Iggy & the Stooges - Raw Power

Iggy Bangs It Down and Tarts It Up

By the time The Stooges got around to...well, "recording" might not be appropriate...howzabout wrenching "Raw Power" out of the howling vortex of their scrap-heaped minds, hearts, and souls and foisting it on a woefully-unprepared and unsuspecting world, they'd stumbled through some of the dumbest, most abusive rock and roll ever waxed, high-strung poets of destruction hell bent on constructing their own insular us-against-the-world fraternity of the damned.

Paragons of drug-gobbling excess, they pretty much invented punk rock in an old farm house in Ann Arbor, Michigan with essential artifacts "The Stooges" and "Fun House," which simply defy any and every adjective, category, or genre thrown at them, both albums staring down certain ugly aspects of human nature that most people would rather not face, Ron Asheton wielding his guitar and wah pedal like a drunk with a straight razor, brother Scott taking the big beat and making it bigger, perpetually-sozzled bassist Dave Alexander deep in the quagmire somewhere, and Iggy Pop (deviant, gentleman, idiot, philosopher, devil, angel) snarling, shrieking, grunting, and freaking out like a perfect child of science whose circuits are frying.

Despite the demotion of Ron Asheton to bass in favor of future Brit-punk godhead James Williamson - who manages to hit notes and mash them at the same time - "Raw Power" still sounds appropriately extreme, from the cataclysmic title track, "Search and Destroy," "Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell," and "Death Trip" to "Gimme Danger" and "I Need Somebody," where Iggy croons like the ghost of Jim Morrison. It's the first great punk-guitar album, a roaring, glorious mess, an out-of-control classic that remains, for many, the greatest rock and roll record ever made, where melody, subtlety, and musicianship take a back seat to noise, power, and vitality in spite of - perhaps because of - the band reaching an advanced stage of chemically-induced schizophrenia.

Produced by Iggy and famously submerged in the mix after the event by David Bowie, this definitive remixed testament to the dumb geniuses of the Mid-West remains defiantly untamed and stands the test of time, the punks adopting Iggy as a kamikaze icon three or four years after its release, aping his kill-me-please stage stance and passing he and his fellow masters of unrestraint from elusive legends to myth.

Buy this album for your children today. It will prepare them for tomorrow.
October 30, 2008

Punk Classic

One of the first hard rock punk albums ever realesed. Realesed in 1973 the stooges album Raw Power is just one of those albums you cant be with out. From the heavy anti war rocker, "Search And Destroy", to the final track," Death Trip", the album is non stop punk rock classic buy today September 14, 2008

What the h@%%?

This page is supposed to be devoted solely to the sale of the now-deleted 1990 "Raw Power" CD. If you are looking for Iggy's mix (from 1997) and not Bowie's original mix (on the 1990 CD), tread carefully among the sellers' offerings on this page. September 8, 2008

not crazy about the mix, but it still kills

The songs are still great and Iggy's remix can't kill it. You can probably find used copies of the old CD with the original mix for cheap. Get both.

Then get Mighty High...In Drug City. June 20, 2008

BUY THE ORIGINAL VINYL INSTEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Music wise, this is great. Remastered wise, it sucks. I had a copy of this on vinyl before it was reissued on CD ($25 for a used copy back in 87), and loved it! It was gritty, noisy, and sounded low budget. The power of the band was obvious like in the days of Funhouse.

Years later, I bought this remastered CD because I wore out my vinyl copy. Ugh! What the hell was Iggy thinking? If it ain't broke, don't fix it! It's still noisy, but the feel of the original album is gone. Five stars for the musical content, zero for the remix. June 13, 2008

More reviews at Amazon.com ...