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Fun House | 
| Artist: The Stooges
Label: Warner
Category: Music
List Price: £7.99
Buy New: £3.98
You Save: £4.01 (50%)
New (48) Used (15) from £2.21
Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 17117
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 60669
UPC: 075596066921
EAN: 0075596066921
ASIN: B000005IU2
Release Date: November 8, 1993
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Down On The Street | | • | Loose | | • | TV Eye | | • | Dirt | | • | 1970 | | • | Fun House | | • | LA Blues |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
Masterpiece. July 23, 2008
There's a bizarre trajectory for the Stooges' career - quite apart from their multiple break-ups and reformations leading up to their current active status, in their heyday - 1969-1970 - no-one bought their records and the press hated them. Which makes their legendary status today all the more bemusing, named as big influences on a great deal of modern music. It makes you wonder how records everyone despised could have such an impact.
That is, until you listen to it. Funhouse, The Stooges' second album and last under that name until 2007, is an amazing record and probably one of the finest ever made. The combined result of three drug addicts (and one sober guitarist) and virtually no musical talent, Funhouse is a swirling, psychedelic masterpiece that was at least a decade ahead of its time. Its sound, a distorted, hard-driving, hollering noise, predicted not only punk, but post-punk/nu-wave as well.
Even from opening track 'Down On The Street,' or the howling 'TV Eye' you can hear how influential the album was, and not just on punk; the song's bluesy yet somehow cinematic riff later covered by Rage Against The Machine, but you can hear its echoes right up to bands like The Strokes today. What's more, the seven, limping minutes of 'Dirt' were clearly an influence on Joy Division, its chiming, if less than competent, guitar parts sounding like they'd fit in on Unknown Pleasures.
Influential, loud and utterly brilliant, Funhouse is an essential album for any fan of punk, post-punk or music in general.
 Good, but overrated. June 19, 2008
I would recommend getting both the self-titled Stooges album and Raw Power before this and leave this last. and don't buy The Weirdness, for God's sake.
This has some great songs on it (Down on the street, TV Eye), but on the whole the album is bloated and has too many dull parts. Raw Power has NO dull parts and the self titled album has more good songs on it than this does. For some reason this is consistantly chosen as the best Stooges album. I totally disagree. Raw Power is the best.
Almost perfect August 4, 2007
The best short album I've ever heard. Pity it seems to end almost too soon. But starting over at track 1 again ain't no bad thing. No sir.
The Stooges' greatest album...totally essential January 23, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Given the option, I would have rated this at least 6 stars, despite the last track being something of a disappointment (we'll come back to that...)
First off, this 35 years old album still sounds utterly contemporary. So much wouldn't have happened without it, and none of the innumerable bands influenced by it have come close to equalling it.
Second, let's dispel the notion that this is a bunch of spontaneous stuff they just came up with in the studio. What it IS is their live set of the time, honed by regular gigs and (superbly) recorded live in the studio through a p.a. with no overdubs. Anyone who's heard the sadly no longer available "Complete Funhouse Sessions" will know that they arrived in the studio with these songs pretty much already worked out, and the multiple takes (over 30 on some songs) were just a case of nailing the best possible version. These guys weren't virtuosi, but they could lay down a murderous groove to rival anyone - and as for the singer...
Down In The Street is a mean, lowdown, almost funky opener, with some superb whoops and yells from Iggy. Loose (which took the most takes) is an awesome full on floor the accelerator three chord blast, with some great dynamics. TV Eye keeps up the energy level with a bit more structure. Absolutely superb, especially the bit where Ron Asheton just chugs away on guitar with Iggy's unearthly yowling over the top. And then possibly the greatest thing they ever recorded - Dirt. This is an epic ballad, alternating between a vicious, jerking riff and an almost plaintive section, with a cool guitar solo thrown in and Iggy snarling "do you feel it when you cut me?" with terrifying conviction.
The second half is patchier - opener 1970 is probably the least good actual song on here (still damn fine though), but also marks the debut of excellent sax player Steve Mackay, who plays throughout the rest of the album. The title track is a vicious and extended workout showing clear evidence Iggy had been listening to James Brown, though by no means trying to copy proper funk. It seethes with superb vocals and sax. Check out the 2 CD version for some great out-takes of this. Lastly, we get to LA Blues. Unfortunately the producer wouldn't let them do what they did live, which was break down into LA Blues from the end of Fun House, after building up a full head of steam. Instead, they had to start it cold, and it shows - you really have to be in the mood to make a free-form freakout like this work, and they weren't, especially drummer Scott Asheton - he had to overdub a new drum part over the edit (from a 17 minute jam) used for the album - which was never going to yield ideal results. So five and a half good tracks out of seven, on a 33 minute album - doesn't sound that hot. But be assured that those five and half tracks are at the absolute pinnacle of loud, vicious, evil, dirty (fill in more adjectives when you've heard it) rock music. Just doesn't get any better than this.
Primal Scream June 20, 2005
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Primal, horny, scuzzy rock n roll imbued with the spirit of Sun Ra and Ike Turner.
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