What's that? Music's too loud. NP

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

Well if we're talking the various mixes I guess yes, it is a bunch of songs that are wonderful in any context that have been fucked with into various incarnations of wildly varying quality.  I can't handle the Pop remix anymore, honestly, because, okay, it's louder than any CD ever, you want a fucking medal, but all this shit Pop dishes in the liner notes about how it more accurately reflects the band's sound at the time, well, no, no it doesn't, unless the Stooges circa 1973 sounded processed as hell, because that's what your lazily red-leveled mix sounds like, Iggy, PROCESSED.  Bleh.

And yes, yes, Raw Power was basically say hello to IGGY POP and JAMES WILLIAMSON (with special guests the Asheton brothers, except I guess they're not all that special, because you'll only barely hear them plugging along in the background), which isn't the Stooges exactly (which is why I always appreciated they changed the billing from Stooges to Iggy and the Stooges, you know, maybe the Asheton brothers weren't too hot over that but it was ACCURATE, y'know).  But given that, it isn't really Iggy Pop either, or even Iggy Pop and James Williamson (though Kill City is a totally kickass record that no one ever reps for).  It's kind of this lone, bizarre creature that sort of wriggled and screamed itself into existence.

[difficult]

Yeah, I guess it does justify its existence alright... But who the hell was James fucking Williamson to think he could come along and mess with pretty much the best band in the world? Who gets to not just shunt off one of the defining guitarists in rock onto bass, but also to then sideline his pretty fucking phenomenal bass playing too?

But, yeah, Funhouse. Yeah!

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

I've been reading Please Kill Me in which many, many scathing words are said about James Williamson (my favorite is Kathy Asheton calling him a "black cloud descending"), but I think Iggy was just as at fault in that whole scenario, I mean, he gets signed, he brings James Williamson over to Europe with him, he tries out a million rhythm sections that couldn't even stand in the same room as the Asheton brothers, then calls up the Asheton brothers and says, "Look, I couldn't find anybody as good as yous guys, play on my fucking record please," so their parts are then recorded POORLY and mixed all the way to the back of the record by, who else, Iggy.  So yeah, in a lot of ways, yeah, who did James Williamson think he was, and he was also a lowlife compared to the rest of the Stooges (a stellar achievement for anyone, really), but Iggy was also heroin-crazy and prone to ruin almost anything at the time, and so he did.

Also I cannot totally fault James Williamson for, as Raw Power and Kill City prove, he is a life-changing-guitar-riff-machine.

[difficult]

Yes, but the wannabe megalomaniac Iggy is unsurprising... I just am disturbed that anyone would think they were up to the job that Williamson took on so arrogantly...
But its easy to say that in hindsight, I guess nobody much at the time realised the Asheton brothers were so fundamentally correct.
And I'm pretty sure they were arsehole junkies too!

[Andrew_TSKS]

myke and anyone else interested--i have a copy of the original vinyl version of "raw power", and the ability to rip it to mp3. are you picking up what i'm putting down? my pm box is all but full, but send me an email. buzzorhowl at gmail dot com.

[Killdozersnakeboy]

I'm listening to Search & Destroy due to this discussion. I like Funhouse heaps but RP was the first Stooges I owned and it's still my favourite. Williams may have been a prick but the guitaring on this album is fucking faultless. I've never heard the remixed version and from what I've been told I should just stay with my battered as fuck CBS LP.

[Andrew_TSKS]

killdozer--it's true. i've had a copy of the lp since the early 90s when i found all 3 stooges lps at plan 9 for a total of $15 (they'd be about $50 total now--i got lucky). i knew about the iggy version of "raw power" when it came out, and most people were stoked about it, but jack rabid at "big takeover" HATED it and told everyone not to get rid of their vinyl or early cd pressings. i remember thinking that he was probably just being a stick in the mud. then, while on tour in 2002, the drummer for the other band we were on tour with put on his cd copy in the van. i was HORRIFIED. it sounded like absolute ass, like what you'd get if you taped your vinyl copy with the input level knob on your tape deck turned all the way up, and the lights were just all the way in the red the entire time. just a wall of noise and clipping with a record you used to love buried somewhere underneath it all. and i mean, normally i like noise, but iggy just ruined that record.

