Last week I spent a significant chunk of my free time watching / listening to an interview with Steve Hoffman on Steve Westman’s Youtube channel, The Audiophiles. During the rather, uh hum, lengthy interview, Hoffman shares much from his extensive experience as a mastering engineer as well as many of his tips on great sounding versions of a good number of titles. His praise for MoFi’s CD’s from the 80s earned a big thumbs up from the only person I ever trust with such recommendations, Better Records founder Tom Port.
Mr. Hoffman also discusses several Beatles titles, recommending some specific vinyl pressings and a CD or two. Then at one point, he says something that really caught my attention and that I’ve been thinking about ever since. It’s something to the effect of (paraphrasing here) – the Beatles never made “audiophile recordings.”
Now, I may be taking his comment out of context, but my interpretation of what Mr. Hoffman said was that Beatles records were not recorded well enough to deliver audiophile quality sound. And while it’s likely true that The Beatles and George Martin were not thinking about audiophiles when they recorded their albums, you could say that about many more artists than you couldn’t. Does that mean that the vast majority of the records out there won’t sound as good on an audiophile quality system as the mere handful of those that were made with audiophiles in mind?
My experience has shown me that the very opposite is true. I find the sound of records most likely not made for audiophiles can sound more musical, more engaging and frankly, more truthful than those that were. And while I recognize that Mr. Hoffman’s intention wasn’t to say as much, I wonder if his comment doesn’t suggest to some viewers that records made for audiophiles are sonically superior to those that aren’t.
Anyway, you likely already know where I stand on that question. And I’m not here to criticize Steve Hoffman. Far from it! I enjoyed the interview and thought he had a lot of interesting things to say about a subject that we’re clearly both passionate about. And he did get me thinking.
Not that I needed much help. I’ve lately been thinking a lot about this question of which records are “worthy” of an audiophile system and which aren’t. I regularly pull records from my collection that I used to like, that now sound so disappointing they’re barely worth playing. What’s the point of playing these records when I have so many that sound so wonderful, and even a few that are a genuine thrill to listen to? If I just want to hear the music any old way I can always stream it.
In fact, there’s been one particular record on my mind lately with respect to this question that I’d be willing to bet very few audiophiles would ever bother with – The Stooges’ groundbreaking 3rd album, Raw Power.
I acquired a CD of Raw Power about 10 years ago that I mostly played in my car. Nevertheless, I knew the first time I heard it that I would never unhear it and never hear anything quite like it. And while I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m obsessed with the album, it has managed to hold a firm place on my list of albums to get on vinyl.
But which version? There are quite a few out there and many command a fairly high price. Or at least can command a high enough price that I’ve been reluctant to buy one and risk being disappointed with its sound. The last thing I need is another collectable record collecting dust on the sidelines.
I can already hear passionate Stooges fans saying, “Whoa, WHAT! The sound quality is BESIDES the point!!!” Folks, I hear you. I really do. But this is the way of the audiophile and arguably the curse. A record needs to crack a certain ceiling for sound quality to spend any time on our turntables, and I’m afraid my ceiling might just be even higher than most.
Fortunately, my friend, fellow writer and audiophile music lover Richard Metzger had several copies of Raw Power he was willing to loan me. These included a version that he’d had a heck of a time coming by, a 1977 repress with the original David Bowie Mix of “Search and Destroy” in place of the mix done by Iggy Pop found on the LP everywhere outside of the UK, and in the UK as well, after 1977. Richard explained that it was only this version and the original UK pressings that had this “Bowie Mix” version of “Search.”
When Richard excitedly told me he had finally found such a copy, I honestly had no idea at the time what he was talking about. I hadn’t researched pressings or spent time on The Stooges forum the way he had. All I knew was that it had taken him buying at least 3 copies to acquire this one, and it seemed he’d had to work his ass off trying at that.
Richard sent me the copies he had, 3 UK pressings, including the one I mention above, all of them reissues. He also sent a later US reissue that comes with 2 records – one identified as having the “Iggy Pop Mix” and the other the “David Bowie Mix” (which actually leads off with Iggy‘s original mix of “Search,” not Bowie’s), both of them remastered for this release.
Richard did take the time to explain all of the ins and outs of the different mixes to me in several long emails, but I had a hard time deciphering it all. Truth be told, I wasn’t all that interested in the backstory of these records. Who did which ones or how they were different from each other wasn’t that important to me.
What I was interested in was this single question – was there a Raw Power lp out there that, given the right copy, could earn its way into the regular rotation of records that reach my turntable.
The answer to that question surprised me a little. I had only played a CD of Raw Power, and while it was fun to crank the sucker up in my car on the way to work, it certainly didn’t impress me with its sonics. Needless to say, my expectations for the sound of these records were rather low.
