The Stooges The Weirdness by: Tom Bradbury Mon:16-Apr-07 Label: Virgin Year: 2007 WB rating 53 out of 100

Hearing The Stooges for the first time was one of the greatest musical experiences of my life. Sure I had heard a lot of ‘90’s punk rock as a kid, but nothing like The Stooges, nothing so elemental, primal and untamed – the purest distillation of rock ‘n’ roll. That’s why when I got their new album, The Weirdness, I wanted nothing more than to love it as much as I loved their first three albums, and why I was so disappointed when I didn’t. The Weirdness does not manage to come anywhere close to recapturing or expanding upon the essence of The Stooges early material.

Sadly, the biggest letdown on The Weirdness is Iggy’s vocals. The Iggy of Fun House is nowhere to be found. He used to sound like he could barely keep himself from exploding; he was so full of energy and madness, on The Weirdness it is almost as if he is on the verge of falling asleep. Sure, he is almost 60, but I know he has more left in him. When I saw the Stooges play only a year ago, he sounded as ferocious as ever live. Even on a track he did with Sum 41 a couple of years ago, his vocals were a lot more alive. Where are insane shrieks and guttural growls? Iggy at his best is a possessed beast, but on The Weirdness he is altogether too calm. The whole point of The Stooges was that they were young and out of control, and listening to them could make you feel that you were more alive than you thought possible. The reality is that punk rock is a young man’s domain – to really pull it off you need a lot of aggression, pent up energy and a fierce nihilistic streak. Here The Stooges are simply too contained. Then again, hanging out in Florida and getting a tan does not exactly provide fertile ground for Stooge-like song creation.

Another major problem with this album is the production, which robs the band of one of their most potent weapons – their unapologetically raw sound. The Weirdness sounds like contrived authenticity, as if Steve Albini had spent hours manipulating the mix to make it rawer, rather than just allowing the songs to transmit their own natural energy onto the recording. An example of this is ‘My Idea Of Fun’. Ashton provides the most memorable riff of the album, but the production doesn’t allow the power to seep through, muffling the guitar in the mix. The result is synthetic rather than organic. Still, it is one of the better songs on the album, with Iggy giving a stronger vocal performance than he does on the majority of the other tracks on the album, and probably comes closest to recapturing their original sound.

If The Stooges can’t recreate their sound of old then they should consider writing more songs like the title track, ‘The Weirdness’, which sees Iggy exploring similar vocal territory to what he did on ‘China Girl’. His eccentric vibrato gives resonance to his deep growl, highlighting, rather than denying, the way in which his voice has changed. Iggy may not be able to generate as much power these days, but his voice is even thicker in the lower registers than it was when he was younger. ‘The Weirdness’ is a moody piece, with Iggy singing in what could be considered a mock croon – it’s psychedelic lounge music. Ashton’s paranoid, droning guitar heightens the neurotic atmosphere of the song, and ‘The Weirdness’ demonstrates The Stooges can still be freaky and disturbing, if they just go about it a different way – evolution could save them yet.

When the band tries to sound young and fresh on this album they are unable to pull it off. ‘ATM’ is a particularly cringe-worthy song, mainly because of Iggy’s lyrics. He has always had off-centre lyrical sensibilities, which sometimes result in memorable lines, but not on ‘ATM’. A song about the bank? In what way is that rock and roll? It’s a mid tempo dirge of guitars and drums, more plodding than threatening, and it is only one example from numerous flops.

For the most part, The Weirdness is thoroughly unmemorable. There is no point where I am taken aback by The Stooges power, which I believe must still be in them somewhere, because I have seen it firsthand. Yet the best Stooges song I have heard recently isn’t on this album – it’s by Nick Cave, and it's called ‘No Pussy Blues’. People should be wary of dismissing them; as I am sure they have a great comeback album in them. However, this just isn’t it.