The Weirdness; The Street Was Dirty But The Street Had Soul

Hey, i was listenin to The Weirdness last nite, after deliberately not listening to it for about a week or two. And i have no idea why its getting things like 3 stars or less! Its not only deservedly up with The Stooges, Funhouse and Raw Power but its one of the best albums i've heard.

I thought it was fantastic, from the punchy Trollin' to the incomprehensibly good Sounds of Leather, the album is everything, and just as the cover for Raw Power showed its madness, and uncontrollable and volatile nature (so much so 30 years and 2 mixes cant get it right) this one, the Weirdness' blackness, life is the weirdness:

''modern life, this word alone it's the ache in my bones''

The 12 track CD version is good in itself, but to truly appreciate this album you have to listen to all 16 tracks on Vinyl; O Solo Mio, Claustrophobia, Sounds of Leather and the Beatls/Stone cover of I Wanna Be Your Man.

I know people chastise Iggy for the lyrics but their frankness and candidness are there as pathetic fallacy almost to say 'i'm a guy, a simple guy, i hate this modern life'. Iggy is that man, and more. As any Ig-head will know he's an extremely intelligent guy, and he brings the words he wants to say down to a simmer of simplicity;

"Time will be healing me/ I saw it in a passing cloud"

I am not going to speak about the mix, i dont think its that bad, granted it may sound better if the bass was bumped up, but i cant imagine the album sounding any different, it was mixed by ''Three Blind Mice'' for three blind mice, and to showcase them. Even at 60, 59 and 58 i think, Ig, Ron and Scott remain vociferous youths. What other modern band, or band in general could create such noise, or songs such as
I'm Fried, ATM, the catchy Greedy, Awful People or the anthemic My Idea Of Fun. Iggy is an extremely underrated lyricist, he takes the world in one hand and gives the finger with the other;

Ig takes the idea of the modern world's war economy replacing oil economy with the line; "My idea of fun is killing everyone". Who else could either create or have the balls to say that.

Its a powerful album, and one that while standing proudly next to the original three, also incompasses each of their ideals, the meaty, bassy, but trebley guitar sound is reminiscent of Raw Power, the catchy 3 minute numbers encapsulating modern life such as "Greedy Awful People, ATM and My Idea Of Fun are representative of their debut's songs 1969 and No Fun. The guitar solos, and wailing McCay sax are of course reminiscent of the best album; Funhouse. This is brought emphatically to our attentions with the dueling solos on 'I'm Fried', a powerful song that is remains into the solo with McCay and Asteton battling each other, each wail of guitar or saxophone evokes the images of two untamed stallions at each other, then Iggy brings it down for the punch to end it.

Granted im sure there are others that say ah sure its shit, nothin like the old days, well yeh course, the stones cant rekindle the fire that created Exile on Main St or Beggars Banquet, and judging by McCartney's latest the Beatles would be laughed at. This isnt about that, its been 30 years since the last output; this album is about maturation, like the Bordeaux Iggy drinks after a good gig they have aged, and aged well. They have one of the best live shows, every review of a festival theyre at each mention them as the star attraction, how many bands can retain that? How many could keep creating these wonderful songs to play at these shows? For those who cant see how great this album is, i actually pity them, they are truly missing out on this album.

The Weirdness is a frank depiction of modern life, how shit it is, and how great it is, as is human nature in its wonderfully beautiful and tragic complexity, you can look at the beauty of nature, yet everyone retains a small iota in the brain that reminds them of the omnipresence of Death. This is what this album is about, its about all of us, we've lost our way, its all money at the ATM, generated by ''killing everyone'' for fun. It's a working band talking abuot the ''ache in my bones''.

Everybody needs a little dignity/ everybody gets a little tragedy/ Everybody needs a little mystery/Everybody's laughing at a fool like me

nice, to see im not the only one who likes sound of leather alot

Hmmm....the analogy to the Stones is highly inaccurate.
The Stones have become a Las Vegas lounge lizard act. Keith should be ashamed of himself for letting it get to that point.

The Stooges are playing with ALL the angst and fury they had back in 1969 and 1970. Just a taste more refined. The Weirdness is a brilliant album in every way.

When was the last time you could say that about a Stones album?

Great review!

Loose 1969, i thought A Bigger Bang was a great album, too long obviously, it cudda been cut down a bit, but the songs that are on there are good, i love It Wont Take Long or Rough Justice - i still think the stones are great, granted they peaked in '72, but the plateau and decline werent bad, and they havent reached the fall considering their ages.

As a live act, theyre great, im hoping to go to see them at Slane on 18th August, but i get your point entirely, altho i wasnt using it as an analogy at all it was the only band that came to mind as i was writing you know, but yeh ano the recent records havent been great, but i dont consider richards a 'lounge lizard' at all, he's still got it, and keep in mind there average age is probly like 64, the stooges are young'uns compared, lol, but thanks for the feedback

Points taken. And I didn't meant to imply that Keef was all washed up either. I just feel that the band in general ain't what it used to be. But then again, what is? Well, Stooges excepted. They STILL have the fire.

