There's nothing quite as depressing as an old rocker, especially one who was notable in his youth for being such a firebrand. Iggy Pop, despite what he may think, has become something of a fairground freak in recent years, wheeled out with alarming regularity to warn the kids against the dangers of excess. The only thing more depressing than seeing a fallen star still reaching back to previous glories is a formerly great band reforming to try and recapture the magic. Let’s be brutally frank here: whether it’s The Police, Pink Floyd, or in this case, The Stooges, money is the only motivation. Let’s not delude ourselves and assume that these chaps are doing anything other than topping up what they’ve suddenly realised is a rather paltry pension. 'The Weirdness' should keep The Stooges in Ovaltine for a while, but falls well short of their masterworks 'Fun House' and 'Raw Power.' Steve Albini’s production is as superb as we’ve come to expect, but the material he has to work with no doubt stretched his considerable talents to the extreme. He makes a good fist of things on 'Trollin,' and 'She Took My Money,' as well as the poppy 'Free and Freaky' and 'You Can't Have Friends,' but by and large this is a garage record that should be left locked up with only the toolbox for company.

Words: Karl O'Keeffe