Author: Sandi Sadar Šoba
Artist: Stooges, The
Label: Virgin Records
Released: 2007
The late nineties and the turn of the new millennium. New times and new trends. The big names were just a bundle of fond memories gathering dust on shelves. Evidently spring-cleaning season had arrived, and some, if not many, are coming back. A shortage of cash, a craving to test their own vitality, and a burning need to prove to themselves that they can still handle their part of the job. A slice of the huge pie was also claimed by one of the main sowers of the punk seed, homework and required listening for every punk in heart and body, The Stooges– with the new record The Weirdness.
The late sixties, when they were only starting to carve out their path, are half an eternity ago. Back then, few believed they’d have a long shelf life. Partly thanks to a hellish cycle of drugs, depression, madness and burning the candle at both ends. They were nonconformist megalomaniacs who never managed to live out their dreams, so they vanished twice and fell apart into their basic elements, packing themselves off to the junk room of history and sentimental memories. What remained was the legend and a handful of phenomenal albums, like The Stooges, Fun House and Raw Power. And 34 years after their last record, the inspiration-soaked Raw Power, on which they sounded original and dangerous and carried the banner of uncompromising street punks, they finally drummed themselves back together and, under Steve Albini’s baton and without any major pressure, tried to tap into the old chemistry of the original lineup once more. Not for the first time, mind you, since they’d already tested the waters of working together on Iggy’s solo record Skull Ring and on the world tour they set off on, wiring up the body of an old, long-dead carcass that started kicking again as if struck by lightning. Also because quite a few tracks had become commercial hits. Because old stuff with a patina of age sells well (better than back when it first came roaring out of the gate), and because it’s just the right thing to do for today’s anemic scene of good old rock’n’roll, right?
The album kicks off right out of the gate with ‘Trollin”, where the listener already after the first verse senses a two-dimensional emptiness, best reflected in Iggy’s lack of originality when it comes to writing and squeezing out a decent chorus. Ron Asheton serves up cliché strumming on six strings, his brother Scott rattles off predictable fills on the drums, and three minutes of intro leave me cold. And then comes ‘You Can’t Have Friends’, which keeps the inventiveness of the opening track’s singing. Iggy in the worst shape? A poppy skipper you could imagine coming from idea-less pop punk beginners, not from veterans who broke taboos back in the distant seventies… After my hair settled down a bit and I realized this record has to be listened to differently than the rest of The Stooges’ discography, ‘ATM’, finally pours in a bit more energy, a totally simple shuffle of a song where you just can’t listen too closely to the lyrics. It does lack the kick in the groin that would sneak a happy smile onto my face and make me believe, wide-eyed, every word coming out of Iggy’s rebellious teenage-years repertoire. ‘My Idea Of Fun’ continues the stretch of barreling down the gravel road of creative emptiness. “My idea of fun is killing everyone…”. Yuck! Plain painful and trivial. Comment And then the title track. ‘The Weirdness’, with its first rocking, slightly melancholic, repetitive rhythm, lulls you into a state of soft pain and all-encompassing apathy that beautifully complements gray March days, with an existential appeal to move that you can’t possibly find here. Just a contradictory world of alienated optimism. It’s partly dictated by the saccharine saxophone, whose velvety and far too short solo recalls aimless wandering under a rainy sky somewhere far away at half past two in the morning. ‘Free & Freaky’ is actually the first song that gives me a little more will to live, and I can even picture it vividly on the boards of some smaller Slovenian stage, or as a complementary element of carefree partying in some smoky dive. “England and France, these cultures are old, the cheese is stinky and the beer ain’t cold…”. A lack of substance. Empty form. Formalism without real drive carries on in ‘Greedy Awful People’, a rant about average Joes, which links up with a rock’n’roller example of a simple tune that actually has an element of likability- ‘She Took My Money’. The soloing from under Ron’s fingers is a bright spot that drives the song into a lovely, delightful mood of joy. Despite the song’s title. The saxophone elegantly rounds out the palette of forgotten sounds, but the production is undefined and almost slightly claustrophobic. The same thread of rushing along continues in the next song, which serves up a critique of an age without values- ‘The End Of Christianity’. ‘Mexican Guy’ is the next potential bit of fun, which with its furrowed guitar sound actually offers the most defined track on the record. About madness and getting wasted. About the story of Iggy’s past. Simple and unembellished, though there’s a bitter feeling that Iggy used to be able to tell it better, more poetically, without the sense of strain and the creative dryness and tedium. ‘Passing Cloud’ drones on in a poppy way, and then we arrive at the last song, which hints at the understatement of the whole record, delivered by the very title- ‘I’m Fried’.
The record The Weirdness really does sound just like that- fried, superfluous and completely unnecessary. Weary and aged. And not the way it goes with wine- that gets a richer flavor over the years. If you compare The Stooges today with what you’ve heard from them before, it’s like comparing Elvis and Shakin’ Stevens. There’s a chronic shortage of the energy and honesty that got The Stooges written into the books as legends. Here they sound like a bunch of old men trying to defy the tooth of time and prove they’re not written off yet, by taking the shortcut known as an album at any cost. Without a real motive, real will, or substance that could be wrapped into something worthy of carrying the name The Stooges. In short: in a penalty shootout, they scored a spectacular own goal. Verdict: strongly against! Better luck and better ideas next time!
Lineup
Iggy Pop – vocals
Ron Asheton – guitar
Scott Asheton – drums
Mike Watt – bass
Steve Mackay – saxophone
Production
3 Blind Mice For MINDROOM
Tracklist
1. Trollin’
2. You Can’t Have Friends
3. ATM
4. My Idea Of Fun
5. The Weirdness
6. Free & Freaky
7. Greedy Awful People
8. She Took My Money
9. The End Of Christianity
10. Mexican Guy
11. Passing Cloud
12. I’m Fried
ALBUM LENGTH: 40:02
