their songwriting process at all.

If your brain is on, you've already noted a problem with this rationale. Bomp! says it themselves: the Stooges' songwriting process consisted of arriving at a studio, filling up on narcotics, then jamming for a few weeks until a song emerged. Is this so remarkable that it requires its own CD? Doubtful, especially given that most of the tidbits documented here never materialized into actual songs, and sounded as if they never would. But even supposing it were remarkable, embracing such collections sets destructive precedent. Personally, I fear the world where bands feel free to peddle recordings of false starts and band rehearsals. Remember, Creed practices, too.

Then there's the even greater problem with Wild Love-- its remarkably poor sound quality. This collection may as well have been recorded on an answering machine, or maybe in that "darkest closet" where they found/stored these tapes in the first place. The tone is muffled, sapping the band of all its trademark intensity. Raw, sure, but powerful? Not by a long shot.

Despite its shortcomings, the disc still has a few high spots. The title track (not coincidentally, the album-opener) is one of the few completed songs on the disc. As with most bands, the Stooges sounded better when they were trying (go figure) and the song is a testament to that fact. Wild Love mostly documents post-Raw Power-era blues jams, pairing Williamson's guitar noodling (which, although capable, is nonetheless still noodling) with some of Iggy's most forgettable vocal moments. For example, in "I Come From Nowhere," Pop freestyles off of the title verse, "I come from nowhere," eventually arriving at the Whitman-esque "Everybody's a square/ Dirty underwear." I see England, I see France...

There's a whole cache of Stooges material more worthy of your dollars than Wild Love. Those who own it all won't be dissuaded by this review. But unless Bomp!'s suck-up liner notes truly resonate with you, there's little point to owning this record. Practice makes perfect; so just listen to the perfect stuff, and leave practice for the fanatics.