I love The Stooges and their stage animal Iggy, anachronistic beings who manage to bring out everything that is inherent in Rock, an ancestral fire that resurrects passions at the expense of all the prepackaged musical piss we're forced to swallow today, while a flaccid society induces loser complexes and generates slaves...

After the half "commercial" flop FUNHOUSE, which in the years to come will stand to represent them instead as their best project despite a dissonant mass cognition; in '71 the new picture of bums is completed with the almost freshly graduated James Williamson.

Now try asking Iggy who the hell James was... perhaps the iguana will answer with a smile, remembering those damned bohemian days when we screwed our heads with anything, even if it was the dust from the ceiling cracks or the one on the TV, as long as it fit in a spoon, but that's another story and it hardly matters, because if at the time, the album in question surely did not intoxicate the masses nor the critics, today it remains the precursor of what would be the punk rock wave in the years to come.

The band changes lineup several times and finally stabilizes with the Asheton brothers, but this time Ron is relegated to bass to replace Dave Alexander (later mourned R.I.P.) for a more competent Williamson on guitar.
The group manages to find an "almost" equilibrium, if not mentally then at least musically, between the spartan sound wall of the Ashtons and the Californian one of Williamson, a combination that will allow, after annoying half the world, the production of the album in question in 1973: RAW POWER.
Dropped by Elektra, which sends them to hell with all their drug addiction, heroin on a roll; the friendship with a talented and rising Bowie will bring the outcomes for this new project of Iggy & The Stooges with Columbia Records, while Williamson handles all the guitar arrangements.

From the very first listens, you can immediately hear how the album suffers from the dull and flaccid mixing of Bowie's entourage, who perhaps thought they were still dealing with Ziggy Stardust, to the detriment of what Iggy himself wanted and was instead boycotted by MainMan Management, the agency with which Pop was under contract.

But this cannot chip away at the damned soul the album preserves; a strong psychedelic acid rock component, enough to resurrect the dead, listen to SEARCH AND DESTROY, left intact from Bowie's aspirations, and GIMMI DANGER, both precursors of the incendiary rock that still echoes today in the minds of its progeny.

Everything is a tone above with the abrasive YOU PRETTY FACE IS GOING TO HELL and the muffled and lewd PENETRATION, different from each other but linked by a vintage essence imbued with whiskey & cigarettes, while the guitar of a possessed Williamson scratches at the doors of a blackboard that screams its distortion capabilities, sharp as a razor on the jugular, merging into an audience made of continuous tensions.

Thus, throughout the project, comes to life a psychedelic bite to the balls, suffocated and claustrophobic, whose edges sharpened like knives seem to slice through everything that passes by.

And it is in these early stages that the new Stooges' monster reveals itself, reborn from the ashes and from a death, the real one or at least predicted, for Iggy & Co., which would have seen them all, at least the luckiest, in treatment for their excesses.
An antimatter of which the beast feeds, expands, violent and inhuman it breathes and thickens, greedy of those violent follies and of all the shit a man can generate in his feeble mind.
And now try asking him, Iggy, who the hell was James?...

Apart from the TITLE-TRACK, which seems anything but a statement of intent, driven by mediocre production and mixing choices.
I NEED SOMEBODY, even if the least Stooges-like of the album, dusts off from its boots the dirt of a long metropolitan path that burned thousands of liters of alcohol and cigarettes in the lysergic fumes of brothels and night bars where Williamson's nighttime follies seem to curse the moon.
But it is with SHAKE APPEAL and DEATH TRIP that the Detroit boys continue to poison themselves with a savage and brutal Hendrix-esque rock, while James "Skull" Williamson rages and doesn't stop screwing his death instrument supported by the thundering Ashtons, who now more than ever seem to want to bring down the ceiling.

After a few months of touring, the Stooges break up again in February 1974, due to the heroin addiction of the frontman.
The group's last performance will be captured on the album Metallic K.O. in 1976.

Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos

01   Search and Destroy (03:29)

I'm a street walking cheetah with a heart full of napalm
I'm a runaway son of the nuclear A-bomb
I am the world's forgotten boy
The one who searches and destroys

Honey, gotta help me please
Somebody gotta save my soul
Baby, detonate for me

Look out honey, 'cause I'm using technology
Ain't got time to make no apology
Soul radiation in the dead of night
Love in the middle of a fire fight

Honey, gotta strike me blind
Somebody gotta save my soul
Baby, penetrate my mind

And I am the world's forgotten boy
The one who's searchin', searchin' to destroy
And honey, I'm the world's forgotten boy
The one who's searchin' to destroy

Look out honey, 'cause I'm using technology
Ain't got time to make no apology
Soul radiation in the dead of night
Love in the middle of a fire fight

Honey, gotta strike me blind
Somebody gotta save my soul
Baby, penetrate my mind

And I am the world's forgotten boy
The one who's searchin', searchin' to destroy
And honey, I'm the world's forgotten boy
The one who's searchin', searchin' to destroy
Forgotten boy, forgotten boy
Forgotten boy, said hey forgotten boy
Said hey, hey, hey, hey, hey

02   Gimme Danger (03:31)

And I feel with you at ease
Gimme danger little stranger
And I feel your disease
There's nothing in my dreams
Just some ugly memories
Kiss me like the ocean breeze

Now if you will be my lover
I wish you were insane
But you can't be my master
I will do you anything
There's nothing left alive
But a pair of glassy eyes
Left my feelings one more time

(......????.....) little stranger
Baby gonna feel my hand
Say you got a little danger (...??...) little stranger
Honey gonna feel my hand
Swear you gonna feel my hand
Swear you gonna feel my hand

Gimme danger little stranger
And I feel with you at ease
Gimme danger little stranger
And I feel your disease
There's nothing in my dreams
Just some ugly memories
Kiss me like the ocean breeze

03   Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell (04:54)

Alright

Dirty face and dirty look
I knew right away that I had to get my hooks in you
Yeah yeah yeah
Want to know what a devil is
If you want to make a buck boy you gotta be demon
I say yeah yeah

I need it all, baby, that's no lie
I need a lover with an alibi
I wanna follow to a love so sweet
Honey baby give me all
I love you

Hot flesh and a touch of bones
Smells in the air but I'm feeling so alone, aha
I say yeah yeah
Lose your nation on true romance
I need your love but I holding up a piece, aha
And that ain't all

I'll tell you, honey, it's a cryin' shame
All the pretty girls really look the same
I want to follow to a love so sweet
Honey baby, give me all
I love you

Your pretty face is going to hell
Your pretty face is going to hell
Honey honey, I can tell
Your pretty face is going to
Hell, hell

Dirty face and a dirty look
I knew right away that I had to get my hooks in you
I say yeah yeah
I'm running low on memory
If you want to make a buck, boy, you gotta be a demon
And that ain't all

I need it all honey that's no lie
I need a lover with an alibi
I wanna follow to a love so sweet
Honey baby give me all
I love you

Your pretty face is going to hell
Your pretty face is going to hell
Honey honey, I can tell
Your pretty face is going to hell, hell
Honey baby
Honey honey

Your pretty face is going to hell
Your pretty face is going to hell
Honey honey, I can tell
Your pretty face is going to hell, hell, hell, hell, hell, hell, hell
Hell, hell
Hell, hell
Hell

04   Penetration (03:39)

Penetrate
Penetrate me
So fine, so fine, so fine
I get excited
I get excited
I'm alone, so fine, I'm alive
Every night in town
Every night in town
I'm going down, I'm going down, pulsating
A beautiful enemy
A beautiful enemy
Take a lay, take away, get out

Penetration

Come and take me
Come and take me
I'm alive, I'm alive, I'm alive
Stay down
Stay down
I feel fine, every time, penetration
Penetration
Penetration
Penetration
Penetration

05   Raw Power (04:21)

Dance to the beat of the living dead
Lose sleep baby and stay away from bed
Raw power is sure to come a-runnin' to you
If you're alone and you got the fear
So am I baby, let's move down here
Raw power will surely come a running to you

Raw power got a magic touch
Raw power is much too much
Every mess is a guarantee
It was made for you and me
Raw power honey just won't quit
Raw power I can feel it
Raw power honey can't be beat
Poppin' eyes and flashin feet
Don't you try, don't you try to tell me what to do
Everybody's always tryin to tell me what to do

