Customer Reviews

Raw Power (2 CD Legacy Edition)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The first thing you notice is the guitar; a virtuoso take on the classic trebly Chuck Berry/Keith Richards axis, but with a difference. It abrades against your ear, it's a little too dissonant to be conventional, it feels like a succession of paper cuts, and it has fought for space and beaten out victorious everything else on the tape -- bass, drums, rhythm guitar are reduced to a dull clatter behind the six string eruption. The next thing you notice is the voice, screeching out the lines that provide the title of this review; mixed co-equal with the guitar, it too abrades against the ear, while on key it sounds like its about to shatter, the sound not of a braggart but a warrior too long out on point and about to bust in a million pieces. It's 1973, and welcome to the first few bars of that most aptly titled record Raw Power.

The Stooges story has been told far too many times to be recounted here; suffice to say that by the time of Raw Power they had already broken more barriers in three or four years than any of their contemporaries, fusing psychedelic garage rock, proto-metal,free jazz, and avant-garde performance art out of Artaud's theater of cruelty with an absolute lack of self consciousness, their artier conceits always rooted in the perspective of messed up suburban Detoit high school drop outs too young to buy the false promises of the '60's. To call them punk, which they invented, sells them way short.

By the time they recorded this album, the sheer psychic pressure of their epochal live performances coupled with the world's indifference had led the band to snap -- heroin and recrimination had broken them up. Enter superfan David Bowie, then on the cusp of his Ziggy-era fame, who performed for the Stooges the same act of noblesse oblige he demonstrated to Lou Reed and Mott the Hoople, resurrecting their careers and giving them a chance to record. Cleaned up and reconstituted with new guy/virtuouso guitarist James Williamson on board and sharing the writing burdens, the Stooges went into the studio with actual songs, in contrast to their previous method of jamming while Iggy did his thing until songs emerged out of the muck. But what worked for Lou and Mott did not work for the Stooges.

On the surface, Raw Power sounded like a conventional hard rock album of '73, not the avant garage of the band's previous work. But Iggy's voice is too terrifying to fit that mold -- and the lyrics all convey the impression of a man in a car with no brakes careening down Dead Man's Curve, they are all about impending death, and celebrating it. Most importantly, there's the sound of the album. Until 1997, when Iggy rebuilt the tracks for reissue from the ground up, the officical word was something went horribly wrong in the mix, with Bowie and Iggy each pointing fingers at the other. The rhythm tracks are way in the background, the vocals are alternately too far up front or too recessed, and Williamson's explosive leads bore a hole through the listener's eardrums, as they are so far up in the mix the album sounds like a free-jazz/metal guitar solo with the other elements darting in and out of the background. Humorously, because a generation of postpunk musicians grew up thinking this sound was not bad, but in fact extraordinary, post punk avant garage groups like Sonic Youth and Black Flag deliberately began to emulate the Raw Power mix in the '80's, and a whole lo-fi No Wave movement was born.

Bowie's effort at rehabbing the band was a fiasco -- the record, messed up mix and depraved vision sank like a stone, the band's performances degenerated into fabled brawls with hostile audiences, and the band, ironically clean at the time they made this hellhound-pursued record, sank back into addiction and dissolution, with Iggy eventually homeless and then insitutionalized, with several lost years passing till he rose like a phoenix to reclaim his crown, but now as a solo. Raw Power did the band in, and its very sound forecasts the autodestruction. That's one thing that makes Raw Power special

Like I said, in '97 Ig re-mixed the record for the alt-rock generation, and the result was greeted with hossanahs. Crunching rhythm guitar riffs hitherto unhearable moved to the foreground with the bass and drums; Iggy's voice now had a tremendous presence, and many of his spontaneous grunts, cries, exhortations, vocalise, his famed shamanistic "composing at the mike," was restored. The record now had the sonic ambience of a live band in a room rather than demons clattering in a wind tunnel in one of Hades' dicier neighborhood. Most significantly, Williamson's lead guitar, the elephant in the room on the original album, was restored to parity with the other instruments. The only nay-sayers were the other Stooges, all of whom went on record as saying they detested what Iggy wrought with his tinkering. He made Raw Power into a normal-sounding punk rock record.

Now we can judge for ourselves who was right, Iggy or the Stooges. Sony Legacy has released the original 1973 "Bowie" mix. For years, I too thought the new version was a vast improvement, despite the fact I had grown up on my vinyl copy of the caterwauling original. But a couple of days of deep listening and comparison of the two version has restored the Bowie mix to preeminence. This is not, and never was, a normal record. This is an extreme record, a documentary snapshot of a band on a "death trip" (song title), sounding like they are on the ragged edge of nowhere. Only the original version preserves that deviant, demented quality. Accept no substitutes.

