Iggy Pop & The Stooges: Raw Power (2LP, David Bowie mix + Iggy Pop mix) [LEGACY/COLUMBIA]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set puts both remastered mixes side by side in a gatefold jacket with a 16-page booklet. The Guardian calls it one of the most influential records in rock history, and its guitar sound shaped the Sex Pistols, Johnny Marr and Kurt Cobain.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Both the 1973 David Bowie mix and the 1997 Iggy Pop mix
• Remastered
• Gatefold jacket
• 16-page booklet

About the album

By 1972 the Stooges had technically broken up, so Iggy Pop flew to London as a solo artist on Columbia with guitarist James Williamson. When they couldn't find an English rhythm section, Williamson suggested calling Ron and Scott Asheton, and the band came back to life under a new name, with the elder Asheton, the band's founding guitarist, switching to bass.

Iggy and Williamson wrote all eight songs and cut them at CBS Studios in London that autumn. Columbia wanted a ballad on each side, so Iggy obliged with "Gimme Danger" and "I Need Somebody," then surrounded them with "Search and Destroy," "Shake Appeal," the title track and "Death Trip." David Bowie mixed it in Los Angeles, running the guitar on "Gimme Danger" through an echo box Iggy said looked like a big plastic tube, and making Scott Asheton's drums sound, in his words, like someone beating a log.

It became one of punk's founding documents years before anyone used the word. Bowie did his mix in a single day; Iggy took 24 years over his. Both turned out rather well.

Also at Kops: more Iggy Pop on vinyl · browse Punk

Tracklist

Listen

On Columbia / Legacy (cat# 88691959351), a reissue of the 1973 album.