Iggy and the Stooges 3rd album Raw Power has always been a hotly debated album. While the music on it is uniformly excellent, there have always been issues with the mixing. The original release was mixed by David Bowie and he basically made it very treble heavy with the rhythm section almost unnoticeable. When the album was being remastered in 1997 Iggy was put in charge and he basically made the loudest mix possible. Every aspect was pushed into the red, distortion was heavily prevalent and purists were pissed. That version of Raw Power is the way I first heard the album and it's been the way I've listened to it ever since. The 2010 Legacy Edition restores the original Bowie mix while pushing the bottom end up in the mix enough to make it noticeable but still not prevalent.
I personally prefer the '97 mix. If you've never heard Raw Power before I highly recommend checking it out. The songs are incredibly hard hitting, Iggy is vocally insane and his mix really pushes everything over the top. "Search and Destroy," "Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell," the title track and "Death Trip" deserve to be heard at maximum insanity and the creepiness of "Gimmie Danger" is much more affective at full blast. The Bowie mix is not bad by any means and is much closer to what the original release sounded like but a lot of the (for lack of better words) raw power of the music is sacrificed. It's still rougher than anything else released in the early 70's but I just can't see myself coming back to the Legacy version when I could experience the insanity of the Iggy remaster.
The Legacy Edition also features a second disc of live recordings in addition to the Bowie mix. While it's nice to have this in an officially released form, there are plenty of bootlegs of live Stooges recordings from this time period out there and the material doesn't reveal anything fascinating.
The Legacy edition is great for purists and for anyone curious to hear what the original release sounded like. Newcomers and people like me who are used to the Iggy mix will want to stick with that version. There's just something to be said for the level of noise that comes with it. I can't recommend Raw Power itself enough (in either version) but if you've never heard it before the Legacy edition is probably not the way to start.
Ratings:
Album itself 5/5
Legacy mix 3.5/5
Track Listing
1. "Search and Destroy" - 3:29
2. "Gimme Danger" - 3:33
3. "Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell" - 4:54
4. "Penetration" - 3:41
5. "Raw Power" - 4:16
6. "I Need Somebody" - 4:53
7. "Shake Appeal" - 3:04
8. "Death Trip" - 6:07
Bonus Disc
1. "Introduction" (Live At Richards, Atlanta, GA: October 1973) - 0:22
2. "Head On" (Live At Richards, Atlanta, GA: October 1973) - 5:47
3. "Raw Power" (Live At Richards, Atlanta, GA: October 1973) - 9:14
4. "Gimme Danger" (Live At Richards, Atlanta, GA: October 1973) - 7:58
5. "Search and Destroy" (Live At Richards, Atlanta, GA: October 1973) - 7:25
6. "I Need Somebody" (Live At Richards, Atlanta, GA: October 1973) - 6:16
7. "Heavy Liquid (Live At Richards, Atlanta, GA: October 1973) - 7:40
8. "Cock In My Pocket" (Live At Richards, Atlanta, GA: October 1973) - 3:54
9. "Open Up and Bleed" (Live At Richards, Atlanta, GA: October 1973) - 10:23
10. "Doojiman" (Outtake From The Sessions For "Raw Power") - 4:04
11. "Head On" (Rehearsal Performance) - 5:40
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