Warthur The original Metallic KO purported to be a release of the Stooges’ catastrophic final show, but in fact was extracts two different shows - both marred by horrendous amounts of hostility between the audience and the band - edited together. The two-CD version of the album finally gives Stooges fans the proper historical context by presenting both shows in as complete versions as exist.

The earlier show documented on here is disappointing - personally, I’d have booed this limp performance, even accounting for the shaky recording quality. Except for the opening of Heavy Liquid, the Stooges seem to be phoning it in, their languid and sloppy renditions of their Raw Power-era material lacking the energy and fury both of the album and of their legendary live performances from earlier in their career. The addition of Scott Thurston to the lineup on boogie-woogie piano is an interesting idea which just doesn’t work, and adds to the impression that the Stooges have vanished and been replaced by a lame bar band. Some of Iggy’s baiting of the audience is interesting to listen to, but since you can’t hear the heckling it’s a one-sided experience which doesn’t really give you much of an impression of what the audience were so angry about, but I guess the miserable state of the band might have had something to do with it.

The final show itself is a bit more interesting - Scott Thurston integrates into the band better, and Iggy seems to be more on the ball, and the sheer guts of the band to keep playing under the shower of debris that the audience was pelting them with on that fateful night is laudable. There has never been a more honest declaration of punk defiance than Iggy’s thunderous “ONE... TWO... FUCK YOU PRICKS!” count into Cock In My Pocket. But on balance, the sound quality is poor, better studio demos exist of the new tracks showcased, and on the whole the recording is more of a historical curiosity than a musically entertaining experience. The very definition of collectors only, and if you are this much of a collector you may as well get the You Think You're Bad Man boxed set which collects five shows from this era - including these two - in a cost-effective set which gives you as much live Raw Power-era Stooges as you could want.