Iggy & the Stooges - "Unrough Powder: The Trueborn Raw Power Mixes" (WAXEP001)

Well, well, well... Is there anything about "Raw Power" that hasn't been said or written yet, especially after all those previous years re-mixes, re-masters and re-issues? Quite honestly, no. I just deleted a 3000 words piece cause it had nothing utterly new to tell... Lester Bangs did it first and it sucked too some times. Come on, feel free to abuse me for the previous line but the best thing ever wrote (and it sums perfectly the punk rock attitude) was this Troggs appreciation (RIP Reg Presley) on Who put the Bomp... I hate the 'Funhouse' review!
Include ourselves of course to the above, cause if you can recall almost two years back to this day, we have tried to give you some of our postures on the subject by posting the rare original UK CBS vinyl. So?
So, we had absolutely nothing to discover hither, at least the we way did with "L.A.M.F."  and we knew that from the very start. It was however the natural next step for us to try something with "Raw Power". I mean, the similarities with "L.A.M.F." are spotless. A hugely influential rock & roll record, a blurry history/mythology, a long lasting 'bad production' debate, a 'Revisited' like attempt (Iggy's 1997 remix) and the most important thing, is 'the other' fave ever record for the Bobcat Twins (JP must own 20 different issues)!
What we also knew was that CBS was no Track at all. There were/are many bad pressed or bad transferred "Raw Power" editions around through the years (the first ever CD edition is a very good example) but if you're looking for secretly different mixes to be found somewhere, I'm sorry no such thing here (with the only known exception of "Search & Destroy" of the UK press). Actually what we had on our hands and deserved to be used for WAX-ing was the "Original Bowie mix" in some pleasant pressings, "Iggy's remix" which btw lead us to some arguments with JP (a VERY infrequent situation - I like it, he hate it) and the often bootlegged "Original Raw Power Mixes" again by Iggy, which in most cases were barely audible but never altogether compiled. Bomp's "Rough Power" had 'em all of course if you want to object, but this WEIRD reverb/echo storm throughout the songs presence, destroyed everything and makes us STRONGLY believe now that 'some hand' added these ridiculous and totally extraneous effects just to sound 'different'. Don't get us wrong, WE LOVE Bomp and you know it well BUT this is clearly some cook kind of thing.
There was no motivation for us to deal actually with the first two well known foresaid mixes and it's easily understood the reason why of this. All of them are in print now and most of the 'different' pressings have been posted on internet many times before. If we had to touch our hands somewhere there was only one path for us to cross. The one of the 'Original Mixes'.
So why an EP this time? Cause after countless conversations my buddy convinced me he was right. Quality over quantity as he wrote me! The often recycled WABX radio broadcast has a crappy sound in all cases/releases and any thought on using it, abandoned immediately. There's no need to represent something's not worth a shit (and it ain't won't worth a shit!). On the other hand what through the ages surfaced as what was Iggy's original essay that annoyed all the jerks at MainMan, were only four songs (Search & Destroy, Hard To Beat, Raw Power and Shake Appeal). We couldn't do much except to find the best ones. And that's what we did. Look no further, these are actually the best sounding survivors, scattered in four different and very hard to find now bootlegs plus the rare as hell "Search & Destroy" version of the UK press, for the first time all gathered in one!
We found A LOT entertaining the way we created the covers with this 'hostile to Bowie' approach. After all we're not his biggest fans, he-he... We sure like what he did at times, and as you perhaps, we both grew with his mix, that's what we learned to like and love but hey, this is an Iggy and the Stooges 'release', dedicated to the most furious rock & roll ever commited to tape, so a hate note and a sour feel it is incumbent upon, right? RIGHT!!!
And, oh! One more thing... The 'badly produced/recorded Ashetons' steam engine or the 'visionary' Bowie mix are in questioning with these tapes...Hear for yourself, and let us know!

"It wasn't about production and it wasn't about being popular. It was about this gut-level expression, almost like a soul singer. And it's no accident that it comes from Detroit". 

Rod Firestone, 

Rubber City Rebels