STOOGES - THE STOOGES (MOBILE FIDELITY) (2LP) (180GM) VINYL

Always a Real Cool Time: The Stooges’ Primal Self-Titled Debut Changed Rock ‘n’ Roll and Anticipated Punk, Includes “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and “No Fun” 
Experience the Groundbreaking 1969 Record in Definitive Sound and Celebrate Elektra 75: Mobile Fidelity’s Numbered-Edition 180g 45RPM 2LP Set Plays with Revealing Liveliness, Detail, and Physicality.  1/4” / 15 IPS analog master to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe.

Few albums inspired the reactions and registered the impact of the Stooges’ primordial self-titled debut. To a majority of listeners who encountered it shortly after it was released the same week Woodstock happened in 1969, the record seemingly came from another planet despite the fact its songs reflect the band’s Detroit surroundings and youthful malaise. 

Originally deemed by Rolling Stone “loud, boring, tasteless, unimaginative and childish” — sentiments shared by many critics — only later to be included on the magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time register, The Stooges established the template for myriad styles and the snarling attitude that would be associated with the still-years-away punk scene. Time further proved the band’s stomping, clattering rock ‘n’ roll way ahead of the curve given the work is now cited on endless “Best Album” lists. 

Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in California, housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, and reissued to celebrate Elektra 75, Mobile Fidelity’s numbered-edition 180g 45RPM 2LP set marks the first time Iggy Pop and Co.’s groundbreaking statement is available at 45RPM speed. This definitive-sounding copy benefits from the extra groove space by playing with enhanced definition, greater separation, and more realistic presence than prior versions. 

The sonic characteristics that help make The Stooges unique — the welling fuzztones; the dark, wet smack of the low end; the cavernous reverb and wah-wah; the in-the-red overdrive; the vibrant handclaps; the nearly detached timbre of Pop’s vocal sneer; the grit, grime, and grind of the stacked rhythms — come across with involving clarity, liveliness, detail, and dimensionality. For all of their twisted density and savage tonality, songs project with a deep openness and large dynamic. It’s maybe as close as music has ever come to literally vibrating.