If it wasn’t for upper level corporate cost cuttings, this LP would not exist. After leaving the Stooges in 1974 and eventually music all together in the early 1980’s, guitarist James Williamson worked his way up the ladder to become Vice President of Technology Standards for Sony. A few months after the untimely passing of original Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton, James accepted an early retirement incentive allowing him to terrorize stages again with his frantic Les Paul maulings. As sad as it was to lose Ron, it’s great to have Straight James back with his old delinquent pals.
In September 2010, the reconstituted Stooges took the stage at the All Tomorrow's Parties Festival in upstate New York to deliver the blitzkrieg assault of Raw Power in its entirety. Luckily for us the event was recorded and is being released on vinyl just in time for Record Store Day in April. Back in 1973/74 when Raw Power was a new release (and quickly dumped into the cut out bins) they only ever played about half the songs live. So how do they sound these days? Pretty fuckin good, and even better when you turn the stereo up.
Every bootleg I’ve ever heard of the band from 73/74 has always opened with “Raw Power” and this show is no exception. James may be a retired exec and family man but he can still fire up that riff at maximum throttle. The band sounds killer. Scott Asheton pounds the beat furiously and Mike Watt handle’s Ron’s killer bass lines well. Iggy’s voice is still in pretty good shape for a dude in his 60’s and he can still deliver lines like “Raw Power is a guaranteed O.D.” with supreme gusto. The great Funhouse era saxophonist Steve Mackay blows his horn adding some cool textures that haven’t been heard on this song before. Crashing right into “Search & Destroy” the band rocks like hell and it’s obvious the crowd is loving it.
Things slow down for the moody rocker “Gimme Danger” and James lets loose with a great solo at the end. The tempo kicks way up for a double dose of speed with “Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell” and “Shake Appeal.” Steve adds some great tenor sax to these and makes them rock even harder. James busts out a slide for the great slow blues “I Need Somebody.” But that’s just the calm before the storm.
Insane jams like “Penetration” and “Death Trip” were never performed live back in the 1970’s and it’s great to hear them get aired out. Both of these feature killer guitar work from James. The album wraps up with a frenzied take on “I Got A Right.” That song had an interesting history. Performed live by the 1971 line up when both James and Ron were playing guitar, later recorded in 1972 with James on guitar and Ron on bass but dumped from the live set and then remained unreleased until years later.
I’ve often wondered what would have happened if Raw Power had been recorded under more “normal” circumstances. The album would have greatly benefited if they were recorded like the first Montrose record or Mountain’s Climbing. The Stooges were a heavy band but the production of Raw Power obviously confused most rock fans of the time. Even though they basically invented punk rock, the Stooges were always at heart a kick ass hard rock band. Hearing them blast these songs loud n proud in front of a frenzied crowd confirms that.
--Woody
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