His mix was a legendary fiasco, and the record flopped.įortunately, in 1997 Pop did his own remix, and the results are glorious. Pop's friendship with David Bowie had given him a second chance, so on the insistence of the record company Bowie was credited as producer and allowed to mix the record. (DBW)Īftering having been out of commission for a year, the group reformed to cut this absolute classic of the early punk movement. If punk had stuck to this blueprint, I would've listened to a lot more of it. Section is super-solid, the insistent riffs are endlessly enjoyable ("Down On The Street"), Pop's vocals are breathtakingly bizarre,Īnd thanks to the bare-bones mix you can actually hear what's going on. The long jams and nihilistic insanity remind me of Detroit-based acid rock contemporaries Funkadelic,īut at this point, the Stooges were better in every respect: Ron Asheton's much more versatile than Eddie Hazel, the pounding rhythm Sure, it's simple, but that's why it's so great: too often, studio experimentation is fun for the engineer but not for the listener. I don't have the debut and I only have the cruddy Bowie mix of Raw Power, but I love this record. Nothing too profound, but it's a textbook demonstration of how this band set the stage for the punk revolution. That leaves the seven-minute "Dirt" as the record's only other high point, with a funky, down-tempo beat, surprisingly melodic bass lines, and shimmering rhythm guitar parts.Īnd then there's the title track, with temporary member Steven Mackay adding a wild beatnik saxophone solo to an extended jam based on an ear-splitting riff. The shorter tracks are fun, but they all work with the same formula of primal drums, simplistic (if catchy) hooks, out-of-control guitar solos, and howling, incomprehensible vocals ("Down On The Street" "Loose" "1970," a rewrite of "1969"). Eye" is a classic on par with "I Wanna Be Your Dog," and the boys hurt their own cause with some overlong running times ("Dirt" title track) and a feedback-drenched, five-minute noise-making session ("L.A. The band's chops have improved somewhat, so the riffs are pretty strong, there are no foolish attempts at hippy-dippy studio experimentation, and the volume never drops below 11.īut the song material is actually weaker only the head-pounding "T.V. New producer Don Galucci lets them wallow in the last record's style, so they end up with a disorganized, blazingly loud, occasionally monotonous dollop of acid-metal-proto punk. There is one further Doors-style "psychedelic" ballad ("Ann"), but for the most part the record pushes rock's limits in a new and exciting direction, with several real keepers ("1969" "I Wanna Be Your Dog" the blues-based, super-heavy "No Fun" "Not Right"). On the other hand, Ron Asheton has a total mastery of late 60s hard rock guitar gimmicks - wah-wah, blazing distortion, the works the rhythm section gets across a fat, tribalistic beat that you can't ignore (the Chuck Berry/ Stones-influenced "1969") and Pop is a total maniac, screaming his head off and playing games with his huge range ("I Wanna Be Your Dog").īut the record is totally compromised by a ten-minute, " The End"-style experiment that consists of the band chanting a mantra while Cale saws his viola, Ron solos randomly, and Pop improvises knuckleheaded, mock-Morrison lyrics ("We Will Fall"). Nobody in the band seemed to be clear on the concept of song structure, so most of the head-pounding tunes are rudimentary rock 'n' roll riffs that sometimes shift to a chorus and sometimes don't. The Stooge's only collaboration with producer John Cale is a bizarre 60s artifact, groundbreaking but seriously flawed. Group split, 1971, reformed with Ron Asheton (now on bass), Scott Asheton, Pop, and Williamson, 1972. Dave Alexander (bass), Ron Asheton (guitar), Scott Asheton (drums), Iggy Pop (vocals).Īlexander fired, replaced by Zeke Zettner James Williamson (guitar) added, 1970. Both of them were signed by Elektra records, and the Stooges hooked up with ex- Velvet Underground bassist and neophyte producer John Cale. By 1968 two great proto-punk bands had taken Detroit by storm: the hyper-political MC5 and the younger, more nihilistic Stooges, led by wildman singer Iggy Pop.
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