BTW, Sony has generously added a live show from '73 in Atlanta that adds little to the legacy, except for some prime audience-baiting from the Ig; the double-disc is at single disc price, however.

DISC 1

The first disc features the long out-of-print Bowie mix of the album and it never sounded better; certainly, this re-mastering is a vast improvement over the previous CD version, being far clearer and with a better lower-end response than before. Of course, it could never reach the bass intensity of the more readily up until now available Iggy Pop remix from 1997, but this version was way overdue for a face lift and it has finally come to pass.

Which version (Bowie or Pop) is better? The answer to that question will always lie with the beholder. To my mind, both versions are indispensable and now they are both available (if purchased separately) in the best sound possible to date. Sony really dropped the ball on this however. Raw Power clocks in at 34 minutes and only the Bowie version is provided here making for a first CD that is only a little bit over a half hour. With all the space necessary and no licensing problems involved, why is the Pop version not featured here for comparison?

DISC 2

No complaints for this one. So very little of the early live Stooges survives. What does is generally from acceptable to point-blank awful in quality and have been issued as bootlegs or semi-legal releases. This new set finally brings a well-recorded live show into the light after all these years of collecting dust in the Sony warehouse. While it is not quite a "soundboard" super-sounding live recording, it is close enough to hear what the original Stooges sounded like back in the day... far better and best available of any 70s live Stooges recording to date (so stop your bitching). It is a most excellent concert, lasting nearly an hour with Iggy Pop in confrontational fine form. On a technical note, there were some problems with James Williamson's guitar that night during the first 10 minutes or so, but they were resolved and his slash-and-burn pyrotechnics never sounded better.

This disc is finished out with two unreleased tracks: Doojiman and Head On. The former is truly an outtake; recorded at the time the rest of Raw Power was and probably omitted because it didn't "flow" with the rest of the album. That said, the acrobatic Iggy Pop vocal work on this track is probably the most extreme and enjoyable of all studio tracks he ever recorded. The latter track is an outtake from one of the famous CBS sessions with Scott Thurston on piano, recorded subsequent to the release of Raw Power. It does not sound like it has been issued before on one of the many bootlegs from this time period. While a little out of place, it rounds out a fine disc.

Highly recommended to all, completists, fans and newcomers.

FYI

For completists, there is yet another CD entitled Rough Power on Bomp Records and featuring very early, pre-Bowie/pre-Pop mixes from early 1972. While the sound quality on this is merely adequate, if you have to have it all, get this too.

Finally I can finally listen to my favorite album the way it is supposed to sound. This new re-issue sounds almost identical to the original 1973 version and nothing like the 1997 version...thank God.

I never understood why everyone (rock critics) where so whiny about the "Bowie Mix". Way to much was made of it's alleged inferiority. If it was so bad then why is this one of the most beloved records of all time? I thought the mix was highly creative and made the band sound sinister, mysterious and electrifying. I really love how this album has a sense of urgency and it continually surprises you. And that's exactly what resurfaces in this newest release. "Raw Power" is a phenomenal record.

The live disk "Georgia Peaches" is easily the best Stooges live album besides "Metallic K.O" but "Georgia Peaches" has much better sound quality. This is the first and only recording you can actually....clearly hear Ron Asheton play bass on. Ron's bass style and attack rivals and sometimes overpowers James Williamson guitar and the result is thrilling. The band sounds really tight and the crowd is engaged making this a stand alone Stooges record and not unnecessary fluff or filler.

And we get a fully mixed outtake "Doojiman" form the original Raw Power. The Stooges had a habit of ending there albums with a free form jam and "Doojiman" is very much like "L.A. Blues" or "We Will Fall", and I wish they would have left it on the original record. Stooges fans will already be familiar with the version of "Head On" as it has appeared on previous compilations.

The "Raw Power" re-issue is well thought out and doesn't disappoint.

This remastered edition actually seems to have less bass and stereo dynamics than the original 1990 CD pressing from Columbia which included the Bowie mix. All they seemed to have done here was master the album at a higher volume, then compress the frequencies and trim off lots of the low end to avoid digital distortion. While it sounds a bit cleaner, that is only because the bass rumble which gave the original 1990 pressing more power has been toned down significantly. One noticeable correction is that Iggy's burp in the beginning of "Raw Power" has been restored as it is on the original vinyl pressing, but again, the end result is still just tons of mid, no high end, and now even LESS bass than before.