Great review of The Weirdness.
It's an album that is still growing on me. I wasn't overly impressed at first but repeated listens have been revealing more and more depth each time I play it.
I agree that the 'bonus' tracks should have been on the album proper, as they are arguably better than some of the 'proper' album tracks.
I believe that it's an album that will take time to fully appreciate. It's not one of those records that you 'get' straight away.
Cheers,
Richard

exactly adam66, sure look at each of the previous stooges albums, they werent appreciated or understood when they came out, and it is an album that just grows on you. i personally feel its up there with the stooges, funhouse and raw power

homesickjameswilliamson wrote:

exactly adam66, sure look at each of the previous stooges albums, they werent appreciated or understood when they came out, and it is an album that just grows on you. i personally feel its up there with the stooges, funhouse and raw power

Agreed!

I think the second half of the album is still growing on me.

The first half is immediately more accessible, but the second half does grow on you after a few listens. In the end, it's ALL great.

i love the whole album, i think it's weakest point is - end of christianity, and i wanna be your man. the rest are all great in my opinion, i love the guitar parts mixed in like theyare.

when the album first came out people,were thinking too hard, noticing things like the bad snare sound, and barley any bass, i dont think about that or even really notice anymore

and the critic's all give it bad reviews because like iggy said -
Rock critics wouldn't like us at all.

Most critics are hacks that never learned to play themselves anyway.


(if someone is a critic here, sorry. But that's the way it is most of the time.)

I agree.

homesickjameswilliamson wrote:

Hey, i was listenin to The Weirdness last nite, after deliberately not listening to it for about a week or two. And i have no idea why its getting things like 3 stars or less!

I'd only give it 3 stars. The Asheton brothers obviously had their stuff together, so 5 out of 5 for them, but Iggy defintely didn't bother bringing the right cake to the party. Infact a lot of his contribution just sounds lazy or rushed.

Loose1969: I don't the problem is that critics often can't play. I think the faulty thing is that they don't know how to listen to the music.
But then. Every critic has their own way of reviewing. Many people has given the album good grades. 4/5 was a common score here in Sweden.

Borntohula wrote:

Loose1969: I don't the problem is that critics often can't play. I think the faulty thing is that they don't know how to listen to the music.But then. Every critic has their own way of reviewing. Many people has given the album good grades. 4/5 was a common score here in Sweden.

Maybe you have a better point there. Where I was coming from is that a lot of those critics are jealous because they never had what it took themselves.
But you're probably spot-on with that.

Loose1969 wrote:

Most critics are hacks that never learned to play themselves anyway.


(if someone is a critic here, sorry. But that's the way it is most of the time.)

Yeh, in babylon's burning it says Lester Bangs and Nick Kent had a band together, and seperately i think.

I think the problem is simply that sometimes critics don't say what fans want to hear, so fans think of ways to blame the critics for not liking the music...

Stoogemeister wrote:

I think the problem is simply that sometimes critics don't say what fans want to hear, so fans think of ways to blame the critics for not liking the music...

Another point that I admit has its merits.

I guess one has to ask: What makes a critic's opinion more valid than the guy down on the street? It's no fun when they make you feel like dirt.

I keep reading the same thing from critics who claims that the album is disappointing and it always comes down to 'This doesn't sound like Funhouse man.' What the hell did they expect, fucking tracks like 'Down On The Sidewalk and 'Fun Apparement' or something. Be glad they came with something that surprised us and have some new ammo for the live gigs. Great album, wish they'd play Mexican guy once though.

Holy shit, im laughing my fucking ass off, thats the funniest thing i've read on this board so far. LMAO - Down on the sidewalk, hahahahah and Fun appartment

thats hilarious dude

i wish they'd play free and freaky, and you cant have friends, sounds of leather, weirdness, and Passing cloud

Besides thanks to the internet every fan has his or her own website now with their own review on it. Music critics are becoming increasingly superfluos. Such reviews are usually much more dependable. Like the one written here obviously. By which I'm not implying journalism isn't a respectable craft of course.

Gimme some skin wrote:

I keep reading the same thing from critics who claims that the album is disappointing and it always comes down to 'This doesn't sound like Funhouse man.' What the hell did they expect, fucking tracks like 'Down On The Sidewalk and 'Fun Apparement' or something. Be glad they came with something that surprised us and have some new ammo for the live gigs. Great album, wish they'd play Mexican guy once though.

Fuck, thats funny.

In regards to albums growing on you, I highly recommend " Beat Em Up" by Iggy. I didn't think it was very good at all at first. Listening to it now I think it's fantastic. I thought Skull Ring was great from the moment I first heard it. And being a born and raised Detroit boy, I immediately knew that the first two Stooges albums were rock n roll classics. But when I really need a fix of hardcore Stooges music nothing can top the Funhouse Sessions.


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