James interviewed by National Public Radio (NPR) October 19, 2010
When James Williamson took an early retirement offer from his job as a Vice President at Sony Electronics he went back to an earlier career that his bosses knew nothing about … and one James never expected to repeat. James is profiled in Fortune Magazine August 2010 "Silicon Valley's secret rock star" article, CNN clip. For more than two decades James Williiamson worked at high-level jobs at places like Sony. Then his old boss Iggy Pop called again. MORE HERE
American Way's September 15th issue article "Punk Rock Exec" tracks James Forty years after he helped form what is arguably one of the most influential punk rock bands ever, James Williamson begin has returned to his roots and is once again the guitarist for Iggy and the Stooges. Talk about a lust for life. MORE HERE
New official merchant for all things Iggy and the Stooges!
RAW POWER: LEGACY EDITION 2-CD package:
• Original 8-song, 34-minute album with “Search and Destroy,” “Raw Power”
• Full-length one-hour show at Richards in Atlanta, October 1973 – plus two previously unreleased bonus tracks from album sessions and rehearsals
• Booklet with essays by U.S. and UK journalists, plus introductions
by Iggy, James Williamson, and Scott Asheton
• LEGACY EDITION available at both physical and digital retail outlets starting April 13, 2010, through Columbia/Legacy
RAW POWER: DELUXE EDITION 4-disc package (in 7-inch square slipcase):
• Original album (CD One) and Richards show plus bonus tracks (CD Two)
• CD Three: Rarities, Outtakes, & Alternates from the Raw Power Era
• Disc Four – DVD : The Making of Raw Power documentary
• 48-page softcover book adds essay by Henry Rollins; photographs by Mick Rock, Robert Matheu & more; testimonials by Lou Reed, Joan Jett, Tom Morello & more
• Five exquisite 5x7-inch prints, suitable for framing
• Japanese pic-sleeve 45 single repro: “Raw Power” b/w “Search And Destroy”
• DELUXE EDITION available EXCLUSIVELY through www.iggyandthestoogesmusic.com in advance of April 27th release date
Slouched against the lectern at the 25th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, a shirtless Iggy Pop snarled, “I am the world’s forgotten boy.”
No more. After years of being named finalists to enter the hall of fame, then getting outvoted, the Stooges were finally inducted this year, in an event held at the Waldorf-Astoria on Monday night and telecast on the Fuse cable channel. “After the seventh time” the Stooges were nominated, said the band’s guitarist, James Williamson, in his acceptance speech, “we were beginning to think we would have to take pride in not getting in.”
Behind him, Mr. Pop, 62, was already unbuttoning his white dress shirt, getting ready to jump, drop to his knees, strut and twist across the stage and down into the black-tie audience. Introducing him, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day had described him as “the most confrontational singer we will ever see.” In his acceptance speech, Mr. Pop declared: “Roll over, Woodstock. We won.”
For the Hall of Fame, this was a year of belated admissions. Along with the Stooges, the hall’s latest performing members are the Swedish pop group ABBA, the reggae songwriter Jimmy Cliff and two English bands, Genesis and the Hollies. All but ABBA, which coalesced in the early 1970s, have careers dating back to the 1960s.
Songwriters who supplied girl groups, R&B groups and Elvis Presley in the 1950s and 1960s, working in cubicles in the Brill Building and nearby 1650 Broadway, were also inducted: Jesse Stone, Mort Shuman, Otis Blackwell and the teams of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry.
“From the bottom of my heart and with the greatest humility,” Ms. Weil said, “I thought you guys would never ask.” Eric Burdon and Ronnie Spector, who had hits with their songs, were on hand to perform them.
Younger performers who were nominated this year, like the influential rapper LL Cool J, will have to wait.
This was a gathering baby-boomers could recognize. “We started out in the ’60s — now we’re in our 60s,” said Terry Sylvester of the Hollies.
Genesis brought progressive-rock — a style that still divides rock purists even as its complexities filter into indie-rock — into the Hall of Fame. After Phish played Genesis’s “Watcher of the Skies,” Trey Anastasio, the guitarist and leader of Phish, praised Genesis for being “rebellious, restless and constantly striving for something more than the obvious.”
“Every musical rule and boundary was questioned and broken,” he said.
Genesis had a two-phase career: first with Peter Gabriel as lead singer, and then with Phil Collins, who started as its drummer. “This band has been in so many different guises,” Mr. Collins said. Mr. Gabriel did not attend the ceremony; he is rehearsing with an orchestra for his coming tour. “He has a very genuine, legitimate excuse,” said Genesis’ bassist, Mike Rutherford.
Phish performed Genesis’ songs, while the Hollies’ vocal harmonies in their British Invasion hits “Bus Stop” and “Carrie Anne” were filled out by two members of Maroon 5, Adam Levine and Jesse Carmichael. Mr. Levine hit the high notes for “Carrie Anne,” while Pat Monahan, from the band Train, took over lead vocals for “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress.”
Graham Nash, who is already a Hall of Fame member with Crosby, Stills and Nash, chided the Hollies for having big hits after he left.
Only half of ABBA was on hand for its award, the first for a Scandinavian band: Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson, who named Swedish folk music, German schmaltz and John Philip Sousa among the group’s influences. Faith Hill belted out ABBA’s “The Winner Takes It All,” with Mr. Andersson leading the backup band on piano.
Mr. Cliff, whose songs and acting in the movie “The Harder They Come” helped spread reggae far beyond Jamaica, is only the second reggae musician to join the hall, following Bob Marley. “This was a new music form,” Mr. Cliff said, “with a new culture.” He was inducted by Wyclef Jean, the Haitian rapper, singer and songwriter from the Fugees. “When we saw Jimmy Cliff we saw ourselves,” Mr. Jean said.
Mr. Cliff listed rockers as his inspirations, and said joining the hall was “another stepping stone to higher heights.” His voice was clear and buoyant as he sang “You Can Get It If You Really Want,” “Many Rivers to Cross” and, with Mr. Jean, “The Harder They Come.”
Anxieties about the shrinking music business were a persistent undercurrent in the speeches. Steven Van Zandt of the E Street Band, digressing on his way to introducing the Hollies, half-joked that the business was “artistically, financially and spiritually bankrupt.”
