Listening to
Raw Power thirty seven years after its release is quite a different experience than it was in 1973 when it first hit shelves, for sure. So much in the music world has changed: bands have hit and faded, styles have come and gone,
basketball players have tried to rap. What hasn't changed is the influence it and the band who recorded it has had on other musicians.
Although
Iggy and the Stooges weren't long for this world (only six years and three albums in their first run), the ramifications of their music would produce aftershocks for years to come. Now lauded by many as the progenitors of the punk rock movement, the group brought forth a sound that, at the time, wasn't all that well received, either by critics or the listening public in general. Although it sounds rather tame by today's standards, Raw Power was an album that was so unlike the other music being spun in February of 1973. Recorded and then mixed under the hands of
David Bowie, the album was one that sold very poorly, and the band lost their contract with Columbia Records soon after. It's story doesn't end there though, and it's been cited by numerous artists as artistically influential in their own development, including
Kurt Cobain (who named it his favorite album ever),
Henry Rollins (who has
Search and Destroy, the title of one of the album's songs, tattooed on his body), and
Steve Jones of
the Sex Pistols.
And now, after the band was inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year, the album has been re-released through
Sony's Legacy label in a few different editions. The most basic is a 2 disc release which features the original album on disc one and a live recording from October of 1973 when the band was touring in support of the album on disc two (as well as two bonus studio outtakes). The second edition is a massive four disc affair that looks like this:
It includes the two discs on the smaller edition, an additional audio disc that includes rarities, outtakes and alternate versions, an additional DVD documentary which includes interviews with
Iggy Pop, James Williamson, Scott Asheton, Mike Watt, Johnny Marr and
Henry Rollins, a 48 page soft cover book, and a handful of 5"x7" prints. (
investigate it further here)
Either way you go you're getting your hands on a seminal album that belongs in everyone's collection. And the beauty of these Legacy editions is that you get additional music without the additional cost.
