James Williamson - Open Up And Bleed

From reading the posts from James's FB page, I think this going to be the Stooges with different singers

Found some more info here: http://www.newsdistribution.be/Product.aspx?ProductNo=748252923523&ck=9e7f9073-781a-4dba-af1c-dd6efcd2fc49

It will be interesting to see what else they do besides these two

Here's even more
JW Project

Interesting of course, but man, if only they had done this (and the lost 1971 songs) with Iggy and Scott. The Open Up And Bleed clip sounds great.

From the official Stooges website:

"Re-Licked will also feature other lesser-known Stooges tracks properly recorded and mixed for the first time. Songs such as "I Gotta Right," "Rubber Legs," "She Creatures of the Hollywood Hills," "Wild Love" and others will be fronted by a wealth of talented vocalists such as Jello Biafra, Mark Lanegan, Ariel Pink, Lisa Kekuala (The BellRays) and others to be announced soon."

Based on the Open Up And Bleed clip this will be great, but it's also so frustrating, because it means we will probably never get properly recorded Stooges versions of those songs.

It's as if Picasso had only done the preliminary sketches for Guernica and had then refused to paint the actual painting.

I actually think this is a great idea. If these songs were recorded with Iggy singing we would all compare them to the old versions and we would all probably be disappointed, becuse they wouldn't be as intense as the old versions, or for some other reason.
This way it will be the songs that are put forward, and we probably won't be as quick to compare them to old versions.
And I really hope Wet My Bed and Head On will be on the album.

I agree with roky - it's great that these songs are being properly recorded, and it would be very difficult not to compare them to the 1973 versions if Iggy was singing them, so it's probably a good thing to use guest singers in that case.

But.... I also agree with Luzern. These new recordings are tantalisingly close to having really great new recordings of cracking songs. The Stooges are playing the music, it's gonna sound tremendous but there's no Iggy.

I wonder if Iggy could be persuaded to sing on just one or two of these tracks, kind of a guest vocalist himself on this project.

to have Iggy guest on a bonus track would be terrific......it's great to have fresh blood and only female singers take a chance at this , with guys on vocals it would have been terrible in terms of comparing to the original Iggy takes.

always thought a proper studio take of Open up and Bleed should have been the bonus track on Ready to Die ! so I'm really excited about this but at the same time a bit concerned : where's Iggy , where's Scott ? it's not just a solo project on the side like Iggy does , these are Stooges songs !

My interest in this extends to figuring out various lyrics on the boots that have eluded me for years.
Given Iggy's reaction to J. Mascis stealing his "gold" (when he toured w/ the Asheton's), he can't be too happy about this.

Hopefully strong, modern takes on these tunes will rope in a few newbies and lead them to the completely insane originals.

But.. how can they pull off tunes like 'Rubber Legs' when the lyrics are so Iggy-specific?

At least Williamson is embracing his old nickname "the Skull". Wish he'd worn the facepaint on stage.

It's wonderful. So excited about the good news from James. Fabulous cover photo. Carolyn Wonderland sounds incredible.

Here's another interview with James about the project
Interview

This is very exciting. Respect to James for having the appetite and the ambition and the clout to get it on. Can't wait to hear these songs.

For my money this is 100% a Stooges project, just as Asheton Asheton Mascis Watt was a Stooges project. It's Stooges songs, played by some from the band, with guests. It's the real deal.

Good for James for doing this, of course it's a Stooges album ..... just minus Iggy and Scott

It's really a shame Scott isn't there. Wonder how he's doing. Hope ok.

More details here http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/stooges-guitarist-james-williamson-talks-raw-power-era-rarities-20140307

Head On with Jello Biafra on vocals. Till The End of Night and Sick of You will be on it.

Thanks rokyforever. That's a very interesting read. Sounds like this will be a decent album!

But, in my mind anyway, this article raises a lot of questions too.
Anyone else find it odd that Igyy didn't know anything about this project? Is everything ok between him and James? You'd think that JW might at least dropped Iggy an email or something...

Interesting too that James doesn't think that Iggy's keen to get back into a studio.

Cheers,
Richard

I'd rather trust the " Joey G. interview " story , sounds like he actually talked to JW rather than the RS article which sounds like a copy and paste job..........it also makes more sense that Iggy did not feel like doin' it because anyway according to the general public and media the old Iggy would not have sounded as good as on the vintage original songs.

I thought at 1st it was an all female singer affair , apparently not , I think the girls will make this project good as all the male singers will have to stand the comparison with the Ig ! good luck !

I prefer James goes back to Bomp, demands all those tapes,mixes them and then release ALL of those ""Detroit Rehearsals'' !

Interesting idea, but I doubt those are multi-tracked.  I doubt those can be fixed anymore than they are unfortunately.  Some of those are pretty weird, James has been asked about some of those and he says that some of that isn't him (Hollis Brown etc).  I would hope for a restoration type remaster with the personal sorted out on those Detroit tapes.

neven wrote:

I prefer James goes back to Bomp, demands all those tapes,mixes them and then release ALL of those ""Detroit Rehearsals''  !

studioguy wrote:

Interesting idea, but I doubt those are multi-tracked.  I doubt those can be fixed anymore than they are unfortunately.  Some of those are pretty weird, James has been asked about some of those and he says that some of that isn't him (Hollis Brown etc).  I would hope for a restoration type remaster with the personal sorted out on those Detroit tapes.

neven wrote:

I prefer James goes back to Bomp, demands all those tapes,mixes them and then release ALL of those ""Detroit Rehearsals''  !

He said those Ig with gitarist and rhytm box tapes aren't him,However the Detroit rehearsals are the whole band.

Sorry, you're right on that. There's so many boots out there that I get them mixed up

Let's see... umpteen Stooge tribute bands, tribute albums, Henry Rollins leading a rousing "I Got A Right" backed by Stooges for the Ann Arbor Tribute to Ron Asheton as sanctioned warm up for the Ig: why not new takes by one of the two people on the planet who actually wrote these legendary songs and knows their feel best?

His singers are well chosen for innate passion and alt-cred. I'd hate to hear the usual chorus of Biggies like Sheryl Crow or Sting tackle them (which they'd tackle to the ground.) So, yeah!!     

You have to wonder if Dave Grohl will end up on a track or two since it's being recorded at his studio

Thanx for the link to the Rolling Stone article. Sounds better and better. Watt must've been sworn to silence as there's been not a breath about this proj on his radio show. Bass solo? Oh yeah!

Strange contradiction about whether Iggy was invited or not. Maybe he'd discounted the plan but then not got news that JW was pressing on anyway.

Sounds like Watt's had way more input than he was allowed on Weirdness or Ready to Die, which can only be a very good thing.