Mr. Pop warned: “It’s a big industry. If they make the right decisions it will stay a big industry.”
David Geffen, who founded Asylum, Geffen and Dreamworks Records, joined the hall’s roster of music business executives, claiming he had never dreamed of being honored. “I have no talent,” he said with a smile.
March 16, 2010
Iggy, Stooges roar into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Literally flipping off the establishment as they took their rightful place among rock's elite, Ann Arbor's the Stooges brought a genuine punk rock spirit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony Monday night.
Stooges frontman Iggy Pop took the podium at New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel and immediately raised two middle fingers to the crowd, a nod to the band's seven prior Hall of Fame strikeouts. But he was all smiles as he accepted the honor in front of an industry crowd that included Meryl Streep, Bruce Springsteen and a host of others. "We won!" he exclaimed proudly, as the Stooges joined a Hall of Fame class that included Genesis, ABBA, Jimmy Cliff and the Hollies. "We didn't win a lot starting out."
Iggy was joined on stage by Stooges guitarist James Williamson and drummer Scott Asheton, whom he described collectively as "the surviving Stooges." He acknowledged bassist Dave Alexander, who died in 1975, and Ron Asheton, who died last year in his Ann Arbor home.
Iggy focused his short acceptance speech on people and things he deemed "cool," including Ron Asheton; fellow counterculture rockers MC5; Danny Fields, who discovered the band; his wife; and "all the poor people who actually started rock and roll."
As he finished his speech, he began to get choked up as he spoke about the band's resurgence as a prolific touring act over the course of the last decade. "I think it was Fitzgerald who said there are no second acts in American life," he said, an audible lump building in his throat. "And this particular group of friends has had the good fortune of having a lovely, lovely second act, so thanks."
As Williamson took the mike to thank the host of musicians who have played in the Stooges over the years, Iggy stood behind him, removing his jacket and unbuttoning his shirt. He was down to just his tuxedo pants by the time the Stooges took the stage and performed "Search and Destroy," along with the group's signature song, "I Wanna Be Your Dog." On the latter, Iggy roamed into the audience, conjuring up a familiar sense of danger and stopping himself just short of throwing himself onto one of the round tables that dotted the posh ballroom. He returned to the stage and invited -- nay, dared -- members of the audience to join him and his band thrashed behind him. "C'mon, rich people! C'mon, let's get some rich ladies up here!" he squawked. "Show me you're not too rich to be cool!"
Among those who took him up on the offer were Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, who giddily jumped around the stage like a teenager at his first concert, and the members of Green Day.
It was Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong who inducted the Stooges, saying the group "symbolized the destruction of flower power and introduced us to raw power.
"When I think of the sound of war, chaos and demolition, sex, sensuality, poetry and brutal truth, I think of the Stooges," said Armstrong, who rattled off a colossal list of 75 bands he deemed descendants of the Stooges. "It's the sound of blood and guts, sex and drugs, heart and soul, love and hate, poetry and peanut butter."
Armstrong praised Iggy as "the most confrontational singer we will ever see," and also complimented him for having "the prettiest smile in the history of rock and roll."
As much as the Stooges goofed on their induction into the Hall, when Iggy flashed that smile on Monday, you could tell it was authentic. And that, too, is cool.
Iggy Pop and the Stooges add life to the Hall of Fame induction ceremony
They keep it from being a dull evening. ABBA, Genesis, the Hollies and Jimmy Cliff are among the honorees.
March 16, 2010|By Matea Gold and Randy Lewi for the LA Times
Reporting from Los Angeles and New York — Thank goodness the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame voters relented and allowed Iggy Pop and the Stooges into the club. Without the proto-punk rockers on hand, Monday night's awards dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City would have been a pretty tame affair.
This year's class of performer inductees, also including ABBA, the Hollies, Genesis and Jimmy Cliff, proved an exceedingly earnest and genuinely appreciative bunch. And then there was Iggy:
"This thing is . . . heavy," Pop said, hefting the statue he'd just been handed, then flipping two middle fingers to the crowd of designer-suited men and cocktail-dressed women looking on. "Well, roll over, Woodstock!"
Asked backstage if he has donated any memorabilia to the institution that was honoring him, Pop, having unbuttoned his shirt and flashed his bare chest for photographers, replied, "I told them where to buy all the stuff I sold for drugs in the '70s."
Also shirtless while singing Stooges' standards "Search and Destroy" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog," Pop invited -- virtually dared -- the well-heeled crowd to join him on stage, and about a dozen guests accepted the invite.
The induction of himself and the Stooges -- guitarists Ron Asheton and James Williamson and drummer Scott Asheton -- "lets certain people, people who are nervous with losers, this lets them know it's cool to like us," Pop said backstage. "I didn't think they'd ever have us in that club."
This year's ceremony succeeded in broadening the hall's stylistic borders, allowing in one group many felt was long overlooked because its music wasn't serious enough (ABBA), another repeatedly bypassed in all likelihood because its music was too serious (Genesis), one band whose recordings epitomize melodic and harmonic perfection (the Hollies), another that gleefully trashed traditional notions of musicality (the Stooges) and one prime exponent of music that emerged outside the hall's defining U.S.-U.K. corridor (reggae singer Cliff).
"Reggae music is a music that was not conceived in the United States like most of the music forms that we know," a clearly emotional Cliff said following his introduction by Wyclef Jean. "So to be standing here with you today, with a [style of] music that I was part of creating, is a great honor."
Genesis drummer-turned-frontman Phil Collins also made note of the breakthrough his group's entrance into the hall represents for the progressive-rock wing of pop music that had been largely shut out during the hall's first 25 years.
"For people to come out and own up that they like what we do was very interesting, because we don't get a lot of that," Collins told reporters backstage. "It's very nice to accept music generally, rather than just rock 'n' roll," he added, raising his voice and punching his fist in the air to punctuate the final words.
Rockers laid down with the pop acts, as exemplified by E Street Band guitarist Steve Van Zandt's acknowledgment of ABBA's influence on pop music.