Nostalgia seems to go along way when looking back on our favorite music. Sometimes at the expense of fact and circumstance. To call the Bowie mix the "original" mix is a misnomer. First of all the 1973 Pop mix is the original which is available on disc as Rough Power from Bomp Records. this is the ORIGINAL version that CBS and Mainman entertainment balked at and refused to release. Bowie, being the one who put Iggy and the Stooges on the Mainman/CBS roster was then asked/demanded to fix the problem but at a severe handicap: one day to do it, no money to do it with and on severely outdated recording equipment to do it with. As Iggy Pop recalls:

"To the best of my recollection it was done in a day. I don't think it was two days. On a very, very old board, I mean this board was old! An Elvis type of board, old-tech, low-tech, in a poorly lit, cheap old studio with very little time. To David's credit, he listened with his ear to each thing and talked it out with me, I gave him what I thought it should have, he put that in its perspective, added some touches. He's always liked the most recent technology, so there was something called a Time Cube you could feed a signal into -- it looked like a bong, a big plastic tube with a couple of bends in it -- and when the sound came out the other end, it sort of shot at you like an echo effect. He used that on the guitar in "Gimme Danger," a beautiful guitar echo overload that's absolutely beautiful; and on the drums in "Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell." His concept was, "You're so primitive, your drummer should sound like he's beating a log!" It's not a bad job that he did...I'm very proud of the eccentric, odd little record that came out."

Bowie later recalled:

" ...the most absurd situation I encountered when I was recording was the first time I worked with Iggy Pop. He wanted me to mix Raw Power, so he brought the 24-track tape in, and he put it up. He had the band on one track, lead guitar on another and him on a third. Out of 24 tracks there were just three tracks that were used. He said 'see what you can do with this'. I said, 'Jim, there's nothing to mix'. So we just pushed the vocal up and down a lot. On at least four or five songs that was the situation, including "Search and Destroy." That's got such a peculiar sound because all we did was occasionally bring the lead guitar up and take it out..."

CBS even requested or demanded if you will, that the album Raw Power contain at least 2 ballads. I can't even begin to think who the heck in their right mind would even request such a thing from a band like the Stooges. But comply they did...in a very Stooges way. The Bowie mix is a compromise mix. Record companies are in the business of selling records and the Stooges had been dropped by Elektra for this very reason: lack of interest=very poor sales. Bowie softened the mix and I believe in all fairness was honestly trying to help the Stooges by making their sound more accessible. And...it didn't work. It is the equivalent to trying to tame a tiger so that the audience won't run out of the circus tent in fear for their life. 23 years later and Sony with it's newly minted Legacy imprint, approaches Iggy to remaster the now better late than never classic album to his specifications and set the record straight. The 1997 Pop mix is the equivalent of letting the tiger out of the cage and then kicking it in the ass on it's way out. We can only speculate and take Pop on his word that this is the way he originally wanted the album to be mixed and thus enjoyed if elements like being at a career cross roads, label pressure, a band that still had an acidic relationship, Iggy's authority issues and...well heroine hadn't factored into the genesis of Raw Power.

Is the newer Bowie mix remastered? Yes, and it does sound the better for it in regards to it's previous incarnations ie: the vinyl and 1990 CD releases. Does it do the music and musicianship justice? No, and both Bowie and Pop agree with that in some regards. Does the '97 Raw Power give a better representation of the craftsmanship of the songs? I say yes. But this is my preference in the way I want to listen to it. I like the anger levels of it. No, there is NO sound clipping on this master as some might have you believe. Distortion yes and in heavy doses. But the CD does not sound clip (regarding the '97 mix). Listen carefully and you can ascertain this: guitar distorts at certain peaks yet Iggy's vocals do not. Ever. This is purposeful analog distortion to give this album a sonic "coming apart at the seems" feel. And it works. There is much more breadth and nuance now to the songs and the rest of the bands playing, especially the bass and drums which as compared to the Bowie mix are damn near non-existent on several tracks. The two songs that benefit the most from the '97 mix are "Give Me Danger" and "Penetration" with the now very clear Xylophone brought up to audible levels. And personally I can not picture "Shake Appeal" without the "1 2 3" count off that ignites it. Is the '97 Pop mix original? No. But neither is the '73 Bowie mix. It was just the first one released. And the one that conjures the most nostalgia from it's fans. That their are fans of this classic and very import record is the most important part. Let them have their versions that mean the most to them.

I'm giving the remaster Bowie mix 4 out of 5 based simply on the mix itself. the music gets 5 stars. No, 6 as far as I'm concerned.

