Running raw
At this point, it’s almost cliché to heap plaudits upon The Stooges’ 1973 album Raw Power, but its recent re-release in the form of a new two-disc Legacy Edition and a three-disc Deluxe Edition gives us even more reasons to keep doing just that. Both packages feature a live recording of the band’s 1973 Atlanta performance called “Georgia Peaches,” which (aside from showcasing Iggy Pop’s bellicose stage presence and his desire to stick things into other people’s asses) boasts superb piano and bass presence. It also demonstrates the band’s great contradiction—how it sounded great even at the height of dysfunction. The best part of both packages is Mark Wilder’s remaster of Raw Power, which finally delivers a beefy, satisfying mix to replace the famously disastrous mixing done by David Bowie in 1972, and later by Iggy Pop in 1996. This slick new edition furthers the case for Raw Power as The Stooges’ greatest work—as if there was any question.