And the winner is: 2012 Record Store Day vinyl release. This is a comparison I've wanted to do for a long time, ever since I first heard that the Record Store Day pressing of this mix had not been brickwalled. Now that I have my hands on it, how does it actually compare to the original CD release? In short, it's a revelation. For one thing, it reveals very clearly that nearly all the most egregious issues with the original release of the Pop mix were due to Iggy's insistence that the original mastering engineer cut the disc at a nearly unlistenable level, rather than due to issues with the mix itself. The 1997 version is an absolute sonic assault to the ears whose actual impact falls far, far short of the "raw power" promised by the album's title, coming across instead as a wall of distortion and extreme muddiness due to the near total lack of dynamics. The Record Store Day vinyl release, by contrast, is surprisingly listenable to a much greater degree than I was expecting. To take just one example, the ear splittingly cacophanous guitar solo in "Gimme Danger" is actually listenable on this version of the album. The difference between the two editions of this mix is stark. Of course, the mix still has some issues (the bass notes are still frustratingly buried, for instance), but in comparison to what we got in 1997, the Record Store Day version of this one is a no brainer. If you're a fan of classic proto punk and metal, the vinyl disc is a must have.