I've often wondered why The Stooges album Raw Power sounded so bad. It's always bothered me for some reason. Why does it sound so muffled? Nobody really talks about it. Most people revere the album unabashedly, which is perfectly understandable. But my ears have always said what the heck is going on here, where are the drums? Where's the bass? I finally got fed up and did some research.
As it turns out, Iggy decided to mix the album himself and something went haywire. According to my research, Iggy bounced tracks when maybe he wasn't supposed to and as a result he reduced his mixing options. He gave the master to David Bowie to mix.
Bowie's quote:
"the most absurd situation I encountered when I was recording was the first time I worked with Iggy Pop. He wanted me to mix Raw Power, so he brought the 24-track tape in, and he put it up. He had the band on one track, lead guitar on another and him on a third. Out of 24 tracks there were just three tracks that were used. He said 'see what you can do with this'. I said, 'Jim, there's nothing to mix'. So we just pushed the vocal up and down a lot. On at least four or five songs that was the situation, including "Search and Destroy." That's got such a peculiar sound because all we did was occasionally bring the lead guitar up and take it out."
And that's why Raw Power sounds the way it does. Amen.
As it turns out, Iggy decided to mix the album himself and something went haywire. According to my research, Iggy bounced tracks when maybe he wasn't supposed to and as a result he reduced his mixing options. He gave the master to David Bowie to mix.
Bowie's quote:
"the most absurd situation I encountered when I was recording was the first time I worked with Iggy Pop. He wanted me to mix Raw Power, so he brought the 24-track tape in, and he put it up. He had the band on one track, lead guitar on another and him on a third. Out of 24 tracks there were just three tracks that were used. He said 'see what you can do with this'. I said, 'Jim, there's nothing to mix'. So we just pushed the vocal up and down a lot. On at least four or five songs that was the situation, including "Search and Destroy." That's got such a peculiar sound because all we did was occasionally bring the lead guitar up and take it out."
And that's why Raw Power sounds the way it does. Amen.
