It brings them back to life in a manner that most fans - myself included - previously thought impossible. Performing the "Raw Power" album in its entirety at the All Tomorrows Parties festival in September of 2010, the 180-gram vinyl release (how perfect is that?) of "Raw Power Live: In the Hands of the People" does more than justice to punch-ups like "Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell" and "I Got A Right", or the dark, almost entrancing "Gimme Danger". Well, OK, that Pop's intense franticness and unbridled enthusiasm has never waned isn't exactly a secret. But most would also be surprised at just how well IGGY AND THE STOOGES 2010 brought these songs back to life and produced levels of live energy that belied the ages of guitarist James Williams (replacing the late Ron Asheton),bassist Mike Watt, drummer Scott Asheton, saxophonist Steve McKay, and the sinewy 63-year old epileptic seizure on wheels known as Iggy Pop. Most would agree that you just don't reproduce an album like "Raw Power" nor interpret it on stage three decades later, since what was captured all those years ago was never bottled and sold for mass consumption. The album filled a space within which the wheels always seemed on the verge of falling off, in the process keeping energy levels heighted in the most threatening of ways. There isn't a bum track in the bunch and James Williamson's guitar playing was just plain incendiary. 1969's self-titled album and 1970's "Funhouse" formed the proto-punk basis that inspired so many bands intrigued with the channeling of unfiltered primal rage into musical rituals of defiance and gang-banging celebrations of frontal lobe overrides.īut it was 1973's "Raw Power" from the renamed and reignited - thanks in large part to DAVID BOWIE - IGGY AND THE STOOGES when the stars aligned and out came a collection of songs that were as memorable, even catchy (the chorus to "Search and Destroy" is one for the ages) as they were grotesque (including the recording),savage, and repulsive to anything resembling societal convention. 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 you were there to experience the free form expression of primitive urges and the unchecked violence or only read about it in any one of numerous publications documenting punk rock's early history, you must be aware of the massive, transcendent influence of THE STOOGES. 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. But the most remarkable change came from the singer Raw Power revealed Iggy as a howling, smirking, lunatic genius. 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. In 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.
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