Raw Power (Iggy & The Stooges, 1973)

Raw Power is an iconic crossroads of the old garage movement of the 1960's and the still-being-born punk movement of the 1970's. However it wasn't the most natural of albums. It was effectively born from the ashes of one of the most combustible proto-metal bands of the age, the Stooges. The Stooges managed two albums before finally collapsing in a heap of personal, professional, and substance-abuse issues. While not generating a whole lot of output, their two albums got them well-connected with bigger names in rock, such as the Velvet Underground and David Bowie. While bassist Dave Alexander and the Asheton brothers were good musicians, undeniably all the attention was on the antics of vocalist Iggy Pop. After a few years of who-knows-what, Iggy prepared to launch his solo career with a new guitarist, James Williamson, and production courtesy of Bowie. However, the search for a rhythm section brought the Ashetons back aboard (with Ron on the bass instead), and pretty soon it was clear this wasn't going to be a solo album, but the third Stooges album, albeit one with just Iggy on the cover and properly credited to "Iggy and the Stooges".

The passage of time (three years had elapsed since Fun House) was certainly a factor, along with the lineup configuration, in the stepped-up aggressiveness of this album over its predecessors. There aren't a lot of "extras" beyond the vocals-guitar-bass-drums configuration, and most of the songs don't mess around. I mean, one of the titles is "You're Pretty Face Is Going to Hell", miles removed from the detached-sounding names like "We Will Fall" and "Dirt" that peppered the first two albums. The production, of which a few mixes exist, is fairly awful, way mixing up Iggy and Williamson and squashing down the Ashetons, to the point where a number of the old fans, who saw the Ashetons as much "the Stooges" as Iggy Pop, cried foul. It's pretty clear that they were just a band-aid of sorts for this album and they were gone by the release of Kill City (co-credited to Iggy and Williamson), and Iggy Pop's "actual" solo albums that followed. The Stooges (minus Alexander, who was unceremoniously fired in 1970 and died in 1975) reunited a little while back, complete with the Ashetons. As if history was repeating itself, Williamson rejoined the band, after many years away from the industry, to keep things going following the death of Ron Asheton. Scott Asheton followed his brother into the hereafter a couple years later, leaving Pop and Williamson to continue an Asheton-less Stooges to the present.

Along with Fun House, this album was loaned to me by a friend who was barely able to squeak into one of their small-venue shows around the time of the reunion with the Ashetons. Lucky bastard!