The Iggy mix is good, but not the same as what screamed out of our stereos in the early seventies. At the time, I thought the Bowie mix was unnerving and haphazard, but it lent to its underground vibe. Now it seems perfectly suited to it's unique place in rock music history. In an interview given to the online music magazine PSF, original Stooge, the late Ron Asheton (when asked about the two mixes) said the following:


...[Producer] Don Fleming said to me "When you hear that remix that they did, you're gonna say that you love that original David Bowie mix of Raw Power!" When I finally heard it, I call up Don and say "I really love that original David Bowie mix of Raw Power!" It's the gospel truth. All Iggy did was take the smoothness off James' guitar and made it sound jerky and horrible. He put EVERY F.....G MOAN AND GROAN AND WORD he said back in the tracks and that's his mix. I went "HUH? Oh, man..." Other people were saying "If they could only remix that record." Now, when they all hear it, they say the same thing. "I really love that original David Bowie mix of Raw Power!" I swear to God it's true...


The best way to think of the two mixes is like seeing George Romero's original Night of the Living Dead in all it's low budget but jarring glory (as the original Bowie mix), and the various remakes of NOTLD - take your pick - (as the Nineties/Iggy mix). I own every version of this album including: 1)the original vinyl album (which I bought when it came out), 2)the first cd release years ago (Bowie mix), 3)the Iggy Mix from the late nineties, and 4) the current newly remastered original mix. This version is a cleaner sounding version of the original vinyl. Revisionism is funny. People change history to fit there own biases. Those of us who actually owned the album can tell you this is what we heard and loved. The reality of the original mix is that Bowie and Iggy were both in the room (entire mix lasted less than a day), in Iggy's words "with four hands" on the controls. Search and Destroy is really the only song people scratch their heads over (it's the only song Iggy insisted on his own first mix attempt)- the bass is mixed to almost nothing and the guitar sounds like a chainsaw (probably purposeful). Not so with the rest of the album where the mix is more conventional. As for the live bonus disc, it's a great coda for this particular incarnation of the Stooges, but bootleg quality.

As we know this is a great album but the remixing sounds horrible, i'm just wondering did it always sound this muffled? The bonus disc is cool, it's great to hear iggy berate the audience not to mention its a pretty decent soundboard recording, i think theres a bit of distortion near the end. The live disc also has great longer versions of raw power tracks before they were presumably told to edit them in the studio.

5 stars for the album's music 2 stars for the remix and for the second disc 5 stars great live show and two bonus tracks.

Drenched in iconic and infamous legend, it may be hard to believe that this early 1973 release was close to being buried in a vault and was such a Billboard chart failure (peaking at a sluggish #182) that - for years - domestic record buyers were relegated to searching import bins to find a copy.

The Stooges were known as the midwest version of The Doors during their first run through a self-titled debut (1969) and Fun House (1970), before imploding due to many demons found outside the band's home of Ann Arbor, Michigan. David Bowie's MainMan Management signed the group, which was initially down to Iggy Pop and new guitarist James Williamson. The duo eventually added former Stooges Ron Asheton (switching from guitar to bass) and Scott Asheton (drums).

Produced by Pop, his initial mix was deemed inferior by MainMan and - under the threat that the album was not going to be released - agreed to have Bowie remix seven of the eight tracks (Pop's "Search and Destroy" remained), which was done in one day. The original Pop mix has been released ("Rough Power"), along with his 1997 remix, but the fast work by Bowie to salvage the project is superior.

Though marred by technical difficulties, the October 1973 gig in Atlanta, Georgia, features a motivated Pop and Ron Asheton proving beyond any doubt that he was one of the best bassists during this wild decade for rock music. That the tape languished in a vault and not cleaned up through studio overdubs is an incredible upside, since there is minimal quality recordings which capture The Stooges in their performance art glory. An outtake from the "Raw Power" sessions - the cool jam "Doojiman" - and a rehearsal of "Head On" conclude this second disc.

That it took a small, but determined fan base to keep this album available is a testament to a time long ago; that it stands the test of time speaks loudly that those voices knew what they were talking about.

This sounds *slightly* better than the original CD (as far as I can tell). Why even bother to say it was remastered?

I've owned this since 1976 and found it difficult then and now to listen too in its entirety. Recording quality is splattered in 360 directions. It certainly has its moments. Gimme Danger-incredible and can't be without while Doojiman is nonsense and much like Mott the Hooples' "The Wheel of the Quivering Meat Conception"

Part way through listening to this I was politely asked to put on my head phones.

You may want to do the same to protect your family and neighbor's mental sanity.

Not for the trepid.