Tuesday, May 07, 2013

Further thoughts on the Stooges record

1) I've been listening to it non-stop since I finished the review. So far, so good.

2) Even the songs I was less than stoked with on at first listen are starting to kick in. While on one level, "DD's" is Iggy's one opportunity here to play his crass old dude card (which he did for all of The Weirdness, to its detriment), on another, the melody sticks in my head, and Mackay's horns remind me of the Saints when they added horns. And "Dirty Deal," which was my least favorite fast song at first, is becoming my most favorite. It's something about the way the song's relentless forward motion reminds me of being a kid and running down a hill as fast as I could, and the little 5th-to-7th riff at the end of the cycle reminds me of trying to stop.

3) Curiously, the record this most reminds me of is Sticky Fingers: It's short, to the point, a small batch of very diverse but memorable songs (although on Ready To Die, the fast-to-slow-songs ratio is the inverse from the Stones' album). Comparisons being odious, The Weirdness was a big batch of songs that all sounded the same.

4) The title is Truth In Advertising. Iggy's preoccupied with mortality here -- which is fitting and proper for a gentleman of his age.

5) I do believe that Ready To Die is James Williamson's masterwork, in terms of writing, playing, and production. So there.

6) While the bonus track "Dying Breed" fits in thematically, it doesn't really add anything to the pristine ten-track album. Musically, it demonstrates what a fine slide guitarist James is, but it does so in a way that's shrill in the same way as the Ron Wood-era Stones tend to be. I haven't heard the instrumental version of "The Departed," but I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. Perfection doesn't require enhancements.

1 Comments:

Blogger Fast Film said...

I haven't played and replayed a release like I have this one and still obtained enjoyment anew since... well, the Age of The Titans a la Sticky Fingers to which you alluded...

9:11 AM  

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