Iggy Pop/ Every Loser


BY NARENDRA KUSNUR

Iggy Pop/ Every Loser

Genre: Punk-rock

Label: Gold Tooth/ Atlantic 

Rating: *** 1/2

On his latest album Every Loser, James Newell Osterberg Jr aka Iggy Pop does what he knows best - get angry and growl. The record takes him back to his early days with The Stooges, proving why he was such an influence on bands like the Sex Pistols, The Damned, Joy Division and Talking Heads.

Iggy Pop spent a large part of the 2000s going in for mature lyrics, with his voice showing flashes of Leonard Cohen's timbre. He even tried to set Dylan Thomas' immortal poem 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night' to trumpet-backed music.

Here, the 75-year-old Ametican gets back to simple lyrics, using the choicest of vocabulary on songs like 'Frenzy' and 'The Regency'. A line-up of celebrity guests including Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard, Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith and Josh Klinghoffer, late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, former Guns N' Roses man Duff McKagan and half of Jane's Addiction alumni adds value.

On 'Strung Out Johnny', he sings, "God made me a junkie, but Satan told me so". On 'Neo-Punk' and 'All The Way Down', he pays tribute to the classic rock sound. Producer Andrew Watt, who's worked with Ozzy Osbourne and Pearl Jam, helps get the right energy, even co-writing some of the tracks with Iggy and the guests, besides playing guitar.

There are, of course, moments where Iggy tries to balance out things. Two of the best songs are mid-tempo rockers. On 'New Atlantis', he sings, "Somewhere south of Alabama and north of Cuba, there lies a beautiful where of a city, she accepts all donations and attracts an endless stream of lovers".

'Morning Show' is melodic, with organ and slide guitar, as Iggy sings, "I'll fix my face and go, time to do the morning show like a pro". Two short, semi-spoken interludes add variety, and there's artistic bass playing by Eric Avery on 'Comments'.

A majority of the album, of course, is vintage Iggy - loud and raucous. Fans will obviously wait for him to take off his shirt and do that famous stage drive once again at his live shows, as he plunges into his new track 'Frenzy' or screams "**** the regency".




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