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

So I just heard Weezer's "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)."  And I'm still not quite sure what happened, but I like it.  The first 20 seconds are rather identical to "El Scorcho," but after that it's pure batshit genre-hopping.  It's trying way too hard to be epic, and thus isn't really epic at all, just incredibly ridiculous, but it's also interesting and enjoyable, which Weezer haven't been for a while.

[Bubbachups]

[Babar]

[Nick Ink]

Half Man Half Biscuit - Styx Gig (Seen By My Mates Coming Out Of A)

[davy]

So I just heard Weezer's "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)."  And I'm still not quite sure what happened, but I like it.  The first 20 seconds are rather identical to "El Scorcho," but after that it's pure batshit genre-hopping.  It's trying way too hard to be epic, and thus isn't really epic at all, just incredibly ridiculous, but it's also interesting and enjoyable, which Weezer haven't been for a while.

i'm listening to it now, it just started--it's just drums and police sirens--and as long as they don't add anything stupid to it, it'll be the best thing they've recorded in 12 years.

edit: i think i'm being duped. it's a 30 second loop or something. still, my point stands!

[Babar]

So I just heard Weezer's "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)."  And I'm still not quite sure what happened, but I like it.  The first 20 seconds are rather identical to "El Scorcho," but after that it's pure batshit genre-hopping.  It's trying way too hard to be epic, and thus isn't really epic at all, just incredibly ridiculous, but it's also interesting and enjoyable, which Weezer haven't been for a while.

i'm listening to it now, it just started--it's just drums and police sirens--and as long as they don't add anything stupid to it, it'll be the best thing they've recorded in 12 years.

edit: i think i'm being duped. it's a 30 second loop or something. still, my point stands!

the song is on youtube if you wanna listen to it. i'm listening right now.

is this really the album cover?


haha, a choir part, this shit is neat

[davy]

that is the cover, i believe. i hate to say it, but i think brian bell in particular looks better than ever.

[Andrew_TSKS]

is this really the album cover?

i mentioned on here the whole thing about it being their third self-titled album out of 6 albums, and that rivers was referring to it as "the red album" in interviews, right? that being the cover is actually very unsurprising to me.

[davy]

i dunno. "greatest" loses me a bit around the 4 min. mark.

but it is the best song i've heard from them in a long time. (sadly, the loop playing on their website is just the drum track...figures.)

[davy]

"heart songs" is not bad, either, really. i mean, considering.

...and the drum intro to "everybody get dangerous" is sick.

could weezer pull it off?

if nothing else, at least pat wilson is actually playing his drums again. there's a fucking solo in this song for god's sake!

[davy]

so far "pork & beans" is easily the worst song i've heard. "troublemaker" is catchy as shit!

[Maaik]

i dunno. "greatest" loses me a bit around the 4 min. mark.

I was totally with it until the spoken word bit.  Gah!

[Maaik]

"heart songs" is not bad, either, really. i mean, considering.

It was better the first time I heard it... when it was Built to Spill's "You Were Right."

EDIT: add to that "Our Band Could Be Your Life."

AMIRITE?

I'm joshin, this ain't bad.  A little maudlin.  But maybe it'll get some high schoolers to pick up some good records.

[coldforge]

High schoolers listen to Weezer today?

[Maaik]

don't they?  I dunno, does anyone listen to Weezer now?  You tell me, man.

[Greg Nog]

High schoolers listen to whatever Maaik tells them to listen to.

[Maaik]

if only.

LISTEN UP.  This week, you are to focus on the Supremes.  THAT IS ALL.

[coldforge]

I can't begin to tell if that's an awfully oblique reference or an awfully oblique hotlink placeholder.