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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 16, 2007
The title says it all. This is the way Rock n' Roll was meant to be: fast, sexy, hot, a little scary, fun, catchy, challenging, and a** scorching. RAW POWER is one of the best records for Rock lovers, but it's not for the weak kneed, lily-livered, or Punk pretenders. RAW POWER was Kurt Cobain's favorite record and is certainly THE STOOGES most musical effort. Despite RAW POWER's thin and not-so-greatly recorded sound, this is one of the most powerful and influential records in Rock. Re-mastered by Iggy Pop himself, this release has suffered a lot of criticism. I don't really care; it's what we've got to listen to, and the band was great and these performances monumental. I just want to listen to the music and I love it, imperfect as it may be. To the casual listener, the record's equal parts accessible and off-putting. RAW POWER might be my own personal favorite STOOGES album (check out FUN HOUSE, though, if at all interested in this band). But of their three albums, there is not a less than superb one. Iggy Pop brings a finesse to this record and production value that is not apparent on the first two STOOGES albums, even if THE STOOGES had to dissolve, reform under Columbia (and be promptly dropped by that label) to make it happen. I love the orgasmic celeste on "Penetration," the sure fire delivery of "Search and Destroy," the uncompromising sexiness of "Shake Appeal," and Iggy himself has specified that the epic "Death Trip" was about his expectation that this record would fail, yet once again the record has that ironic insight into the future influence of THE STOOGES few, but extremely important, recordings, as he sings "...we're going down in history..."
