Fanboy Dilemma no.2

The Scenario:
Proto-punk band The Stooges reform in 2003 with The Stooges / Fun House era line up bar long deceased bassist Dave Alexander. Band finally gets a pay day almost forty years after their acrimonious and short lived original career. In 2009 guitarist Ron Asheton dies of a heart attack - the group describe his loss as "irreplaceable". Several months later the band is reformed with Raw Power era guitarist James Anderson on shredding duties and the rest of the line up intact.

The Problem:
Front man Iggy Pop states "although 'the Stooges' died with Ron Asheton, there is still 'Iggy and the Stooges'. However, this comment implies both bands were separate entities entirely when in fact what happened was for the 'new' incarnation Ron Asheton was relegated to bass at the whim of Iggy.

Most importantly, although all songs on the Raw Power album were credited to the Pop/Anderson partnership according to Williamson the band have been rehearsing "songs from Raw Power, The Stooges, Fun House and Kill City". All in all it seems The Stooges have moved on at rapid pace whilst the older of the Asheton is still warm in his grave

The Verdict:
Admittedly Iggy Pop has the right to what he wants with The Stooges, afterall he was the spearhead of the group and has the song writing credits to the entirety of their catalogue. Despite the formalities though, this fresh reunion snags on its motives. The ATP Don't Look Back shows in August will undoubtedly be a riot but are most likely designed as a springboard from which Iggy and The Stooges can rake in a whole lot more cash for their efforts. Cash which they were almost denied by the untimely death of one of their former bandmates.

Make Of This What You Will...

Either it's the sight of an icon being dephiled by exactly the corporate sloganeering he stood so strongly against or it's the tinderstick to a bonfire of self righteous fanboy anger. Personally I'll probably camp out in the former's company but hey, Courtney Love needs to pay her bills somehow right? *ducks for cover*

Popstars Rise / Popstars Fall

You've got to feel a tad sorry for the Sugababes. Overtaken by Girls Aloud as Britians best loved girl band. An assortment of The Saturdays, Mini Viva and Dolly Rockers eagerly snapping at their heels. Their ship was truly on course for numerous T4 guest presenter slots and exclusive 2CR fm sessions. That was until Get Sexy, a song that literally has 'club anthem first single to be followed up with sickly sweet ballad' written all over it. Still it was better than good, it was certainly better than Holiday. All was fantastic again...



... until Jay Z decided crash the party by releasing Run This Town feat. Rihanna & Kanye West the same week. Despite the fact Run This Town is less than the sum of it's parts, i.e. multi-platinum megastars who happen to make good music as well, in terms of the competition for their seventh UK no.1 single the Sugababes were to put it bluntly FUCKED. A fact reflected in the mid week charts which also see Dizzee slip down to fourth behind David Guetta.



So to conclude, what Island Records really should have done is delay the entire Sweet 7 campaign until the due date of Robbie William's Bodies. A song which makes almost anything else look half decent by comparison....bar Holiday...that remains the sound of bottled shit.

The Bastard Son

Re-issues are on the whole an exercise in milking the cash cow dry and on the basis of their Radiohead Collector's Editions EMI have at least proved themselves to the music industry's best metaphorical dairy farmers. They've all been compiled with a remarkable amount of TLC collating b-sides, live tracks and television performances from the time into a package that comes close to justifying its asking price.

As such, the recent release of the Kid A edition stands out as the stray soya milk of the bunch. The DVD is pared down to a few Jools Holland clips and with no b-sides on offer the extra CD is restricted to tracks taken from a session at the Canal+ Studios in Paris. This isn't a case of EMI skimping either, there was never an official single taken from Kid A and the promotional campaign was orchestrated mainly online with a series of 'Blips' set to music taken from the record.

What the listener is essentially left with are the same ten songs that comprised the original LP and one question: "Nine years on has Kid A stood the test of time?" The answer, despite the various qualms that been thrown at the album (no guitars, should have been doubled up with Amnesiac, commercially obstinate), comes up affirmative for all these flaws and more.

