Raw Power: Recharged

Raw Power,the immensely influential 1973 album by Iggy and the Stooges, will be re-released this spring as a two disc deluxe package. A FOUR disc "box set" edition of this punk cornerstone will also be available for all of us way over 20- sumthin' fanboys and streetwalkin' cheetahs.

"A double-disc "Legacy Edition" of the album, due April 13, will come packaged with a one-hour live CD, recorded in Atlanta in October 1973, as well as two previously unreleased studio tracks. The quadruple-disc "Deluxe Edition" includes everything that comes with the "Legacy Edition," as well as a CD of rarities taken from the "Raw Power" era and a DVD on the making of "Raw Power." It also includes a 48-page book and is packaged in a 7-inch square slipcase and will be released April 27th."

The first disc of the box set will contain the newly remastered Raw Power, featuring David Bowie’s original mix for the album that was previously out of print, while the second disc boasts the Georgia Peaches bootleg, comprised of an unreleased soundboard recording of a 1973 concert the Stooges performed in Atlanta, Georgia. Two more unreleased songs will grace the second disc: An Iggy Pop/James Williamson-penned outtake called “Doojiman” and a rehearsal performance of “Head On.” The third disc features four more outtakes — “I’m Hungry,” “I Got a Right,” “I’m Sick of You” and “Hey, Peter” — and alternate mixes of four tracks: “Shake Appeal,” “Death Trip” “Gimme Danger” and “Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell.”

Apparently, The box set will only be available thru The Stooges web site. OK, well... . shit..can you "get in line" at a web site? Or can I just hire some mall punk poisoned teenager to be my Stooge and man the phones for me on April 27, in exchange for me reprogramming he or she with a punk history lesson 101, thoroughly stripping Green Day and Fall Out Boy from the corners of their minds and replacing it w/ Iggy, the MC5 and The NY Dolls? I wanna be first..I wanna be their dog. so sign me up...This is gonna be a Stooges year...First, a 2- decade overdue induction to the RRHOF...one year too late for the dear departed Ron Asheton, then a "tour" with Raw Power guitarist and co-writer, punk pioneer and former recluse James Williamson who has spent the last 30 or so years  as an electronic engineer and worked in the computer industry. Williamson recently retired as Vice President of Technology Standards with Sony Electronics, Inc.

I do prefer the severely distorted and over-driven remix of Raw Power that Iggy remixed himself and released in 1997, but have never heard the version with Bowie's production, so this will be a treat. Gimme danger, little stranger.