Iggy and the Stooges
Raw Power Live: In the Hands of the Fans
MVD Visual
Hard to believe it’s been over 30 years since the unleashing of Raw Power, which, even in its original, muddled mix, still illuminated the scene like a blowtorch in the dark. Equally amazing is this live performance of the record in 2010 for All Tomorrow’s Parties. This is how one imagines Iggy heard it all along – a massive wall of aggression, as in your face as anything produced by kids a third his age, a remarkable performance. The band, Pop, James Williamson on guitar, Steve Mackay on sax, and Scott Asheton on drums, hardly misses a lick, Williamson’s slashing guitar being driven by the maniac bass of Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE). This version has been together since 2003 (Williamson joined in 2009 after the death of Ron Asheton), and there is an enthusiasm here you don’t often witness in the returns of this era. The Stooges were never a commercial band, and their fans, well, the raunchier and sleazier the Stooges sounded, the better. They’ll eat this stuff up. There’s no shined up, Autotuned bullshit here, just a wall of Marshalls and a crazy man without a shirt.
Yeah, Iggy Pop played American Idol. He’s a legend, he can do whatever the fuck he wants. But Your Pretty Face is (still) Going to Hell.
Iggy and the Stooges: http://www.seeofsound.com
