Iggy Pop - 'I Need Somebody'

November 08, 2014

Iggy Pop - 'I Need Somebody'

Repeat Prescriptions....The Top 100 Classic Albums Of All Time that you keep coming back to!

Like doing a university course as a mature student, I am returning to my musical education and filling in the gaps. I intend to revisit The 100 Best Albums Of All Time (see them all here) as recommended by Q Magazine back when the poll was last done in 2006. Some I will know and love, some I will have skimmed and some I will not even have given time of day. This will all change when I listen to every album in full as it was intended, from 100 to 1, and choose my favourite song from each.

Album Number 95: Iggy Pop - Raw Power - 'I Need Somebody' (1973)

It's the first time since starting this project that I really tried but couldn't enjoy an album. I can confirm though that the title is totally apt. This album and especially Iggy's vocals are full of Raw Power. It was that that I struggled with! I wasn't sure where one song ended and another began, it was pure rock and roll noise! It wasn't until I read into the album that the version I listened to was the original Iggy mix. This was heavy on the vocals and Bowie was approached to remix the album. I noticed there was a version of the album Bowie mixed on Spotify but haven't heard it to compare. I haven't a clue if that would've made a difference to my opinion. Has anyone heard both versions that can tell me if he really improved it?

Anyway as it was the original album that Iggy recorded that I listened to, this still stands. The track I chose is the only one I actually like. Don't get me wrong, I like a lot of Iggy and The Stooges stuff, but for some reason this album went right over my head. Apparently Columbia records insisted Iggy include 2 ballads on the album, this being one of them. It's a slow rocky number that wouldn't be out of place in a backstreet burlesque joint. I can just picture feather boa's and over dramatic dancing. So I like a track that wasn't even Iggy's choice!

Shell Hunter says put it back on the shelf

Comments

The Swede said…

I bought 'Raw Power' on spec in 1973 because of the Bowie connection, as I'd done with 'Transformer' a few months earlier, but whereas Lou's record was recognisably 'glammy', a sound I could easily relate to, 'Raw Power' was more of a confusingly dense aural onslaught for a young lad still a few weeks short of his 13th birthday. In retrospect it's the sound of punk rock being fired three years back in time down a long length of pipe. My mates were baffled by this glorious racket, which I insisted on playing ever more loudly whenever they came around. I wasn't absolutely sure of what it was all about, but I was utterly convinced that it should be played very loudly indeed.
The mixes? Well the basic tracks were recorded with all the needles in the red, so there's only so much that can (or should) be done. I've heard all the variations and it's all much of a muchness. I'll stick with Bowie's original 1973 mix. 'Raw Power' is a claustrophobic masterpiece and I wouldn't have it any other way.

9 November 2014 at 09:21

Shell Hunter said…

Thanks TS, just the sort of response I was looking for! The more I listen to these 'old classics', the more I find that it's always going to be difficult for me to give my opinion in 2014. It would be totally out of context. Listening to this back in 73 when in came out would probably have blown my mind! I try to hear the album in the most objective way I can, leaving behind my preferences and preconceptions. Saying that, I have to be true to myself and although this lives up to the 'Raw Power' it professes, it was hard on the ears!

10 November 2014 at 10:55

The Swede said…

I'm usually pretty reserved the comments I make online and rarely leave any negative comments at all. As Bob says, 'If ye cannot bring good news, then don't bring any.' With this great ongoing series of posts though, I'm trying to be as honest as I can be, for or against, about the LP in question, writing down my immediate thoughts and posting them virtually unedited. It's an enjoyable exercise and will be interesting when you reach a record that I'm not very keen on!

10 November 2014 at 13:30

flycasual said…

A great track, one that I've never heard before. I love these comments, both fantastic descriptions. TS, A fascinating insight to what it must have been like to hear this for the first time 'back in the day', "I wasn't sure what it was all about, but I knew it had to be loud"! Love that. And SH, you're absolutely right to try and listen these classic album objectively and without preconceived ideas but also to be honest. Your previous post in the series was Tom Waits and that was particularly brutal for me. 'If ye cannot bring good news, then don't bring any.' I agree but it's also 'nice' to hear other people's opinions and why.

11 November 2014 at 14:53