Still, with the Stooges' legacy somewhat tarnished, and with people's expectations set so low, Iggy and The Stooges' follow-up Ready to Die succeeds both because no one really expected much and because, quite simply, it's a tighter album. With six years to reflect, the fact of the matter is 2007's Stooges comeback album The Weirdness really wasn't that bad. While it certainly did not rise to the phenomenal heights of The Stooges, Fun House or Raw Power, saying that it fell short of those albums is basically saying that The Weirdness was not one of the absolute greatest albums ever made.
With James Williamson back on guitar for the first time since Raw Power, the band rip through ten compact songs. For the most part, the songs are based in three-chord, driving riffs. Founding Stooge Ron Asheton passed away after The Weirdness and just like the transition between Fun House and Raw Power, the difference in guitar is palpable.
Iggy turns in a respectable, but not fiery performance. For the most part, he relies on a sort of sing-talking as opposed to the blues howl heard back during the band's original run.
Lyrics are a combination of the written word and delivery. When Iggy screamed "I feel alright!" in his anguished wail, it said more than even the most profound Propaghandi essay. But here, for the most part, his delivery lacks fire and is overbearingly direct. On "DDs" when he says "I'm on my knees for those double Ds", he doesn't sound like a coyote on a man's flesh, he sounds like a pervert.
It feels like the most honest parts on the entire record and also, between Iggy's melancholy delivery and his restrained voice, is as profound as the berserker yelps on the group's earlier releases. Really, this is the kind of thing that made Johnny Cash so famous in his final decade.
Ready to Die is actually a pretty good, satisfying proto-punk rock album. And then, every so often, it rises to amazing heights.
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