"At first you wouldn't think of them as a rock band," he said backstage. "But they were just so good. . . . There's a certain spirit of rock 'n' roll that goes through pop, that goes through hip hop. Rock 'n' roll is really the great common ground."
Van Zandt gave the evening's most erudite and impassioned speech in bringing the Hollies into the Hall of Fame, speaking to the transformative power of music, as well as pointed comments about the state of the industry.
"It can be disappointing for some to see the business now that it's become pretty much artistically, financially and spiritually bankrupt," Van Zandt said. "There are a lot of good new bands out there, and hopefully we can create an infrastructure to support them."
Several of the honorees had to contend with schedule conflicts that kept some members away. Genesis' original lead singer Peter Gabriel, two of the four members of ABBA and two members of the original lineup of the Hollies missed the event, as did songwriter Jeff Barry, whose flight was canceled, forcing him to e-mail his acceptance speech to Van Zandt to accept on his behalf.
Others were honored posthumously, among them Stooges guitarist Asheton, who died last year, and songwriters Ellie Greenwich, Otis Blackwell, Mort Shuman and Jesse Stone.
Among the non-performers, record mogul David Geffen was inducted by Jackson Browne, who saluted the man who first signed him to Asylum Records as a music executive with "soul and taste and courage and integrity. . . . He made us feel the most worthwhile thing you could do was write a song. I still feel that way."
Geffen responded with a self-deprecating speech in which he confessed to having "no talent at all, expect that I could recognize and enjoy it in others."
Carole King collectively inducted her songwriting peers at the fabled Brill Building, including the teams of Barry and Greenwich, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil as well as early rock-R&B songwriters Blackwell, Shuman and Stone.
"From the bottom of my heart, sincerely and with the greatest humility," Weil said during her turn at the microphone, "I thought you'd never ask."
The ceremony -- which ran past four hours, and that was before the all-hands-on-deck salute/jam session on the songs of the inducted songwriters -- was telecast on the Fuse cable channel.
The first review of James Williamson and the Careless Hearts on Easy Action UK from Record Collector Magazine!
2.09.10 Press Release from Sony Music
ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME 2010 INDUCTEES
IGGY AND THE STOOGES!
15 PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED 1972-1973 BONUS TRACKS
INCLUDED ON DELUXE EDITION OF RAW POWER;
CLASSIC ALBUM PROVIDED BLUEPRINT
FOR MID-‘70S PUNK ROCK EXPLOSION
DECADES LATER, PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED TRACKS SHED LIGHT ON CLASSIC ALBUM, PRODUCED BY IGGY POP, MIXED BY DAVID BOWIE
RAW POWER: LEGACY EDITION 2-CD package:
• Original 8-song, 34-minute album with “Search and Destroy,” “Raw Power”
• Full-length one-hour show at Richards in Atlanta, October 1973 – plus two previously unreleased bonus tracks from album sessions and rehearsals
• Booklet with essays by U.S. and UK journalists, plus introductions
by Iggy, James Williamson, and Scott Asheton
• LEGACY EDITION available at both physical and digital retail outlets starting April 13, 2010, through Columbia/Legacy
RAW POWER: DELUXE EDITION 4-disc package (in 7-inch square slipcase):
• Original album (CD One) and Richards show plus bonus tracks (CD Two)
• CD Three: Rarities, Outtakes, & Alternates from the Raw Power Era
• Disc Four – DVD : The Making of Raw Power documentary
• 48-page softcover book adds essay by Henry Rollins; photographs by Mick Rock, Robert Matheu & more; testimonials by Lou Reed, Joan Jett, Tom Morello & more
• Five exquisite 5x7-inch prints, suitable for framing
• Japanese pic-sleeve 45 single repro: “Raw Power” b/w “Search And Destroy”
• DELUXE EDITION available EXCLUSIVELY through www.iggyandthestoogesmusic.com <http://www.iggyandthestoogesmusic.com/> <http://www.iggyandthestoogesmusic.com/> in advance of April 27th release date
ON TOUR 2010: April 14th and 16th in France;
May 2-3rd at HMV Hammersmith Apollo in London; August 7th in Stockholm;
and 3rd annual “All Tomorrow's Parties” festival in Monticello ,NY, September 3rd
“I always liked Raw Power. A lot. I knew that not a lot of other people would like it at the time it was made, but what could I do? Seeing it re-released yet again on Sony Legacy is deeply satisfying. The Stooges and I are cocked and loaded to follow up and deliver it live on stage in 2010.” – Iggy Pop
A work-in-progress for decades (and decades), with search-and-recovery efforts in studios and archives on both sides of the Atlantic – pays off in 2010 with a box-load of previously unreleased recordings by Iggy and the Stooges from the Raw Power “era” of 1972-73 – including a full-length nightclub concert in Atlanta whose excerpts have been among the most bootlegged rock relix of all time.
The renaissance of interest and curiosity surrounding Raw Power – the album that almost single-handedly detonated the punk-rock movement in the next few years after its release – could not have arrived at a more appropriate time. The Stooges are inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame at ceremonies in New York City on Monday, March 15, 2010.
On April 13th, the waters will part for the double-disc RAW POWER: LEGACY EDITION, the newest entry in Legacy’s prestigious series of multi-disc packages. Following the Legacy Edition by two weeks, RAW POWER: DELUXE EDITION -- a fully-packed 7-inch square slipcase box set containing three audio CDs, a DVD documentary, a 48-page book, five 5x7-inch prints, and a bonus 7-inch 45 rpm picture sleeve single – will be released exclusively through www.iggyandthestoogesmusic.com <http://www.iggyandthestoogesmusic.com/> <http://www.iggyandthestoogesmusic.com/> . (This distribution mode was used most recently for the special collectable AC/DC Backtracks guitar amplifier box set.) Pre-orders are being taken now in advance of the April 27th release date.
Both the DELUXE EDITION and LEGACY EDITION are produced by Iggy Pop, Bruce Dickinson, and Robert Matheu. Dickinson is a 15-year Legacy veteran who has produced projects for the company ranging from Cheap Trick, the Clash and Bob Dylan, to John Cale, Mott The Hoople, Peter Tosh, Patti Smith, Blue Öyster Cult, and dozens of others.
