News

Fans of The Stooges, get ready for a rush: Legacy Recordings is reissuing Raw Power, one of the most iconic pre-punk rock records of the 1970s. And hardcore fans are going to drool over the goodies that are coming their way.

The standard set is going to be a two-disc Legacy Edition (you know, the ones in a double digipak with a slip case). On the first disc is the original album as originally mixed by David Bowie. This is a really big deal, as the last time Legacy reissued the record in 1997, it was presented in a new “violent” remix by Stooges frontman Iggy Pop. Audiophiles have lambasted this release, largely considered to be the loudest-mastered CD in history. (According to Legacy, that version will actually still be in print.)

In addition to the original mix, another disc rarities is included. In this case, it’s a soundboard recording of a heavily-bootlegged live show recorded in Atlanta in 1973, several months after the release of Raw Power. The nine-track set features four songs from Raw Power as well as a few new tracks written on the road and later immortalized on releases such as the live set Metallic K.O. in 1976. The disc closes out with two previously unreleased tracks: an unreleased outtake from the Raw Power sessions and a rehearsal version of “Head On” from the album. The package is also bolstered with a booklet featuring essays by journalists Kris Needs (author of Joe Strummer and The Legend of The Clash and Keith Richards: Before They Make Me Run) and Brian J. Bowe (original managing editor of the Web site for CREEM) as well as surviving Stooges Pop, Scott Asheton and James Williamson.

But hardcore fans are going to want to check out the Deluxe Edition of Raw Power,available April 27 only through online ordering. This box set takes the complete contents of the Legacy Edition and adds in another two discs of goodies and some neat swag. The third disc compiles eight rare and unreleased tracks from the Raw Power sessions, including a few remixes from a rare U.K. pressing of the record. (Almost none of this stuff is present on the massive, band-sanctioned-but-probably-only-semi-official Heavy Liquid box set released in 2005 on Easy Action Records.) Disc 4 is a DVD documentary on the album featuring interviews with the surviving Stooges, Johnny Marr and Henry Rollins as well as performance footage recorded in Brazil last November. Also included are another 48-page book featuring more essays and photographs, a batch of collectible 5×7 prints and a reproduction of the Japanese 7″ single of “Raw Power” b/w “Search and Destroy.”

Talk about putting the power back into Raw Power. Full track listings for both sets are after the jump.

RAW POWER: LEGACY EDITION

Disc 1*

1. Search and Destroy
2. Gimme Danger
3. Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell
4. Penetration
5. Raw Power
6. I Need Somebody
7. Shake Appeal
8. Death Trip

Disc 2: “Georgia Peaches” Live at Richards, Atlanta – October 1973**

1. Introduction
2. Raw Power
3. Head On
4. Gimme Danger
5. Search and Destroy
6. I Need Somebody
7. Heavy Liquid
8. Cock in My Pocket
9. Open Up and Bleed
10. Doojiman (outtake from Raw Power sessions, 1972)
11. Head On (CBS Studio rehearsal performance, New York City, 1973)

* – originally released as Columbia 32111, Feb. 1973
** – previously unreleased

RAW POWER: DELUXE EDITION

Discs 1-2: Raw Power: Legacy Edition

Disc 3: Rarities, Outtakes, & Alternates from the Raw Power Era

1. I’m Hungry (Session Outtake)*
2. I Got a Right (Session Outtake)*
3. I’m Sick of You (Session Outtake)
4. Hey, Peter (Session Outtake)*
5. Shake Appeal (Alternate “Embassy Reels” Mix)**
6. Death Trip (Alternate “Embassy Reels” Mix)**
7. Gimme Danger (Alternate mix from the 1996 “violent” remixes)
8. Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell (alternate mix from the 1996 Iggy “violent” remixes)

Disc 4: The Making of Raw Power (DVD)

Documentary produced and directed by Morgan Neville (featuring interviews with Iggy Pop, James Williamson, Scott Asheton, Mike Watt, Johnny Marr, and Henry Rollins; plus performance footage from James Williamson’s first reunion concert with Iggy and the Stooges, at Festival Planeta Terra, São Paulo, Brazil, November 2009).

Additional box set features:

• 48-page softcover book with essay by Henry Rollins; photographs by Mick Rock, Robert Matheu & more; testimonials by Lou Reed, Joan Jett, Tom Morello & more
• Five exquisite 5×7-inch prints, suitable for framing
• Japanese pic-sleeve 45 single repro: “Raw Power” b/w “Search And Destroy”