The stooges raw power full album free#
Gradually its momentum and rage builds until you’re sent careening down the rapids, as Iggy’s elongated cries of " Daaaaaaangerrrr" stretch over Williamson’s free and monstrous riffs, creating an electrifying climax of extreme sonic bliss. This is one for lighting a candle, cutting the lights and letting the hypnotic sounds sail you down the river Styx. Second track ‘Gimme Danger’ is equally sinister and mighty, but at a steadier, more foreboding pace, with a seductive rhythm you can sink deep into. A cocaine hit of a song, it’s both euphoric and morose, and within it you have all the fundamental ingredients of punk. The brevity of Iggy’s growls and the hammering rhythm section compounds this blistering tempo, whilst its lyrics critiquing the heartless folly of the Vietnam war introduces Raw Power’s stark, nihilist lexicon. As soon as you lie down the needle you’re shot out of a cannon to hell by the introductory James Williamson riff, which sets the ferocious tone in the first 15 seconds of ‘Search and Destroy,’ soaring you off into the sky like an out of control jet plane. Out of this precarious crevice The Stooges crawled out and unearthed a mind blowing piece of art. With Bowie’s blessing, they signed to his management firm and acquired a record deal with Columbia Records: finally the canvas was positioned for new ideas and a raw rebirth. Iggy accepted, and this quirk of fate set the pieces moving for Raw Power’s creation. Bowie, being an avid Stooges fan, confronted Iggy, cajoling him to quit his addictions and make a new record in England. Fortunately, a chance meeting between David Bowie and Iggy in a New York nightclub changed the tide. Like so many others, this story was very nearly cut short by the scourge of heroin. The early 70’s was a time of great uncertainty for The Stooges of Detroit: following the commercial failings of their second album Fun House, they had sunk into an ever deepening abyss of drug addiction, which began to mar and rot their once renowned live performances, now barely able to keep to basic rhythms.
It embodies a rebellious spirit that rejects the brutish hegemony of monoculture and mono ways of being, holding an unapologetic disdain for the conformity and sterility that had come to plague society. A window into our most base urges, it reflects the darker side of our primal needs and desires, long before the preachings of Tyler Durden. Within its walls lie "street walking cheetahs", "the living dead", "sick boys" and "savage girls", and a carefree aggression that makes you feel 10 feet tall and bursting with carnal vitality. Released in 1973, this is a record that invites you down the black stone spiral staircase, a nose turned up to the white clouds and heavenly pastures of hippies and 60’s soft rock, and into the depths of the underworld. It felt like I’d been tapped on the shoulder and shown a different world. This image led me through a new unholy door, changing how I dressed, how I played the guitar and the content of my daydreams as I sat in early morning lectures nursing grisly hangovers. Topless and wearing thick eyeliner and red leather trousers, he looked like some kind of hellish god. Bathed in red-orange light behind a pitch black backdrop, the defiant glare and imperious pose of Iggy Pop instantly connected with me. But I’ll never forget the first time I saw Raw Power in the dusty window of Vinyl Exchange in Manchester Piccadilly. Album covers may not have the power and romantic grace they once did, when they sat on your coffee table and under your ashtray and morning paper an ever-present piece of art tied to memories of late nights and long dreamy afternoons.
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