Also working closely with Iggy is Matheu, author of last year’s definitive The Stooges: The Authorized and Illustrated Story (Abrams). Named official Stoogeologist by the band, Matheu has been archiving and chronicling their history ever since his teenage years as a music photographer in Detroit, where he attended the earliest Stooges shows. His work has appeared in Playboy, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, and Mojo, as well as on over 200 albums, including the Stooges' 2007 reunion album, The Weirdness.
Raw Power
At the core of both the DELUXE EDITION box set and LEGACY EDITION is the original Raw Power album by Iggy and the Stooges (James Williamson on guitars, the late Ron Asheton on bass, Scott Asheton on drums), as iconic and influential a rock record as has ever seen light of day in our lifetimes, with its unforgettable Mick Rock photography on the front and back. Nearly four decades after its release on Columbia Records in February 1973, the eight-song, 34-minute sonic blitzkrieg – source of “Search And Destroy,” “Gimme Danger,” “Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell,” “Penetration,” “Raw Power,” “I Need Somebody,” “Shake Appeal,” and “Death Trip” – is still capable of causing ears to bleed and hearts to flutter.
This Raw Power CD restores the original release – as it was produced in the fall of 1972 at CBS Studios in London by Iggy Pop, and mixed in Hollywood by David Bowie. This 2010 version is newly remastered by Grammy®-winning Sony Music engineer Mark Wilder, and should finally put the lie to years of stigma attached to Bowie’s mixes. As Dickinson points out, “Bowie’s mixes were at the mercy of old-school mastering engineers in 1972 who, quite simply, had never heard anything like Raw Power before, and their final eq proved it.” With Wilder on board, Bowie’s mixes, unjustly skewered, now turn out to be up-to-the-task and beyond.
(In 1996, Iggy finally acknowledged those criticisms of the album’s sound and accepted Legacy’s invitation to personally remix Raw Power. “Everything’s still in the red, it’s a very violent mix,” Iggy said at the time. “The proof’s in the pudding.” That single-CD configuration of Raw Power has been a perennial catalog staple for Sony Music around the world ever since its release in 1997, and will stay in-print in Legacy’s Original Album Classics series.)
“Georgia Peaches”
Also featuring on the DELUXE EDITION and LEGACY EDITION is disc two, titled “Georgia Peaches,” a one-hour performance at Atlanta’s notorious rock club Richards in October 1973 where Iggy and the Stooges played three or four nights, two sets each night, with one long set on Friday and Saturday nights. Many collectors (including Matheu and Dickinson) were in possession of various heavily-edited shards from Richards, as much as a half-hour’s worth on cassette.
After the Stooges reunion got underway in 2003, Ron Asheton made Matheu aware of a Richards cassette he had stored away. Matheu employed due diligence and his sleuthing led him to Joe Neil, the original recordist of ‘Sam’s Tape Truck’ parked outside Richards (who now runs an archive house and digital recording facility in Atlanta called Doppler Studios). Many, many shows were recorded at Richards for the top labels, for use on syndicated radio shows like King Biscuit Flower Hour. But radio was never ready for Iggy and the Stooges, and so the original pristine board tapes languished from 1973 on. Their discovery on Joe Neil’s desk is akin to the Rosetta Stone of Iggy and the Stooges missing links.
A few of the album’s songs were still in the set by the time they played Richards – “Raw Power,” “Gimme Danger,” “Search And Destroy,” “I Need Somebody” – but as Matheu observes, “They weren’t just going out and playing the Raw Power album in its entirety. They were constantly writing new songs and updating the setlist with new songs, always thinking forward.” So the other four “Georgia Peaches” songs – “Head On,” “Heavy Liquid,” “Cock In My Pocket,” and “Open Up And Bleed” – would all be part of the set by the time Iggy and the Stooges were in their final stages together as a band five months later, back home at the Michigan Palace in February 1974, as first documented on the Metallic KO album.
The “Georgia Peaches” disc concludes with two previously unreleased bonus tracks. The first was part of a long studio jam that originated as an outtake from the Raw Power recording sessions, and was titled “Doojiman” because of its island jungle vibe. The second version of “Head On” originated in 1973, when Iggy and the Stooges were holed up at CBS Studios in New York City, rehearsing for their upcoming gig at Max’s Kansas City in advance of their U.S. tour.
The “Georgia Peaches” set (which took its name from one of Iggy’s rants at the Southern crowd) features West Coast journeyman pianist Scott Thurston in the Stooges lineup. He was “discovered” by Williamson in Los Angeles, soon after the widely-bootlegged Whisky A GoGo engagement, when the Stooges pianist Bob Sheff (who had been in the Prime Movers with Iggy) decided to leave. Thurston stayed with the Stooges until the bitter end in ’74.
LEGACY EDITION
RAW POWER: LEGACY EDITION will include a 24-page standard CD-size booklet chronicling the evolution of Iggy and the Stooges, and the album’s creation. Two essays go into extensive detail on the history of the band, their associations with Elektra and then Columbia Records, Iggy’s recruitment into Tony DeFries’ MainMan Management stable that also included David Bowie, Mott The Hoople, and Lou Reed, the album production in London and its influence on rockers from Steve Jones (Sex Pistols), Brian James (the Damned), and Mick Jones (the Clash), to Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), Henry Rollins, and Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream) – to name a few!
The first essay, titled “The Stooges’ Supernova Death Trip Revisited,” was written by British journalist Kris Needs, and focuses on Iggy’s sojourn in London, the Mainman situation, and his import of Williamson and then the Asheton brothers to work on the new album. Needs started running the Mott The Hoople fan club for MainMan in 1972, going on to edit original fanzine ZIGZAG between 1977-82, while writing for numerous publications from then until present, including NME, Sniffin’Glue, Creem and, most recently, MOJO and Record Collector. He has also written books on the Clash, New York Dolls and Keith Richards, among others.
The second essay in the LEGACY EDITION booklet, titled “Raw Power Got A Son Called Rock ’N’ Roll,” was written by veteran Michigan journalist Brian J. Bowe, who has written extensively about the Stooges. He focuses on the American side of things – the Stooges origins in Detroit, Ann Arbor, and New York City; their return to the U.S. after recording in London; Richards in Atlanta; and a coda that brings the story full circle to 2010.
