The Wikipedia entry has a good discussion of the various mixes. I find particularly dismaying Iggy's comment in the liner notes of the 1997 mix that he deliberately wanted audio levels pegged into the red. Anyone who has ever used recording equipment or a mixing board knows that this is a bad idea. In this case the distorting of already overdriven guitars sounds like a big buzz, a mechanical sound, not a musical sound. Oh well - at least now thanks to Yann I have a listenable copy of this album again.
I just followed a link to an interview with James Williamson, the guitarist on Raw Power, and he had these interesting things to say:
K: How do you compare [Iggy's mix] with the Bowie mix?
J: I personally think it sucked. I gotta tell ya that I like the IDEA of what he tried to do, and I talked to him about it, and there's a lot of factors involved, but at the time, none of us liked Bowie's mix, but given everything, Iggy, when he went in to mix it, he found out that the guy who had recorded it originally had not gotten a lot of level on certain things, like the bass and drums, especially the bass, so he didn't have a lot to work with. Then Iggy, on his mix, he left a bunch of guitar stuff on there that probably shouldn't have been left in, and just odds and ends. Bowie's not my favorite guy, but I have to say that overall, I think he did a pretty good job.
Related: I notice that last year The Stooges and Fun House were released as 2-CD remastered sets. The second CDs look like demos and alternate takes, but since I am a huge fan of the Stooges, and since Fun House in particular is an amazing album that I have probably listened to 200 times, I'm sure I will get them at some point.
3 comments:
Hi there,
I was just wondering what the details were for your Bowie mix RAW POWER CD ie. catalogue/issue numbers, label and even where it was ordered from. I am dying to hear that mix myself and am trying to track one down.
Nice one
N
Just letting you know, all copies of Raw Power on vinyl is the original mix. Even the Columbia reissues.
Thanks - that's to good know. I have since bought a copy of it on vinyl but it isn't a nice 180g edition so if all of them are the original mix I might now go ahead and see if I can get a heavy-duty issue of this.
The original mix on CD for mp3 player purposes is also something I need to get sorted.
Cheers,
N
Post a Comment