Review Summary: The Stooges put out the so far worst album of the year. You can't really tell a difference between the songs. The vocals are atricious. And don't get me started on the lyrics. This album sucks. Fin.
Facts about the Weirdness:
The Weirdness is the fourth studio album - and first formal non-live release since 1973's Raw Power - by the influental protopunk band The Stooges, featuring founding members Iggy Pop, Ron Asheton, and Scott Asheton along with new bassist Mike Watt (Minutemen/fIREHOSE) and Fun House saxophonist Steve Mackay.
The album was recorded by Steve Albini at his Electrical Audio studio in Chicago, Illinois during October 2006, and was mastered at Abbey Road Studios in London, England in December of that same year.
According to Watt's online diary, the songs recorded during the sessions included a finalized version of "My Idea Of Fun" (first heard on the live CD Telluric Chaos) and a cover version of The Beatles' "I Wanna Be Your Man", while a November 20 article on the album, derived mainly from an interview with Pop, also gives the following song titles as appearing on the album: "Trollin'", "ATM", "You Can't Have Friends,", "The Weirdness" and "Greedy Awful People." Further titles were announced in December after the album was mastered, and the final track listing was announced by Virgin Records on January 30, 2007.
source: wikipedia
The Review
I was pretty excited first when I heard about a new album by the Stooges. Their other releases from the early 70's are absolute legendary and influental to countless rock act of today and the past. Then I saw the first reviews of it. Pretty much every critic doomed the album and called it just plain trash. But the question is how do you review this album?
Do you have to compare it their old masterpieces? Or do you have to review just along with the releases and music of today? I went with the last one, because first of all there was just no way in hell they could create another
"Fun House" or
"Raw Power". Basicially we all know that one, but still have that wish in the back of our heads that we want another classic. So I review this album not as a comparison to their old stuff but against the current rock releases of today.
The Weirdness' opener
Trollin' is simply said in the middle between horrible and generic. The song itself has a very generic and boring rock sound to it, very bad vocals by Iggy and one of the worst and unmelodic bridges I've ever heard. It didn't make sense at all either, the whole arrangement itself. The song sounds like a shot dog gasping for help. It also provides lyrical masterpieces like this one:
I see your hair as energy/ My dick is turning into as a tree
Enough said about this song, it's just horrific. It sounded absolute pseudo aggresive. What caught me off guard after that was that the next track
You Can't Have Friends almost had the exact same guitar riff and melody. You basicially can't wait till this song is over, it's really that boring and goes nowhere. Iggy is brabbling about being your friend till the bitter end in this song but sounds rather like a drunken hobo at a bar screaming for beer. Would you want a person like that as your friend? Iggy's singing is just horrendoes.
Idea of Fun is one of the more decent tracks on the album. It still has some of the worst rhyming in lyrics that I've heard in a long time. I've heard deeper lyrics by 8 year olds. The positive things about the songs are the rather catchy melody and refrain which will definitely hook some people, really no doubt about that. I kinda digged the part after two minutes (and towards the end) where he seemed to give the refrain a deeper and rougher voice for a seconds but that went quickly nowhere and turned into a mash of drums and a rather hideous sounding guitar solo.
Free and Freaky is another desperate attempt by the Stooges to be edgy and try to create some attitude. The song has a surfing sound to it overall but it just fails miserable as Iggy yells out absolute cringe-worthy about England and France and tries to running them down but he just comes off desperate. In the end it's basicially just not cool or any good anymore if we hear thin old mummys like Iggy yelling out
Free and Freaky in the U.S.A.!. But again I could definitely see some kids falling for the pseudo-edgy main chorus. But then again, would they really think the Stooges are cool if they hear "lyrics" like "
Alabama/Dalai Lama/Baby Mama/Benihana/etc."? The whole thing just screams time filler. And not good time filler for a song either.
The End of Christianity sounds seriously more like "the End of the Stooges". I'm not fond of religion either but after hearing that song I seriously think about converting to the church and rather listening to some old guy brabbling about stuff that never happened than to the Stooges. The song itself is basicially a neverending preudo-aggresive four minute song that goes absolutely nowhere.
Iggy sings
My sanity is under attack in
Mexican Guy and really couldn't agree more with the guy. That aside, it's the other decent song on the album as it has a decent guitar solo towards the end and overall a decent enough main sound.
Passing Cloud is another songs I'd label as a "highlight". Iggy shows the best vocal work on the entire CD and tries at least a bit for the song. One of the songs that you don't have to skip afterall.
"Highlights"
Idea of Fun
Mexican Guy
Passing Cloud
Conclusion
Nobody really expected a classic by the Stooges but they could have at least tried. Basicially every song sounds about the same. Every song has the same bad vocals, the similar generic guitars/main melodys and embarrassing lyrics. It's a farcry to their old and brilliant stuff but that was obvious. This album is just plain not worthy of your money.
