The Stooges, The Weirdness CD Review On Rock N Roll Universe

Back in the late 70’s I was first discovering “Rock & Roll” with bands such as Alice Cooper, Kiss, Aerosmith, Nugent, Blue Oyster Cult and Black Sabbath. During that period of time I was always buying the latest issues of Creem, Rock Scene, Circus etc, and I always noticed (especially in Creem and Rock Scene) almost every issue had pictures or articles on Iggy Pop. At the time I had no desire to listen to “punk". I even traded a promotional copy of the Ramones' 'Rocket to Russia' to a friend for Bad Co's.'Straight Shooter'. A few years later (early 80’s) I was at a friend's place listening to records and drinking beer when I spotted Iggy Pop’s 'Lust For Life' and 'Live TV Eye' in his record collection. I said to my friend, ”Iggy Pop?? Isn’t he the guy who used to cuts himself up onstage?”.My friend laughed, said, ”Yeah,he’s awesome!" and put on the 'Lust for Life' album. As soon as the needle hit the groove, and the drums & bass on the title track kicked I was sold. The next day I bought 'Lust For Life,' 'The Stooges' and 'Raw Power'. I could not believe how kick-ass those 2 Stooges albums were that I bought. They had everything I could want out of music: heavy rhythms and intense, earsplitting lead guitar solos with Iggy’s almost Jagger like vocals wrapped around the songs like a boa constrictor strangling its prey.

2007 brought Iggy & the Stooges back with their first studio album since 1973 entitled 'The Weirdness'. The Stooges, led by brothers Scott Ashton(drums) & Ron Ashton (guitars) did reunite with their former lead singer on Iggy’s 2003 CD ‘Skull Ring,’ where they played on 4 of the 16 tracks.’The Weirdness’ shows that there is no sign of slowing down for the band as they take control from the opening track”Trollin," which attacks your ears from start to finish. The album's onslaught continues throughout and only allows the listener to come up for air on the bluesy title track, which is the 5th song on the album. The title track is great as it combines Iggy’s great crooning style vocals with Ashton’s slow distorted blues guitars.”She Took My Money” is probably my favorite track off the album featuring a catchy chorus that’ll stick in your brain for weeks with a ripping solo that revisits “Raw Power”. Other standout tracks are”The End Of Christianity” (where Iggy wonders if he’s dead or having fun),”ATM," (where Iggy states “It takes dough to live like a king”) and the closing track “I’m Fried” which rocks out and leaves you wanting more.

Overall, the album is great, and besides the 3 original Stooges (Iggy, Ron, & Scott) I have to give a shout out to bassist Mike Watt (formerly of the Minutemen) whose style and sound fit in perfectly with the Stooges, and also to saxophonist Steve Mackay (who played sax on the Stooges ‘Funhouse’ record).On a scale of 1-10 I’d give the raw power of this album 11.