Matt Gimmick

“Detroit Renaissance ’79”

scum stats: 500 copies on black vinyl

Pretty smooth that HoZac released this under-the-radar Detroit punk-n-roll title from 40 years ago.

The gist of the story: two of the songs here (“Ya Don’t Want My Name” and “Rag”) were written and performed by the Stooges in their brief Williamson/Asheton dual guitar line up that lasted from late 1970 through mid 1971.

Somehow the guys from Matt Gimmick had access to live recordings of these songs (supposedly from a Birmingham Palladium in 1970) and then approximately 8 years later recorded their own versions.

Fully understanding that a translation is still markedly removed from the piece it reinterprets, as a certified Stooge-o-phile I cannot ignore that these are the closest approximations we may have to “proper” versions of these songs. I enjoy them wholeheartedly.

And yes, I know that the 1971 “You Don’t Want My Name, You Want My Action” box set on Easy Action contains some extremely ROUGH live recordings/interpretations of both these songs. But listening to those recordings is akin to being forced to look at the Mona Lisa through three layers of gauze…you can SENSE greatness was in the room, but it’s damn near impossibly to actually observe said greatness.

Anyway, a solid entry in the esteemed canon of Detroit guitar. Worth the pick up.