Pitchfork

Iggy Pop. Steve Albini. Kelly Clarkson buddy Mike Watt. Along with the other still-living Stooges (guitarist Ron Asheton, his brother and drummer Scott Asheton, and original saxophonist Steve Mackay), these are the elements of the Stooges reunion record that might just make it work. Among the elements that might be indications it will fail miserably: the album and song titles.

The album is called The Weirdness, and songs include "Trollin'", "Greedy Awful People", "Mexican Guy", "Claustrophobia", "I'm Fried", "ATM", "O Solo Mio", "She Took My Money", and "End of Christianity". Billboard.com also reported that the album has 16 songs, including "My Idea of Fun", "You Can't Have Friends", the title track, and "Free and Freaky", the latter of which features vocals from the Raconteurs' Brendan Benson.

The songs are culled from over 30 that the band wrote at a Florida cottage earlier in the year before rehearsing in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and, as previously reported, ultimately landing in Chicago to record at Electrical Audio with Albini in October. The album is now being mastered at Abbey Road Studios in the UK, and the band will follow its March 20 release on Virgin with a world tour.

Despite the largely bland or frustrating nature of reunions, we want to like The Weirdness, so we're biting our tongues and holding our breath. Bloody tongues, blue faces: we're in quite a bit of pain over this whole thing.