Like many people I discovered the Stooges after punk. I was 12 in 1977 and got into the Pistols and Clash and all the rest until like many others I started going back in time to discover the velvets, MC5, stooges etc.
I think I got my first Raw Power LP in about 1983, standard bowie mix and I've loved it ever since. I got the cd of it in the early 90s and loved it even more. Then came Iggy's mix on CD in 1997. I liked it the first time I heard it but then found it too tiring to listen to and went back to the bowie mix. I got Rough Power, interesting but a bit too rough for me, and then read somewhere about an 'embassy mix'. I tracked the embassy vinyl down only to find that the only different mix is on search and destroy and that actually the 'embassy mix' was just the same as the original UK cbs pressing. That search and destroy is great by the way, you can hear the drums and the swords, but I still like the bowie mix best, its just insanely mixed, brilliant.
The 2010 bowie mix cd mastering is a tiny bit better than the original european cd but only a bit and the boxset was a missed opportunity. Georgia Peaches is great and the 2 better mastered racks from the iggy mix on cd 3 sound way better than the 1997 cd.
Finally I've just got a vinyl pressing of the iggy mix properly mastered, not over hot and brick walled. It sounds great but is it better than the Bowie mix? No way, no echo on the drums on penetration, iggy's voice doesn't leap out on shake appeal, its just not as good. It sounds too normal.
As James Williamson said, 'bowie's not my favourite guy but.........' he got the mix for Raw Power spot on, it cant be beat! Iggy mix, Rough Power, embassy, no way, they add to the interest and the myth but in the end i'd be staggered if there's more than a handful who don't prefer the bowie mix.
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Subject: Raw Power: the Bowie mix is the best in the end 
Wed Feb 19, 2014 10:32 pm