The LEGACY EDITION booklet also includes personal introductions written by survivors Iggy Pop, Scott Asheton, and James Williamson (who returned to the lineup after Ron’s death on January 6, 2009). They continue to tour as Iggy and the Stooges, with bassist Mike Watt (formerly of the Minutemen and Columbia group fIREHOSE) and saxophonist Steve Mackay.
DELUXE EDITION
As explained, RAW POWER: DELUXE EDITION will include the same discs one and two. And then the fun begins. Disc three, titled Rarities, Outtakes, & Alternates from the Raw Power Era, comprises eight tracks from various sources, five of which are previously unreleased. Two of these are outtakes from the Raw Power sessions, songs that do not appear anywhere else in the Stooges canon: “I’m Hungry” (which evolved into “Penetration”) and “Hey, Peter” (the latter conceptually unrelated to anything on Raw Power).
Two songs are from an early aborted Raw Power session, “I Got A Right” (which became an Iggy and the Stooges staple and has been covered by dozens of bands) and “I’m Sick Of You” (another staple, whose version here was previously issued on a rare Bomp EP in 1977). Two more tracks are Iggy’s “violent” alternate mixes of “Gimme Danger” and “Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell,” from the 1997 Columbia/Legacy Raw Power reissue.
Background on two more tracks: Raw Power was cut from the Columbia U.S. catalog within a year or so after its release, but had reappeared on the CBS UK budget-line Embassy Records line, “by popular demand” of Brits at the dawn of the punk rock era. Matheu began importing copies to the Peaches record store he managed in Detroit. He immediately noticed the Embassy LP and cassette mixes of “Raw Power” and “Search And Destroy” were different than the U.S. mixes he knew.
Three decades later, Matheu informed Dickinson of the Embassy issue, and Dickinson contacted Richard Bowe at the Sony UK archive. They were able to find the original tapes – now known as the Embassy Reels – which did, indeed, have different codes and matrix numbers on them. As Dickinson began transcribing the Embassy Reels, it wasn’t just “Raw Power” and “Search And Destroy” that were different, it was a completely alternate mix for the whole album. The alternate mixes of “Shake Appeal” and “Death Trip” on this Rarities CD are some of the fruits of that search.
Disc four of the DELUXE EDITION is a new 30-minute documentary DVD, The Making Of Raw Power, produced and directed by Morgan Neville. It will include interviews with Iggy Pop, James Williamson, Scott Asheton, Mike Watt, Johnny Marr, and Henry Rollins, plus electrifying performance footage of James Williamson’s first performance with Iggy and the Stooges in 30 years (!) at Festival Planeta Terra in São Paulo, Brazil, November 2009. Neville has worked – as producer, executive producer, director, writer – on a score of documentaries for television over the last 15 years, among them: Johnny Cash's America (2008), The Night James Brown Saved Boston (2008), Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story (2007), Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues (2004), Muddy Waters Can't Be Satisfied (2003), Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock'n'Roll (2000), Brian Wilson: A Beach Boy's Tale (1999), Nat King Cole: Loved in Return (1998), and many others.
The final audio element of the DELUXE EDITION is a faithful reproduction of a rare Japanese picture-sleeve 45 rpm single, “Raw Power” b/w “Search And Destroy.” The U.S. single was “Search And Destroy” b/w “Penetration,” and Dickinson found single mixes with different eq’s for all three songs in the Sony vaults. White label promo copies of the U.S. 45 are widely found, but original copies of the Japanese pic sleeve single can command hundreds of dollars at auction.
Adding to the DELUXE EDITION is the stunning 48-page softcover 7-inch square book that accompanies the box set. In addition to the same two essays and introductions that appear in the LEGACY EDITION booklet, the box set book adds a new 1100-word essay by Henry Rollins, as well as testimonials about the enduring legacy of Raw Power from Lou Reed, Joan Jett, Tom Morello, Cheetah Chrome (Dead Boys), Hugo Burnham (Gang of Four), Jim Reid (Jesus & Mary Chain) and more. The book’s essence, however, is the wealth of photography inside – from the collections of Mick Rock and Robert Matheu, among others. Also included in the box set are five exquisitely printed 5x7-inch photographs, suitable for framing.
“Raw Power,” writes James Williamson, “was the confluence of the Stooges’ ages, hormones, creativity, ability, experience, tastes, lack of supervision, contempt for authority and ambition to achieve our rock dreams however unrealistic they might be. The songs from Raw Power were written from deep within our souls and were played with a meaningfulness and authenticity which is rarely captured on record.”
RAW POWER: LEGACY EDITION by IGGY AND THE STOOGES
(Columbia/Legacy 88697 56149 2)
Disc One: RAW POWER (recorded September-October 1972, originally issued February 1973, as Columbia 32111) Selections: 1. Search And Destroy • 2. Gimme Danger • 3. Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell • 4. Penetration • 5. Raw Power • 6. I Need Somebody • 7. Shake Appeal • 8. Death Trip.
Disc Two: “Georgia Peaches” (Live At Richards, Atlanta, Georgia, October 1973, all tracks previously unreleased) Selections: 1. Introduction • 2. Raw Power • 3. Head On • 4. Gimme Danger • 5. Search And Destroy • 6. I Need Somebody • 7. Heavy Liquid • 8. Cock In My Pocket • 9. Open Up And Bleed • Bonus tracks: 10. Doojiman (previously unreleased outtake from Raw Power sessions, 1972) • 11. Head On (previously unreleased CBS Studio rehearsal performance, New York City, 1973).
RAW POWER: DELUXE EDITION by IGGY AND THE STOOGES
(Columbia/Legacy 88697 65714 2)
Disc One: RAW POWER (recorded September-October 1972, originally issued February 1973, as Columbia 32111) Selections: 1. Search And Destroy • 2. Gimme Danger • 3. Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell • 4. Penetration • 5. Raw Power • 6. I Need Somebody • 7. Shake Appeal • 8. Death Trip.