Look in the eyes of the savage girl
Fall deep in love in the underworld
Raw power is sure to come a-runnin' to you
If you're alone and you got the shakes
So am I baby, I got what it takes
Raw power is sure to come a-runnin' to you

Raw power got a healing hand
Raw power can destroy a man
Raw power is a modern soul
Got a son called rock'n'roll
Raw power honey just won't quit
Raw power I can feel it
Raw power honey can't be beat
Get down and kiss my feet
Everybody's always tryin to tell me what to do
Don't you try, don't you try to tell me what to do
Everybody's always tryin to tell me what to do
Don't you try, don't you try to tell me what to do

Raw power has got no place to go
Raw power, honey, it don't want to know
Raw power is a guaranteed O.D.
Raw power is laughin' at you and me
And I want to know
Can you feel it? Can you feel it?
Can you feel it? Can you feel it?
Can you feel it? Can you feel it?
Raw power, raw power
Raw power, raw power
Can you feel it? Can you feel it?
Raw power, raw power
Raw power, raw power
Raw power, raw power
Can you feel it?

06   I Need Somebody (04:56)

But I am your crazy driver
Honey, I'm sure to steer you 'round
I am dying in any story
I'm only living when I sing this song
Just the same, baby

I need somebody, baby
I need somebody, too
I need somebody, baby
Just like you
Just like you
Just like you

But I'm losing all my feelings
Yeah, I'm running out of friends
You know, you lied to me in the beginning
Baby, now you gonna try and bring me
Try to bring me to the end
Shall I tell them about it?

I need somebody, baby
I need somebody, too
I need somebody, baby
Just like you
Just like you
Just like you

Well, I was trying to leave this signal
I'm in a fury and it is too strong
Yeah, I got my reputation
Write me anyway, not too long

I need somebody, baby
I need somebody, too
I need somebody, baby
Just like you
Just like you
Just like you

Somebody
Somebody
Somebody
Just like you
Just like you
Just like you
Just like you
Somebody
Somebody
Like you
Just like you

07   Shake Appeal (03:02)

Said shake appeal
Move so fast on me
Shake appeal
Move so fast to see
Move so fast, move so fast
Move little misery

I said shake appeal
Feel so high and low
Shake appeal
Feel so high and low
High and low, baby, high and low
Never really gotta go
Never really gotta go
Never really gotta go
Never really gotta go
Gotta go, never really gotta go

Said shake appeal
Baby fits so tight
Take appeal
Baby with your fits so tight
Fits so tight, fits so tight
Baby, you gotta fight
Realize you gotta fight
Realize you gotta fight
Baby, gotta have a fight
Gotta fight, baby gotta have a fight

Ooh, sex appeal
I said ooh, ooh, ooh, sex appeal
I said ooh, ooh, ooh, sex appeal
I said ooh, ooh, ooh

08   Death Trip (05:51)

And I always see you 'round
Some days are you blind
I moved to ask her mama if she
Did the women stand in line
Sick boy, sick boy going round
Remember who's in prayer
Baby, wanna take you out with me
If I'm on my, my, my death trip
If I'm on my death, if I'm on my death trip
If I'm on my death, if I'm on my death trip

I never knew you ever made
Once I care for you
Honey come and be my enemy
So I can love you true
Sick boy, sick boy baby, now
Learning to be cruel
Baby with me in the heat
Turn me loose on you
Loose on you, honey loose on you
Honey loose on you, honey loose on you

All night, all night, loose on you
All night, all night, loose on you
All night, all night, loose on you

Say I give you, you give me
Honey we are going down in history
Said I'll give you, you give me
Honey we are going down in history
We're going down, we're going down
Going down, going down
Going down, going down

Don't bite cool, bite my lips
See me through on my death trip
You must sink, keep me sane
Keep me, save me, everything
Save me, save me
Save me, save me
Save me
You gotta save me
You gotta save me, baby
Gotta save me, save me, save me now
Save me, save me, save me now
Save me, save me, save me now

I say I'll stick you, you stick me
I say I'll stick you, you stick me
I say I'll bit you, you bit me
I'll bit you and you'll bit me

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