New Stooges book

I'm just re-reading Paul Trynka's magnificent Ig tome "OPen Up And Bleed" right now with its often forensic examination of the terminal-stage Stooges' death throes tour laying it out in all its stark and harrowing glory, but you can never get too much Stooges.

Photographer Roberet Matheu has authored this newie and knows the principals well so you know it's going to be worthy.

But where do they stand on Japanese whaling?

Spotted by Ken Shimamoto of the Stashdauber blog and I-94 Bar editorial fame: Vision of French band The Holy Curse on their Japanese tour of a couple of years ago.

New Stooges album

A leaked copy of the new Stooges album, "The Weirdness", fell off the back of a virtual truck over the weekend. First impressions are that it's very ordinary. I badly wanted this to be a masterwork, maybe approaching the brilliance of "Funhouse". It's not to be. There'll be a full review at the I-94 Bar in due course but here's a quick and dirty take:

Ordinary songs, ordinary production. Steve Albini has a rep for giving a band their heads in the studio and being hands-off, but this is ridiculous. Rock Action's drums are drier than a dead dingo's donger but Watt's bass rumble is MIA. When Ron Asheton launches into those characteristic wah-wah solos (all too rarely), the guitar's compressed tighter than a Scotsman's wallet or buried. To be really blunt, Iggy's vocals are the weakest thing about the album. Apart from the songs. Lyrical observations on the ordinariness of everyday life, they end up sounding like a dumbed-down parody, sung by a Rolls Royce driving leathery old guy. "My dick is turning into a tree", indeed.