Needles & Grooves

The nice thing is with how loud The Stooges are it'll hopefully hide little imperfections...

That is a fact. Folks who dig louder music are many times happier with their records because a Les Paul combined with a Marshall head and cab run through a Cry Baby and a Big Muff forgive a lotta pressing sins.

Hahaha seriously. Listening to quiet jazz passages give me ulcers.

Alright well, I listened to the Fun House pressing and aside from the absolutely SAVAGE double pry warp on it, it sounds really good! Good job Rainbo, well... except the whole savage pry warp part. DF-02 should take care of that though. I'm impressed!

I’m all over this conversation. Love Raw Power. Love the Stooges. Love Iggy.

@dhodo @Yer Ol' Uncle D okay so I'm A/B ing these right now. In terms of the Iggy mix the KG cut is totally cleaned up. All that digital distortion is gone, I find it a touch soft as a result but it's definitely not painful to listen to like the MOV Iggy mix is.

Although the roughness and peaking of the MOV pressing actually has a somewhat endearing quality to it. Like this is the way Iggy wanted it to sound. Everything turned up to 11 and blasting through the red. Fucking rough as hell. This KG is undoubtedly a cleaner mix but it definitely sounds less.... raw. I'm not sure what I think. I mean there's no question the KG sounds better, but do I even want it to? I dunno yet.

The only good mix of Raw Power is the one that exists in your head, I think. Doesn’t stop it being brilliant but both the Bowie and Iggy mixes have their flaws. Performances and songs are killer, that’s all it needs.

I agree, I'm just trying to decide which of these to keep. I'm strangely leaning towards the undoubtedly rougher digitally peaking MOV mix, I don't really know why. I guess because it feels more dirty and raw than the KG 2012 which is certainly the cleaner of the two Iggy cuts. Though I'd say the Bowie disc sounds the same on both.

The first Raw Power I heard was the Iggy mix on cd. So i’m used to it banging away and nearly deafening you. I always thought ‘I’m sure the Bowie mix will be better’ but when hearing it it totally loses Ron Asheton’s bass. I have the MOV Version too, think it’s great. Two flawed mixes but carried out by two of my favourite artists of all time.

While we’re on a Raw Power (Death) Trip I would heartily recommend the DVD Raw Power: Live In The Hands Of The Fans where the reformed James Williamson Stooges rip it up. The end of the concert is comparable with the famous peanut butter clip from the original Stooges

Yeah honestly I was surprised by what I thought of the cleaned up KG mix. Like I generally buy the highest quality pressings that I can afford, and the 2012 KG is clearly a smoother mix and sounds great, but something about the earsplitting distortion on the 2010 makes me appreciate it.

Now I have a question for you, the MOV is remastered by Wilder, both mixes. So the Iggy mix SHOULD be cleaner than the 97 Iggy mix CD. Is it? Can you tell a difference? I don't have anything to compare it to.

I’m out of home. Will let you know tomorrow if no one else has the comparison

Thanks, I tried to stream it but Spotify is just the remastered version so it pretty much sounds identical to the vinyl. I'm just curious what Wilder did to the Iggy mix because it still sounds rough as hell and full of distortion haha. How much worse could it sound??

I think the Iggy mix on the MOV while still rough has a little more finesse, James Williamson while still loud hasn’t compression on every note and there is more balance with Iggy’s voice and the instruments while still clearly upfront.

The track that stands out is Penetration, you can identify the bass and drums, all the growls and squawls by Iggy which aren’t so clear on the Bowie mix and also the celesta on isn’t just quite so pushed into the front as it was on the cd. This while still rocking hard. I’m very pleased with this edition, an improvement over the CD in my opinion with the new remaster.

Also clear on I Need Somebody. Just better balance and track separation while still LOUD and RAW and POWERful. Not audiophile by any state but it doesn’t need to be and shouldn’t be. Great job

Nice! So just to be clear you don't have the KG mix and we're just talking about the MOV vs the CD here right?

Yes, only comparing with the CD. If the Kevin Gray is superior let me know. I’d be very surprised