CD: Iggy Pop: Preliminaires

Last spotted with the reconstituted Stooges on the critically panned “The Weirdness,” it was only a matter of time before Iggy Pop, the Godfather of Punk, shed his bandmates and got back to the business of being the idiosyncratic Ig.

And “idiosyncratic” is exactly the right word for “Preliminaires,” a jazz CD inspired by the 2005 novel “The Possibility of an Island” by Michel Houellebecq. Tired of listening to what he calls “idiot thugs with guitars banging out crappy music,” Pop steamlined his sound, eliminating noisy instrumentation in favor of spare soundscapes enlivened by sax blasts and tinkling piano.

Iggy Pop changes his sound on "Preliminaries."

“Preliminaires” might be a jazzy album but it’s not a sleepy affair as Pop thrusts his way through French language standards, bossa novas, spoken-word shuffles, electronic washes, and New Orleans swing. Only on “Nice To Be Dead” does Pop allow the sound of an electric guitar to snarl away behind him.
Iggy Pop: some things do not change over the years!

As doomy and death-haunted as Pop is, he’s not without a sense of humor about his own mortality as he proves on blackly comic numbers like “King of the Dogs” and “I Want to Go to the Beach.” At 61, Pop, growling like the bastard offspring of Leonard Cohen and Howlin’ Wolf, imbues this oddly compelling CD with anguish and anger, drawn straight from the heart and spleen.

Release date: 6/2/09

Official Site: www.iggypoppreliminaires.com

[Amy Longsdorf’s entertainment coverage has appeared in “Blender,” “People,” the “Chicago Tribune,” the “Toronto Star,” and “Newsday.” She doesn’t want to imagine a world without Preston Sturges movies, Stax singles, and the music of Bob Marley.]