Disc Two: “Georgia Peaches” (Live At Richards, Atlanta, Georgia, October 1973, all tracks previously unreleased) Selections: 1. Introduction • 2. Raw Power • 3. Head On • 4. Gimme Danger • 5. Search And Destroy • 6. I Need Somebody • 7. Heavy Liquid • 8. Cock In My Pocket • 9. Open Up And Bleed • Bonus tracks: 10. Doojiman (previously unreleased outtake from Raw Power sessions, 1972) • 11. Head On (previously unreleased CBS Studio rehearsal performance, New York City, 1973).
Disc Three: Rarities, Outtakes, & Alternates from the Raw Power Era Selections: 1. I’m Hungry (outtake from Raw Power sessions) • 2. I Got A Right (outtake from an early aborted Raw Power session) • 3. I’m Sick Of You (outtake from an early aborted Raw Power session) • 4. Hey, Peter (outtake from Raw Power sessions) • 5. Shake Appeal (alternate mix version from recently discovered alternate mix reels, “The Embassy Reels”) • 6. Death Trip (alternate mix version from recently discovered alternate mix reels, “The Embassy Reels”) • 7. Gimme Danger (alternate mix from the 1996 Iggy “violent” remixes) • 8. Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell (alternate mix from the 1996 Iggy “violent” remixes). (All tracks previously unreleased except tracks 3, 7, and 8.)
Disc Four: DVD – The Making Of Raw Power, produced and directed by Morgan Neville (featuring interviews with Iggy Pop, James Williamson, Scott Asheton, Mike Watt, Johnny Marr, and Henry Rollins; plus performance footage from James Williamson’s first reunion concert with Iggy and the Stooges, at Festival Planeta Terra, São Paulo, Brazil, November 2009).
Bonus Japanese 7-inch 45 rpm single reproduction: Side One – “Raw Power” b/w Side Two – “Search And Destroy”
PRESS INQUIRIES:
Iggy and the Stooges’ 1973 classic Raw Power will be reissued April 27th as a Deluxe Edition box set complete with three discs worth of music featuring 15 previously unreleased bonuses — never-before-heard tracks, demos and remixes. One of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Raw Power was the first Stooges album to feature James Williamson on guitar in place of the great Ron Asheton, who switched to bass. The LP spawned the punk anthems “Search and Destroy” and “Gimme Danger.” As Rolling Stone previously reported, the Stooges, who will be inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March, will celebrate their third album by performing the whole LP in concert.
The first disc of the box set will contain the newly remastered Raw Power, featuring David Bowie’s original mix for the album that was previously out of print, while the second disc boasts the Georgia Peaches bootleg, comprised of an unreleased soundboard recording of a 1973 concert the Stooges performed in Atlanta, Georgia. Two more unreleased songs will grace the second disc: An Iggy Pop/James Williamson-penned outtake called “Doojiman” and a rehearsal performance of “Head On.” The third disc features four more outtakes — “I’m Hungry,” “I Got a Right,” “I’m Sick of You” and “Hey, Peter” — and alternate mixes of four tracks: “Shake Appeal,” “Death Trip” “Gimme Danger” and “Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell.”
The Raw Power: Deluxe Edition box set also includes a new hour-long making-of Raw Power documentary, a 48-page photo book and a replica of the 1973 Japanese “Raw Power” 7” single. The box set will only be available through the Iggy and the Stooges Website.
Read more about the Stooges’ road to the Rock Hall:
Today, Iggy Pop is best known as that funny old man in the Swiftcover advert, but in the early 1970s, his group, the Stooges, sculpted alternative rock’s signature sounds. Here’s a beautifully packaged four-CD set of poorly recorded spring 1971 dates that are nonetheless audibly amazing. A short-lived quintet with two guitarists, Ron Asheton and his subsequent replacement, James Williamson, rage furiously behind a largely inaudible and surely uninsurable Pop. Of the six-song set, all but I Got a Right disappeared somewhere between the Fun House and Raw Power albums, but Big Time Bum invents American hardcore punk 10 years early and the swaggering You Don’t Want My Name, You Want My Action should make Williamson’s and Pop’s 2010 reunion set.
Simply the most important Stooges artefact since Metallic KO
“This set is for the hardcore fans only,” says Easy Action’s website, and only 1,000 of the faithful will be able to acquire what amounts to the most historically-significant and, frankly, mindblowing aural document of The Stooges since Metallic KO captured the band’s death throes in 1974.
Stooges lore has monolithic original guitarist Ron Asheton making way for search-and-destroy axe assassin James Williamson, the former later returning on bass for Raw Power. For a few months in 1971, however, both aimed their heatseeking guitars from the same stage, blasting twice the six-string firepower over drummer Scott Asheton, bassist Jimmy Recca and Iggy at his most crowd-baiting, stage-vomiting extreme. If that conjures thoughts of ultimate high-energy heaven, magnify it tenfold and send it to hell.
With the band’s approval, Easy Action has pulled off a major coup, acquiring former Stooges A&R man Danny Fields’ cassette recordings, capturing a previously-unheard transitional phase (complimented by the usual meticulous packaging, including previously-unseen photos). Four CDs present as many sets: their first show in Detroit in April 1971, two from New York’s Electric Circus in May and St Louis later that month, plus a July Michigan show where Iggy and James didn’t show and the remaining three were joined by local singer Steve Richards.
Apart from the stunning thermonuclear guitar avalanches, the sets are startling because, except for I Got A Right, they consist of songs not heard before or since these shows. These include Big Time Bum, You Don’t Want My Name, Dead Bodies, Fresh Rag and the gloriously psychotic Do You Want My Love, which builds to a cataclysmic freeform coda of terrifying proportions.
Some might quibble that this is a cassette recording, but that misses the point. The audience babble adds to the luridly-compelling atmosphere, while Iggy, at his most stoned unimmaculate, croons The Shadow Of Your Smile before announcing, “Our next selection is entitled New York Pussy Smells Like Dogshit.” These field recordings are so car crash vital and elementally-charged that audio-fidelity nit-picking becomes irrelevant, especially as this particular slab of history would never repeat itself. For more info, visit www.stooges1971.com and www.straightjameswilliamson.com.
