Maybe being ahead of your time isn't enough. Judging from the scorn heaped on "The Weirdness," some Stooges fans would have preferred the band stay retired if it was going to sully its legend with this comeback.

Which is not quite fair. Surviving members Iggy Pop, Ron Ashton and Scott Ashton are all pushing 60, but they aren't resting on their laurels. Guitarist Ron Ashton can still cut kids a quarter of his age, while brother Scott still drums with the brute force of a young man. And nobody is going to outwork Iggy. Fortified by bassist Mike Watt (replacing the late Dave Alexander) and "Funhouse" saxman Steve MacKay, The Stooges [ tickets ] are still a formidable rock force, charging out of the gate on "Trollin'" and not letting up over the next 12 songs.

So what's the problem? The songs, unfortunately. Composition was never exactly The Stooges' strong point, but after three decades, expectations were high. Too high for the likes of "Mexican Guy" and "I'm Fried" to satisfy. The handful of memorable tracks on "The Weirdness"--the title song, "My Idea of Fun" and the stupid fun of "Free & Freaky"--sound better than they are because of the generally slapdash output around it.

The other flaw is Iggy. His voice has been showing signs of deterioration for years, but he's been able to overcome it with power and sheer presence. Here, forced to compete with the musical fury, he howls tunelessly, all subtlety and control gone. As for the lyrics, it's high school-meets-midlife-crisis ("Greedy Awful People," "She Took My Money," "The End of Christianity"), and some of it sounds like it was created minutes before the recording light went on.

And yet, it's hard to dismiss this record entirely. "The Weirdness" is raw and relentless, and the band and studio ally Steve Albini didn't try to mask the flaws. Clearly they wanted listeners to hear the 2007 edition of The Stooges, muscles, twitches, warts 'n' all.

In a way, it's apt. The Stooges have always done it the hard way, careening from one career disaster to another but ultimately letting the music speak loudest, and it has obviously lasted. Three decades after the initial genius, the people wanted greatness. Instead they got weirdness.