Iggy Pop - Where The Faces Shine Volume 2

More Ig than even Ig needs, but it’s damned good, damnit The second box set in Easy Action’s series continues the audiomusical biography of the boy Osterberg (from the years 1982 to ’88). The best description is: there’s bloody loads of it, 100 songs, in fact, over six CDs and a DVD.

Discs One and Two are live gigs, from New York and Palo Alto in ’82 and ’83 respectively, and very energetic they are too. The third disc is an absolute treasure, collecting demos and sketches with ex-Pistol Steve Jones that predate the subsequent Blah Blah Blah album – the tour of which is represented here by Discs Four and Five’s Whisky A-Go-Go gig. Another great band backs Pop on Disc Six, a warm-up for 1987’s Instinct tour. The final jewel in the crown is the DVD, which features an unreleased set of tracks recorded at Pinewood Studios, plus interviews and late 80s promos.

With a 7,000-word sleevenotes biog by RC’s Kris Needs to add to the fact that the live shows have apparently never even appeared before on bootleg, this is a set that will have fans of mid-era Iggy slavering and barking along to the chronology of a man and artist who, during the 80s, was going through some seriously interesting times.

Easy Action | EARS 018 (6-CD+DVD)

Reviewed by Joe Shooman
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