Four stars rating
Easy Action | EAR 023 (4-CD)
Reviewed by Kris Needs
James Williamson and the Careless Hearts Sept. 5, 2009 show CD/DVD to be released in early 2010 by Easy Action UK.
Third round of Stooges Rehearsals start Oct 27, with their first live date Nov. 7 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Planeta Terra Festival
Also book exerpt from "The Stooges: The Authorized and Illustrated Story" "Metallic KO" here.
Easy Action to release Careless Hearts show Vinyl/ CD/ DVD featuring James Williamson.
"1971" is shipping,To order and for more info on the upcong release click here to go to Easy Action Records UK.
"The Stooges: The Authorized and Illustrated Story" by Robert Matheu available NOWhere.
11.07.09: Iggy and the Stooges play Planeta Terra 2009, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Festival website here.
Tickets: www.ticketmaster.com.br or Tel (11) 2846 6000 First batch has sold out! Derek See of the Careless Hearts will be one of James' guitar techs in Sao Paolo.
The nominations for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum were announced today. The twelve nominees are: ABBA, Darlene Love, Donna Summer, Genesis, Jimmy Cliff, KISS, Laura Nyro, LL Cool J, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Chantels, The Hollies and The Stooges. Ballots will be sent to more than 500 voters, who will select artists to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the 25th Annual Induction Ceremony on March 15, 2010 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City.
Five of the twelve nominees will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. To be eligible for nomination into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an act must have released its first single or album at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination. This year’s nominees had to release their first single no later than 1984.
The inductees will be announced in January 2010, and all inductees are ultimately represented in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. (RHOF Blog, Sept. 23, 2009)
Many of James Williamson’s colleagues—at Sony, where, until a few months ago, he was Vice President of Technology Standards, and at IEEE, where he serves as a member of the Standards Association Board of Governors and the Association's Corporate Advisory Group—didn’t know about the years he spent as a punk guitarist and member of The Stooges. His calm manner and even temper at standards meetings belied his previous reputation as one of the loudest and raunchiest punk rockers in the business.
Williamson co-wrote the songs and played guitar on the 1973 album, Raw Power, now considered a punk classic. He collaborated with Iggy Pop on the 1975 album Kill City, then turned to electrical engineering, getting his BSEE degree from California State Polytechnic University.
He did return to music briefly, contributing to Iggy Pop’s 1979 album New Values, then focused on his technical career.
But now, recently retired from Sony, he’s picking up the guitar again. Williamson, who hasn’t performed in front of a paying audience in 35 years, has reportedly started practicing for his musical comeback. The Stooges are currently booked to appear next year at the All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival in London, possibly the first stop on a tour.
No word yet as to whether IEEE members will be able to purchase concert tickets at a discount.
Stooges' Lead Guitarist in San Jose
James Williamson, backed by Careless Hearts, brought 'Raw Power' to the Blank Club.
It was one of those epic nights that really did put San Jose on the map. James Williamson of the Stooges played at the Blank Club downtown —his first gig in 35 years.
Back in 1973, Williamson played guitar on and wrote much of the music for the seminal Iggy and the Stooges LP Raw Power, an album whose influence on the punk genre—and 15 years later, grunge—cannot be overstated. With the deranged Iggy Pop belting out the vocals, that album is still cherished as a definitive influence on everybody from the Sex Pistols to Henry Rollins, from the Smiths to Nirvana.
Williamson, now 59, had been toiling away as a Silicon Valley executive for the last 25 years—completely unbeknownst to anyone here—and this show marked his official return to the raucous guitar sounds of old. The Careless Hearts, a local San Jose band that normally plays laid-back country rock, and that sounds nothing remotely like the Stooges, backed him up for the special gig, which he set up in order to prepare for an upcoming Stooges reunion in 2010. They nailed it. With Williamson slinging axes onstage right next to them, and former Stooges sax player Steve Maxkay blowing his parts from the Funhouse album, the band went through the Stooges' best-known songs, along with a few surprises.
Watching Williamson play the unforgettable guitar lead for "Search and Destroy" was an incredible thing no one has witnessed in three decades, and he played a mean solo on "Johanna," from his post-Stooges collaboration with Iggy, Kill City. Careless Hearts lead singer Paul Kimball did a convincing Iggy impression (though he stated flat out at the beginning that his shirt wasn't coming off) especially as the band raged through the end of the set with "Loose," "TV Eye," "Search and Destroy" and "I Got A Right."
"I don't know about you guys, but I think this Stooge is out of retirement," Kimball said before an encore of "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and the oft-bootlegged Iggy version of "Louie Louie."
The show was easily the most heralded gig in the Blank Club’s history, with fans from across the United States showing up to attend. Legendary drummer and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Clem Burke of Blondie, in the Bay Area performing with Magic Christian, showed up and hung out in the crowd. Several folks in the audience sported haircuts not seen since the ’70s and many looked like they had pulled out 30-year-old duds from the closet just for the occasion. After the show concluded, fans lined up for almost 30 minutes to have Williamson autograph LPs, posters, magazines and other items—something not usually seen at a 250-capacity venue in downtown San Jose. See original article (with pix) here.
James' setlist for the Careless Hearts show, Blank Club, San Jose, CA, Sept 5, 2009 (with guitars used for songs)
Raw Power Les Paul
Cock in My Pocket
Johanna
1970 Strat
Funhouse
No Sense of Crime Martin
Gimme Danger 359
I Need Somebody capo
Penetration capo
Night Theme
I Got Nothin’
Loose Strat
TV Eye
Search & Destroy Les Paul
I Got A Right
Encore
I Wanna Be Your Dog Strat
Louie Louie
James and the Careless Hearts play to a packed house at the Blank Club in San Jose Sept. 5 - first video from YouTube here, full version available soon at this site.
Former Stooges guitarist James Williamson was in the parking lot of his dentist’s office earlier this year when he heard a familiar voice on his cellphone: Iggy Pop. “He asked me if I wanted to play guitar again,” says Williamson, who hasn’t performed a single gig since the Stooges dissolved in 1974. “I was about to take an early retirement from my job in Silicon Valley, so I figured ‘What the hell, let’s do it.’ ” Williamson spent time last month in Los Angeles rehearsing with the Stooges (minus Pop) — bassist Mike Watt, drummer Scott Asheton and saxophonist Steve McKay — and they just booked their first gig: on May 2nd and 3rd of next year they’re going to perform Raw Power in its entirety at the All Tomorrows Party festival in London.
