I did get the Stooges-the packaging is super well done, the vinyl color looks great, the audio quality is excellent, the material itself is so so. I know it would be utterly pointless for this boutique label to simply press Fun House itself, but this outtake compilation doesn't hold a candle to the actual album, despite being portrayed as such.
I also own the MC5 compilation (decent, some sound issues on side A-seems to be source material rather than pressing related), and the Secret Machines album (outstanding all around-ROGV's best release by FAR). The physical aspect (packaging and the vinyl itself) of all three that I own are phenomenal-a lot of care has been put into the presentation of these releases. But I have say that I feel slightly disappointed by the MC5 and Stooges releases in terms of material.
I haven't bought anything else because nothing else appeals to my tastes, and that also applies to the ballots as well-I don't vote most times because none of the choices appeal to me.
I guess that's my whole dichotomy with the ROGV experiment as a whole-it's both a success and a failure, both satisfactory and disappointing.
Their entire approach just feels off to me. Way to genre focused for my tastes (LOTS of soul and 70's rock on the ballots, whereas I think they could make a KILLING raiding the vaults on 90's and early 2000's stuff that's never been on vinyl before), very compilation and live album focused (only three of the 10 albums issued are full length studio albums), and they seem to push titles that they want more heavily (they've had the Meic Stevens on the ballot for the past 2 or 3 rounds, and there was another title (which I can't remember) that went through 2-3 rounds of voting and never even got voted in). The ballots should be a fresh slate of titles each time, as I see it.
I voted for Ministry this time around, but even that is a disappointment because it's not even the full Greatest Fits compilation-it's a 1LP distillation (13 tracks on the CD, 8 tracks on the proposed LP). So rather than offer up Filth Pig (random example) or another full length studio album by Ministry, we get a compilation that's then further distilled from the CD version (I voted before knowing this because I though it to be a convenient way to get most of Ministry's best tracks from that era on wax. Probably would've voted for Fear had I dug a little deeper). Meanwhile the Meic Stevens is an "expanded" 2LP version. Very, very weak.
I'll buy either Ministry (I still dig the selected tracks) or Fear (even if Lee Ving is an idiot) if they get voted in, but given how hard they are pushing for Meic Stevens, I would not be surprised if that gets the nod.
Yeah, ROGV, very hit or miss. But do know that if it is a title that you know you would like, you are very likely to get an extremely high quality product both in packaging and audio (MC5 notwithstanding).
