New Iggy & The Stooges Album This Year....Steve Albini Producing...

Technically, Albini isn't a producer. That's why his records say "Recorded by Steve Albini." He's an engineer with a distinct sound (which has actually changed a lot over the last ten years).

Last week I heard a solo acoustic record that Steve recorded. It sounded fantastic. I'm also a big fan of the last Songs:Ohia record, which Albini recorded as well. Unlike the records he did in the early 90s, this one has a variety of sounds... not all "roomy" like his old records.

 

He did a nice job on the Page/Plant album Walking Into Clarksdale (1998)

 

The Stooges AND Steve Albini

In my world, it simply can't get any better!

... unless I was there, of course

 

Here is the official Virgin press release:

December 11, 2006

THE STOOGES TO RELEASE THE WEIRDNESS
FIRST ALBUM IN 33 YEARS ON MARCH 20, 2007.

Reunion albums are one thing. A Stooges reunion album is something else
entirely.

On March 20, 2007, the band that predated punk and helped make rock and roll
dangerous will release their first studio album since 1973¹s seminal Raw
Power. The Weirdness will feature three of the four original bandmembers *
singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton and drummer Scott Asheton -- along
with ex-Minutemen and fIREHOSE bassist Mike Watt and original Stooges sax
player, Steve Mackay.

The Stooges wrote over 30 songs for the record at a cottage in Florida
early this year, then rehearsed in Ann Arbor , Michigan before they entered
the Chicago studio of esteemed producer Steve Albini (Nirvana, Pixies) in
early October. The album is being mastered in the UK at the legendary Abbey
Road Studios. Tracks on the album include: "Trollin'," "Greedy Awful
People," "Claustrophobia," "Mexican Guy," "I'm Fried," "ATM," "O Solo Mio,"
"She Took My Money" and "End Of Christianity."

Iggy decided to reform The Stooges in 2003 while he was working on his solo
album Skull Ring. He called the Ashetons, who still had the same phone
number he had last called them on 25 years ago. The brothers agreed to
contribute to four songs on the disc and the reunion seeds were planted.
Then on April 27, the full band (with Watt on bass) played its first show
together in 30 years to a spellbound audience at the Coachella Valley Music
and Arts Festival in Coachella, California.

A triumphant reunion tour followed, and in 2005 The Stooges were nominated
to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They didn¹t win, but
were recently nominated again for induction at the upcoming ceremony to be
held in early 2007.

If any rock band deserved Hall of Fame kudos it¹s The Stooges, one of the
most influential, powerful and explosive outfits ever to plug in a guitar.
Formed in Ann Arbor in 1967, the Stooges were a forceful poke in the eye of
commercial rock. Volatile and incendiary, the band wrote grimy psychedelic
blues songs that grooved, droned and stomped in equal measure. Onstage, Iggy
was commanding and menacing, cutting himself with glass, smearing his body
with peanut butter and baiting the crowd out of its complacency.

The group¹s volcanic energy earned it a record deal in 1968 and a year
later, the Stooges released their self-titled debut, which featured the
proto-punk classics ³I Wanna Be Your Dog,² ³No Fun² and ³1969.² In 1970,
they followed with the heavier, more confrontational Fun House, which many
consider the band¹s finest hour. Three years would pass between Fun House
and Raw Power, a primal, powerful slab of gyrating clamor from a band on the
verge of physical and psychological collapse.

By the end of 1973, the Stooges had broken up. In the decades that followed,
Iggy established himself as a successful solo artist, releasing 15 studio
albums between 1977 and 2003. Meanwhile, Scott Asheton played in Scot¹s
Pirates, Sonny Vincent¹s Rat Race Choir and Rock Action and Ron Asheton
rocked with Destroy All Monsters, the New Race, the Empty Set and Dark
Carnival. In 1998, Ron joined forces with Watt and members of Mudhoney and
Sonic Youth in the one-off supergroup Wylde Ratttz, an experience that paved
the way for Watt to join The Stooges.

