Ryan McNeil
Despite playing things straight down the middle, SEARCH AND DESTROY is a pretty interesting watch. The reason for this is to hear how Iggy Pop can effortlessly deconstruct the tracks on The Stooges’ landmark album “Raw Power”. The music might seem like four guys making a fast-paced racket, but the fact that the racket is so melodic is no accident. As he listens back to the master tapes, Iggy smirks and drops everything but the backing claps and additional vocals.
As we listen to what seems like the most basic added touch, Iggy points out just how important they are. “I was searching for a higher frequency” he says. And just like that, we hear it: that little nudge that takes the track past a dive band shredding, and into something that combines aggression and melody. Iggy proves to be quite adept at articulating what makes the songs work, noting for instance that ‘I Need Somebody’ sounds like a whorehouse.
Perhaps its this ear for detail that caused such tension between Iggy and David Bowie when time came to mix the album. Bowie was as big as they came in ’73, and was brought in to put his touch on the final album. While Bowie (completely absent in this film) likened what he was hearing to an African expedition, he failed to tap into what the band was trying to achieve. Thus, The Stooges’ dissatisfaction with the end result is still palatable…as is the blame.
Amusingly, the film gets a lot of notable names of rock to weigh in on the iconic record. Chrissie Hynde, Johnny Marr, Henry Rollins and many more all have their say before the credits roll. I say “amusingly” because I wonder if any of them bought this record when it first hit shelves in 1973.
Remember that scene in ALMOST FAMOUS when Lester bangs pulls ‘Raw Power’ off the shelf at the radio station, and after exalting an “Amen!”, utters to the DJ that the album isn’t on her playlist? He wasn’t kidding. Its the difficult part about being ahead of your time. You might eventually be hailed as genius, but for now you better be content to sleep in the van.
The film feels a tad short at 45 minutes, though by punk measures, that’s 42 minutes too long. Likewise, due to a gargantuan absence of archival Stooges footage, the audience is subjected to some pretty unimaginative stock imagery. However, it’s all worth it to listen to a rock legend explain the architecture of an essential album. This movie is best considered an appetizer, for The Stooges’ free show at Dundas Square later on Saturday night.
SEARCH AND DESTROY: IGGY AND THE STOOGES’ RAW POWER plays North by Northeast on Saturday June 19th – 5:00pm at Toronto Underground (186 Spadina).