By the time this album arrived in stores in 1973, the Stooges had released two earlier LP records. Read elsewhere about lineup changes for this one, but suffice it to say that the gritty ethos Iggy Pop had established for his brand of rock music was still alive and well and in fact gaining strength. Some would say he was laying down the blueprint for what later became to be called "punk rock". Probably. Who cares, really? The fact is that this "style" was too — dare I say it? — raw — for the masses to digest. It had no chance of being played on the radio and therefore was by music-industry standards dead on arrival at the local music store. Iggy apparently did not care at all about that, and here is where that divergence is important. Suddenly we had "commercial" music that could not become massively popular. A niche market was born.
The songs are rightfully recongized as classics. There are only eight of them and although no one would call a four-minute song "punk rock" half of them exceed that length. These things are riff-based, primal rock that are topped with Iggy's own musings on various indulgences. They are surprisingly diverse in their presentations, even using acoustic guitars to vary the textures. There was no lack of forethought on the input side of the production.
But here is where the problem arises. The very first song, "Search and Destroy" literally sounds as though a four-year-old was allowed to man the mixing board. The vocals and lead guitar scream out of the speakers as if no one wanted to hear anything else. Maybe this was intentional, but seriously, just forget about this mix (credited to David Bowie) and refer instead to the 1997 re-issue that was re-mixed by Iggy himself. Why they used the vastly inferior orignal mixes on this "Legacy Editon" is beyond comprehension. The Iggy mixes actually sound like a band playing. They are appropriately gross and by his own description "violent" and they are reasonable representations of the songs. If you absolutely hate drums and bass guitar, please enjoy this current release. For the rest of us there is, thankfully, the earlier re-issue. It is still in print. And all of its sonic qualities blow away the Bowie mixes we are now faced with.
So if the original album presented here can be flushed down the pooper, what is left? Luckily, the second disc contains a raucous live show from a small Atlanta club. The sound quality here is sketchy at times, but features moments of brilliance — especially from the late Ron Asheton who plays aggressive bass guitar throughout. He is all but inaudible on the studio takes and here he shines as brightly as he did when playing lead guitar on the first two Stooges albums. There is also the bonus of Scott Thurston (now a member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) pounding furiously on a piano. This live document is in the end thoroughly redeeming. At the end of this disc we get a studio outtake of "Doojiman" that sounds way more like a Cramps song than a Stooges song, and a hissy reharsal tape of "Head On" that is both raw and powerful, in keeping with the theme of our Raw Power subject.
This article appears in Apr 14-20, 2010.
