![]() ![]() Raw power, the album that almost single-handedly detonated the punk-rock movement in the next few years after its release - became the album against which all others were measured, where it remains to this day. Like a lot of albums ahead of their time, upon initial release Raw Power was embraced by the forward thinking 'disenfranchised youth' world-wide - the punks in training, rather than the mass pop culture. Includes both the original 1973 David Bowie mix and the 1997 remix of the. Produced by Iggy Pop and mixed by David Bowie, it was the confluence of the Stooges' ages, hormones, creativity, ability, experience, tastes, lack of supervision, contempt for authority, and ambition that has made Raw Power one of the most influential albums of all time. Double 120gm vinyl LP pressing in gatefold sleeve. First released on Columbia records in 1973, the savagely bombastic Raw Power by Iggy and the Stooges is perhaps the first record that could truly be called punk. Then the world heard Pop’s painfully harsh and distorted version of Raw Power, and suddenly Bowie’s tamer but more dynamic mix didn’t sound so bad, after all.Nearly 45 year since the initial recording sessions began in the summer of 1972, the controversy surrounding Raw Power has never abated and has only added to the album's mythic status. In time it became conventional wisdom that Bowie’s mix spoiled a potential masterpiece, so much so that in 1997, when Columbia made plans to issue a new edition of Raw Power, they brought in Pop to remix the original tapes and (at least in theory) give us the “real” version we’d been denied all these years. [After its release, Iggy was known to complain that David Bowie’s mix neutered the ferocity of the original recordings. In many ways, almost all Raw Power has in common with the two Stooges albums that preceded it is its primal sound, but while the Stooges once sounded like the wildest (and weirdest) gang in town, Raw Power found them heavily armed and ready to destroy the world - that is, if they didn’t destroy themselves first. Whether quietly brooding (“Gimme Danger”) or inviting the apocalypse (“Search and Destroy”), Iggy had never sounded quite so focused as he did here, and his lyrics displayed an intensity that was more than a bit disquieting. Raw Power added guitarist James Williamson to the line-up and his leads made the Stooges sound even more aggressive. But the most remarkable change came from the singer Raw Power revealed Iggy as a howling, smirking, lunatic genius. During my days of listening to punk almost exclusively, all three Iggy and The Stooges albums were in heavy rotation, but the one I tended to skate to was Raw Power. From a technical standpoint, Williamson was a more gifted guitar player than Asheton (not that that was ever the point), but his sheets of metallic fuzz were still more basic (and punishing) than what anyone was used to in 1973, while Ron Asheton played his bass like a weapon of revenge, and his brother Scott Asheton remained a powerhouse behind the drums. By most accounts, tensions were high during the recording of Raw Power, and the album sounds like the work of a band on its last legs - though rather than grinding to a halt, Iggy & the Stooges appeared ready to explode like an ammunition dump. By this point, guitarist Ron Asheton and bassist Dave Alexander had been edged out of the picture, and James Williamson had signed on as Iggy’s new guitar mangler Asheton rejoined the band shortly before recording commenced on Raw Power, but was forced to play second fiddle to Williamson as bassist. Includes both the original 1973 David Bowie mix and the 1997 remix of the album. Rated 5 in the best albums of 1973, and 156 of all time album. ![]() Genres: Proto-Punk, Garage Rock, Hard Rock. Released in February 1973 on Columbia (catalog no. N 1972, the Stooges were near the point of collapse when David Bowie’s management team, MainMan, took a chance on the band at Bowie’s behest. Double 120gm vinyl LP pressing in gatefold sleeve. Raw Power, an Album by Iggy and The Stooges.
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