One of the most eagerly anticipated albums of 2007, The Weirdness is
destined to be as inspiring, unpredictable and undeniable as the three
records that preceded it over three decades ago. The release of the album
will be followed by a full world tour that will clearly display the energy,
vitality and freshness of one of rock and roll¹s greatest success stories.
In other words, the legacy continuesŠ

For more information please contact:
Angelica Cob-Baehler
Senior Vice President of Media, Virgin Records America
323/692-1195
[email protected]

 

What is wrong with Albini's work on 'In Utero'? Nirvana's best sounding album, IMO. The closest to how they actually sounded live. The drum sound, alone, has guaranteed Dave Grohl a lifetime's worth of session work, should he choose to do so...

 

I agree. It's a shame that Rid Of Me by P J Harvey wasn't as loud as In Utero because it would have been better.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "loud." Rid of Me rocks. Crank up your stereo and it's LOUD.

Are you referring to the performance, the recording itself or the mastering?

 

Hyperbole?

 

I would dig a Stooges album if it was recorded onto sheet metal with a rusty nail! (Which would still sound better than the way that Raw Power was recorded!)

I just listened to a '73 bootleg of Iggy and The Stooges where you couldn't even hear Iggy's voice...and it still kicked total butt way better than a thousand Wolfmother type wannabe hard-rock bands could come up with!

And yes, just gotta have more of that cowbell! With an X-rated version of Louie Louie and some flying glass shards and a couple of tossed chairs thrown in!

If Pistols don't need that R&R HOF crap, then there's no way in God's creation that the Stooges need that BS!! They are the authentic rock 'n roll, not poser rock 'n roll.

Stooges ruuuuuuuuulllll!!!!!!

 

You guys got me all pumped up - I can't wait to get this! I've seen Iggy live a few times, which is beyond my ability to define. I guess I should start getting in shape now for the Stooges gig coming in '07.

 

Can Steve and Kevin do the vinyl version. Pleeeease

 

There's a track to listen to already on their myspace page, and I LOVE IT !

my idea of fun

http://www.myspace.com/iggyandthestooges

 

Honestly, as much as I'd like this to happen, I doubt it could, if only because of the Raw Power CD reissue mastering. Maybe Iggy has seen his mistake, maybe not, but I can't imagine Steve trying to explain to Iggy the idea behind maximised sound and loss of dynamics.

It would be great though...

 

I think they will master the album at abby road studio, so maybe some old "fart" can do this right on vinyl.

 

Oh nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Well, it's likely to sound awful...

 

Can't wait for this one!

 

Looking forward to this one. Rock'n'roll could really use The Stooges right now.

 

Keep in mind that it's very compressed...not even close to cd quality. Sounds like it's 128k or even 96k.

Other than that, I dig the new song.

-MCD

 

Yeah, there's a much better souding, 192kpbs version currently being distributed from gods know where, all over the web, and it sounds much better, less compressed, with excellent stereo separation. YUMMY ! Hoping Iggy will not oversee the mastering, not ruining it like he did with the Raw Power remix.

 

Here is another download from SPIN: http://www.spin.com/mp3/2007/01/070126_iggyandthestooges/

 

Hey, anyone noticed the chorus is exactly the same as "Perverts in the sun" on the last Iggy album (track 2 of skull ring) ?
I hope the whole album isn't recycled riffs from past Iggy songs.

 

I dont know if its legit or not but a year ago or so, I stumbled on an Iggy and the Stooges live disc of a March 22, 2004 show at the Shibuya Axe in Tokyo. It's called "Telluric Chaos," on Skydog (SK 2005-3) and it's pretty well recorded and Iggy's in fine, lunatic form, backed by the Ashetons, Watt and Mackay on sax.

A grinding, tough set: Loose; Down on the Street; 1969; I Wanna Be Your Dog; TV Eyes; Dirt; Real Cool Time; No Fun; 1970; Fun House; Skull Ring; Rock Star; Electric Chair; Little Doll; Idea of Fun; I Wanna Be Your Dog; Not Right.

Worth hunting for....

 

It's the Skydog records follow up to the original "Metallic KO" which you probably heard about !
Yes it's legit, Skydog licensed the right to the band. As you know, the reformed Stooges produced their new album on their own and licensed it to Virgin. The Tokyo tape was I believe given to Skydog by them on the same ground.
I know Zermati, the original Skydog man, and he is cool.

 

One of the great recent live albums.

Classic Iggy moment: Introducing "I Wanna Be Your Dog," he bleats:

"I Wanna do a #@**!!^^@# animal song! WOOF!"