And when I actually started listening to the copies that Richard sent me, those expectations were initially confirmed. The opening track, “Search and Destroy”, sounded terrible on every single one of them. My impulse was to immediately send them back to Richard and be done with it, but I set them aside for a while, hoping that if I gave them a more thorough listen, I’d change my mind about them.
Weeks passed. . . The thought of playing “Search and Destroy” over and over and over was daunting. Then, last weekend, I decided it was time I got it over with. I pulled out the records and started going through them. That’s when I started to learn some things about Raw Power that only an analog audiophile with a highly tweaked-out system and several copies of the same title can learn. And what I learned gave me a whole new appreciation for a record that I’d already held in very high esteem.
Raw Power, I discovered, is sonically all over the map. “Search And Destroy” is indeed not well recorded, and several songs have some very heavy reverb on the vocal track that make them hard to reproduce. The best example might be “I Need Somebody”. It sounded pretty good on one copy, and not so good on the others. But there was one track, “Shake Appeal”, that showed me what the album was capable of.
The vocals on “Shake Appeal” are the best recorded on the album. When I finally got around to playing it after spending most of my time with the more iconic tracks on the record, I was surprised at how much vocal presence I was hearing. It was vocal presence I wished were there on all the tracks, especially “Gimme Danger”. On that track Iggy’s voice tends to get dreadfully lost in the mix.
Remarkably, the vocal on “Shake Appeal” sits side by side with some wildly ferocious guitars, bass and drums. “Shake Appeal” may not be the best song on the album, but it encapsulates the best of what Raw Power has to offer. It’ll rip you a new one, even as it puts Iggy right in the room with you, or at least a fully fleshed-out version of him placed squarely in the studio space.
I wish more of the album were recorded the way this track was, but it seems the band was trying to get a certain sound on each track, and I’d guess there was quite a bit of experimentation going on during the recording sessions. You’ll certainly never hear any other record like it, especially one recorded way back in 1973, and I’m not sure there’s an equivalent since.
There’s no denying that, sonically, several of the tracks on Raw Power can be a bit of a rough ride, to say the least. In fact, the track that’s at the center of all this different mixes business, “Search and Destroy”, might be the roughest ride of them all.
As an audiophile, judging the album from this song alone, I’d have to put Raw Power squarely in the “DO NOT BOTHER” category. As a music lover, well, it’s something of a thing to behold. As Richard put it, “It sounds so evil and strange, like something coming from outer space. NOTHING ever sounded like THAT before.”
Fortunately, David Bowie knew what he was doing in trying to make this song sound as good as it could. While on the other copies Richard loaned me, this track sounded ridiculously small with practically zero bass, the Bowie Mix copy pans wider, and it allows you to actually hear the bass and drums in the room on this track.
Still, comparing the versions, Bowie’s version is more a relief from the agony of the others than anything remotely approaching a good sounding recording. But if you appreciate “Search…” for what it is and what it does achieve, I contend that, for the reasons I mention above and maybe one or two others, Raw Power is worth the price of admission for audiophiles who are fans of the band. The album does sound “evil and strange”, but in the best possible way. More importantly, it has a full-throttled thrust to its sound that I found pretty darn satisfying, even thrilling!
I regret that I haven’t heard more of the versions of Raw Power that are out there. There are a couple of early US pressings on Columbia, a first UK pressing on CBS with a completely different stamper than the UK reissues I heard, which were released by CBS subsidiary Embassy in 1977. There are also several later reissues including one released in 1999 by Simply Vinyl in the UK and a 2008 US pressing from Sundazed.
Raw Power was recorded in London, so if we were to go by the country of origin rule we might suspect US pressings to be cut from a later generation tape. I honestly don’t if that’s the case and it very well may not be. Sorry I can’t be more helpful on this front.
What I can say is to avoid the 2012 Legacy RSD release with the 2 lps and the 2 mixes. It’s cut way to loud and a complete waste of time. Or at least it is if you want to play it on a good stereo.
Of the copies I had to play, the Embassy reissue identified on Discogs the “Alternate Bowie Mix” was clearly the best sounding and the most satisfying listen. In fact, it sounded like it had been mastered from an earlier generation tape than the other two Embassy pressings, which interestingly had pretty similar stampers to that one.
More to my point, I’d say that just the fact that there’s any version out there that, at least in part, offers what I’d call an audiophile worthy listening experience, is the main takeaway here. And if you’re not an adventurous sort but just a tad curious about The Stooges and why they’re so well regarded, I would recommend checking out their self-titled debut. It is much better recorded and a good copy of it is a bona fide winner an all fronts, musically and sonically.
If you do end up checking out their debut and find yourself digging The Stooges more than you thought you would, consider picking up a copy of Raw Power sometime down the road. You’re unlikely to hear another record quite like it, and the right copy can deliver some genuine thrills on a good system.