Williamson joined the Stooges for the recording of their 1973 masterpiece Raw Power, while original guitarist Ron Asheton switched to the bass. When the Stooges reformed in 2003 Asheton — who died of a heart attack in January — returned to the guitar and Williamson wasn’t invited back. After the Stooges folded, Williamson and Iggy briefly continued recording together, but during the early stages of production on Pop’s 1980 Soldier LP things fell apart.
“We had a blowout,” Williamson says. “We wound up not talking for twenty years.” Williamson moved to the Bay Area in 1982 and began working in the rapidly growing field of personal computers. For the past twelve years he ran the Technology Standards office at Sony. Until a few years ago he never even touched a guitar, but he recently took up Hawaiian slack-key guitar as a hobby. “That’s a whole different style of music,” he says. “It’s been quite a job to dust off my rock & roll chops.”
To prepare for the Stooges rehearsals Williamson locked himself in a rehearsal hall with an electric guitar and ran through the eight tracks from the Stooges 1973 classic Raw Power. “I wrote a lot of those songs and it’s my style of guitar playing,” he says. “I kind of naturally came back to me.” The local San Jose band Careless Hearts jammed with him in those early periods — and in two days he’s sitting in with them at the Bank Club in their hometown. It will be his first concert in thirty-five years.
On September 20th he’s headed back down to Los Angeles for more Stooges rehearsals — this time with Iggy. “We’re rehearsing songs from Raw Power, Stooges, Fun House and Kill City.” The Stooges — who toured with original guitar Ron Asheton until his death in January — hadn’t played most of the later-day material in decades. “We had to really work at the nuances of the songs,” Williamson says. “By the end we were sounding pretty great.”
The only show on the books now is the All Tomorrows Party festival in London, but Williamson says many more are coming. He also hopes to write new material with Iggy. “The two of us have a long history of writing new tunes,” he says. “It’s probably a safe bet we will at some point.”
Andy Greene
Read Metro Silicon Valley's Sept 2, 2009 story "Center Stooge" here.
James Williamson interview with the Careless Hearts Sept. 1, 2009 on Pirate Cat Radio, 6-8PM (Pacific Time)
HOW TO LISTEN Radio: 87.9 FM SF Bay Area & LA | 104.8 FM Berlin
Online: www.piratecatradio.com/listen.php (or iTunes)
Podcast: posted immediately after broadcast for 6wks and here is the direct link!
James Williamson's interview with WERS was broadcast August 16, 2009 -- LISTEN.
"I'm a street walking cheetah with a heart full of napalm. I'm a runaway son of the nuclear a-bomb. I am a worlds forgotten boy. The one who searches and destroys."
Search and Destroy: the opening track to The Stooges 1973 album.
Raw Power still sounds as defiant as ever when Iggy Pop belts it out shirtless on stage. But alas, our Stooges have been on hiatus since guitarist Ron Asheton died last year.
Asheton era Stooges brought the world two great original albums: 1969's naive rocker, The Stooges and 1970's motocross race though an opium den, "Fun house."
Now, after 35 years away from any stage, The Stooges second guitarist, James Williamson, who dominated the Les Paul on "Raw Power," will reunite with the band and put them back on the road.
While Fun House and The Stooges filled out the Asheton set list, Raw Power and Kill City will help round out the Williamson performances.
Bay area Stooges fans will have a rare opportunity on September 5 to catch Williamson live when he joins locals The Careless Hearts for an evening of Raw Power covers before he joins The Stooges.
I caught up with James Williamson who has been a veep in the Silicon Valley tech industry for a brief interview about his upcoming gig with The Careless Hearts and his future with The Stooges.
RW: How did the gig with the Careless Hearts happen?
JW: I walked into a local music store two years ago to buy a Martin and the guy behind the counter recognized my name asked, "Are you the James Williamson from The Stooges?" I said, "Well, you're too young to know The Stooges!" (laughs) So, when The Stooges reformation came about he offered to lend me his band (for rehearsal) and that was an offer I couldn't refuse.
RW: The Careless Hearts are more of a Byrds style band, aren't they?
JW: I had gone to see the band a couple of times and they are very very different from The Stooges but it turns out they had all played Stooges songs in garage bands when they were growing up. You're not going to see the singer do a lot of the stage antics like Iggy does but we sound great!
RW: What's it like playing those songs again?
JW: I'm a little older, actually a lot older (laughs), but it takes you back and I am really looking forward to playing with Scott Asheton then it will really take me back.
RW: What is The Blank Club like?
JW: I guess a lot of good bands play there but it's just a little room. If they get two or three hundred people in there they will be packed like sardines.
RW: When you joined The Stooges they were already an established band so you've probably never played a gig this intimate.
JW: We played a few small gigs toward the end... but I don't think I've ever played a place like this. It's kind of cool! I am looking forward to it.
RW: What kind of set should we expect to hear at next year's Stooges shows?
JW: We haven't determined a final set list but everything is up for grabs. One of the things about The Stooges in the old days that was very stupid was that we very rarely played the same stuff very often. We would be playing new stuff as we went along because we thought we were being creative and also because we got bored very easily. So as entertainment we kind of failed because no one really knew the songs. This time around we are trying to draw on things the audience knows and that covers a lot of territory. A lot of "Raw Power" stuff and we'll hit on the first two Stooges albums, maybe a couple of Iggy's solo things.
At the time of this interview Williamson was preparing for rehearsal in L.A. with The Stooges for next year's tour. A photo book documenting the band's early years called "Stooges: The Authorized and Illustrated Story" is in the works. Williamson's show with The Careless Hearts at the Blank Club in San Jose are $12.
Robert Wellington is an NBC Bay Area staff photojournalist and has been a Stooges fan for more than 30 years.
First Published: Aug 3, 2009 7:21 PM PDT
Find this article at:
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/around-town/events/Stooges_Guitarist_to_Play_San_Jose_Show-52392317.html
