I love Iggy Pop. I don't just mean that I love his music -- although listening to the early Stooges albums or Lust for Life remains a source of never-ending pleasure for me -- I mean that the mere mention of his name fills me with a tingling giddy sensation. There are artists with more consistent catalogues or broader emotional ranges, but few, if any, can touch Iggy Pop's sheer entropic magnetism, a stage presence at once so sexy and scrotum-clenchingly terrifying. This is a man who redefined the art of performance for rock ’n’ roll.
Indeed, perhaps the most gratifying aspect of Préliminaires is that Iggy is so clearly engaged in it. His satisfaction gleams from every lovingly-crafted detail, and that in itself is quite gratifying. Whatever else you think of the album, it's hard to deny that Préliminaires may be Iggy Pop's most ambitious album since his work with The Stooges. Tired of “idiot thugs with guitars banging out crappy music,” Iggy decided to make a jazz album, taking for his inspiration Michel Houellebecq's satirical 2007 novel, The Possibility of an Island. While not all of the elements come together successfully, it sounds fresher than almost anything the godfather of punk has put out in recent memory.
Opening track “Les Feuiles Mortes” (or “Autumn Leaves”) sets the tone: muted drumming; warm, pulsating synthesizer; and the lonely, mournful sound of the clarinet. Who would have thought the guy who sang “TV Eye” would grow up to have such a deep, sonorous voice? It's an intriguing taste of what's to come, but unfortunately the songs that follow don't always build meaningfully upon this framework. The biggest problem with this album is the lyrics. The songs might be based on the work of a respected novelist, but some of the lines sound like they could have been written by an ennui-afflicted 11 year old. Take a look at a small sampling:
“Die, die, die/ On the Spanish coast/ Die like a love/ When you kill its dove/ If you don't believe, then your angels leave…” --“Spanish Coast”“I got a smelly rear, I got a dirty nose/ I don't want no shoes, I don't want no clothes/ I'm living/ Like the king of the dogs” --“King of the Dogs”
“It's party time/ And I smell slime/ The stupid people/ Make me evil.” --“Party Time”
If you were able to suppress a cringe while reading those, congratulations; you are a stronger man or woman than I. But to me, the rhymes are agonizingly obvious and the sentiments often colorless. It mars even the best tracks.
Apart from the lyrics, there are still pleasures to be gleaned from the album. In spite of some truly painful lines, “King of the Dogs” is one of the most enjoyable tracks; with its swinging, baroque New Orleans-jazz trumpeteering, it sounds like a lost cut from Rain Dogs. “A Machine for Loving” is another standout. Iggy forgoes singing for a spoken-word reading of Houellebecqu's account of the death of Fox, the dog belonging to the main character of Island (or… um, the dog belonging to a clone of the main character from hundreds of years into the future… or something). The melancholic, surreal narrative floats above the gentle-yet-ominous instrumental backdrop in a way that recalls some of the best moments on Strings of Consciousness' Our Moon is Full. However, the bluesy-er tracks, such as the lo-fi “He's Dead/She's Alive,” “Je Sais Que Tu Sais,” and its gratuitous reprise “She's a Business,” come off a little more faceless, adding little to the album as a whole.
Fans of Iggy Pop would do well to give Préliminaires a spin, since it showcases a side of the artist not readily visible in his other work. Others might be drawn in by the novelty of the project; I could see “Party Time,” “King of the Dogs,” or “Les Feuilles Mortes” winding up on a few hipster party mixes this year. It's not an album that one can uncritically accept, but it's so clearly a labor of love that it's hard not to think fondly of it. I, for one, am glad that Iggy Pop is still making music, and that he's at a point in his career where he can feel free to explore constantly-developing interests without fretting over his audience's expectations.
1. Les Feuilles Mortes
2. I Want to Go to the Beach
3. King of the Dogs
4. Je Sais Que Tu Sais
5. Spanish Coast
6. Nice to Be Dead
7. How Insensitive
8. Party Time
9. He's Dead/She's Alive
10. A Machine for Loving
11. She's a Business
12. Les Feuilles Mortes (Marc's Theme)