It is often said the mark of a great record is that it emerges ahead of its time carving its own little niche in the world. Kid A did so to such an iconoclastic degree that people still don't really know how to deal with it. From Everything In It's Right Place to Motion Picture Soundtrack it simply stands apart. Thankfully the deluxe treatment hasn't made an ounce of difference to this status.

WhoopseyJayZ

If a headline slot at last year's Glasto was knocking about the upper echelons of a 'How To Acheive World Domination' list from Brooklyn's finest Hip Hop artist then writing the Blueprint III was probably phase two. Blueprint I has proved the seminal album of Jay Z's career so far and with Kanye West on production duties plus a long list of distinguished guest vocals including Rihanna, Pharell, Kid Cudi and er.... Mr Hudson hopes have been high for what has billed as the final installment in the trilogy.

As is the standard for such a high profile release though, the record has leaked in its entirety a week before its September 11th US release. You can listen to it here at MTV online without the Web Sheriff getting on your back but on first listen Blueprint III seems a solid if not stellar effort. If you've missed out on the considerable fuss so far check out the first single to be taken from the album D.O.A.(Death of Auto-Tune) below.

Oasis: The Post Mortem

Late on Saturday evening a notice was placed on the official oasis.net website:

Applications are now open for the position of 'UK's Most Irrelevant Band'. Those applying must:

1. Not have produced a decent album for a minimum of ten years
   
2. Be heavily indebted, bordering on parody, to at least one of The Beatles / The Stone Roses / T-Rex (delete as applicable)
3. Hold the ability to produce statements as clichéd as the below: "Radiohead and Coldplay think too much. They get to a certain level and start worrying about the environment. That's for the governments of the world to worry about. We need to concentrate on fucking women, taking drugs, wearing sunglasses and being cool. Never mind the polar bears."
4. Av it!
5. Do worse or equivalent to the below:

As the rumours fly round on the reasons for the dissolution of Manchester's most prevalent four piece - Latest: Liam turns up to Paris gig drunk, insults Noel's kids and throws his acoustic guitar him, Noel stamps on it and quits - the most surprising dimension to this story has been the lack of outrage that has met it. When a similar occurrence took place in Barcelona in 2000, the idea of a day of public morning was still feasible. Three more underwhelming records down the line and no-one seems to give half a toss.

On the contrary, there seems to be a much prevalent sense of relief that Noel can finally get on with that long promised solo record. Given the warmth of reaction to his last solo tour, that slim hope of a long undelivered return to form may come to burn a little more brightly over the coming months.

Reading Festival 2009 Awards

With a pair of lungs freshly lined from half of the dust circulating Reading festival and the smooth baritone that accompanies such a dire medical condition I'm back. Rather than writing an endless review, of which there are many elsewhere, here are a couple of jovially invented awards for the best and worst acts to play the festival:

Band I Never Thought I'd See Headline: Billy Talent

Band I Wish I'd Never Seen Headline: Arctic Monkeys

Best Use Of 'Mad Scientist' Pensioner In A Brass Band: Friendly Fires

Phrase I Never Wish To Hear Again: "Where are my Reading warriors at?" (Maxim Reality - The Prodigy)

Inspired Cover: Don't Stop Believing - Fall Out Boy

Twenty Minutes On Stage And The Kit Is Still Broken: The Big Pink

Thought They'd Be Awful, Turned Out Awesome: Crystal Castles

75% Of His Crowd Waiting For Them Crooked Vultures: Patrick Wolf

Wishes He Was Dave Grohl: Josh Homme

Wishes He Was John Paul Jones: Dave Grohl

Wishes He Was Still In Led Zeppelin: John Paul Jones

Best Band: Radiohead

Worst Band: The Horrors

Honourable Mentions: Jamie T / Frank Turner

Moment of The Weekend: