Iggy is one of the most awesome figures in rock ‘n’ roll, both in the colloquial and majestic senses of the term. Its real appeal, though - the appeal of all the bonus material - lies in beholding the spectacle of Iggy Pop. The Deluxe Edition also features a half-hour documentary on the making of Raw Power, which I suppose is reasonably entertaining and informative. Granted, the riff is pretty cool, and as time goes on, Iggy’s extemporaneous food-themed lyrics (“How about some tomatoes? Or maybe some hollandaise?” “) become weirdly hilarious. While the impression given is mostly one of noise and aggression, songs like “Search and Destroy” display a high degree of songcraft and planning, which something like “I’m Hungry” does not. If this sounds similar to the album itself, don’t be fooled. Most of the non-album songs are built around a repeated riff, over which Iggy rants and grunts. It’s less trying than the perversely comprehensive Fun House box set from a few years back, consisting of some alternate mixes of album tracks and some tracks that have trickled out on bootlegs and other releases of dubious legality. The third disc, featured on the Deluxe version, features studio outtakes from the Raw Power sessions. His speech following “Search and Destroy” is classic, starting with outright abuse and lascivious remarks before developing into a kind of free-association poem about Georgia peaches, then finally leading into “I Need Somebody”.
The addition of boogie-woogie piano to the band’s lineup highlights a connection with older forms of rock ‘n’ roll that otherwise wouldn’t be as immediately apparent, but the highlight is actually the stuff happening between songs, as the mics pick up comments from an audience clearly unprepared to receive Iggy’s message while Iggy baits them in turn. Predictably, it’s pretty unhinged, and though the sound is bootleg-quality at best, it’s certainly not unlistenable. Both the Legacy and Deluxe editions also feature Georgia Peaches, a live recording from Atlanta in 1973. There are two versions of this reissue coming out, though, with various configurations of additional material. So, there’s your 10 right there to begin with. Iggy’s old mix, by comparison, sounds a little too conventional for music this ferocious. Stripping down the music around them is an excellent case of less being more. It seems kind of tinny at first, but the real focus of the album lies in Iggy’s vocals and James Williamson’s stinging guitar leads. It pushes the vocals and guitar way out front, leaving the drums and bass just low enough to still be audible. The Bowie mix is better, as it happens, though it doesn’t necessarily seem like it should be. Originally much-criticized for being too trebly and thin, it gained some credibility after Iggy’s remix for a 1997 CD reissue attracted its own flak for being too shiny and digital. This new Cadillac reissue restores David Bowie’s original mix, which is apparently something of a big deal. It’s not fair that anyone gets to be as awesome as Iggy Pop. If it’s not the best, it’s only because the Stooges had already done it with Fun House. The album it’s from is Raw Power, and the 38 minutes of feral mania that follow constitute one of the finest, bloodiest Dionysian works of art ever made. “I’m a street-walkin’ cheetah with a hide full of napalm / I’m the runaway son of a nuclear A-bomb” is as undiluted and perfect a distillation of fuck-you rock ‘n’ roll attitude as anything Muddy Waters or Robert Johnson ever came up with. “Search and Destroy” is, of course, the all-time badass anthem.
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