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Of all the potential contenders in the musical world to become our new Serge Gainsbourg, only liars would say they'd pegged Iggy Pop as the victor. That's right. Iggy's new album is a collection of jazzy, world-weary, Continental songs, the opener of which is even en français. While there's no question it's a departure, it's also successfully executed and interesting. Apparently, he's been spending his time reading the works of Michel Houellebecq, the controversial French novelist devoted to portraying a decadent world stripped of meaning, and Préliminaires is his attempt to convey that vibe in song.
Luckily, it's far cheerier than its inspiration, with a cheeky bleakness that's more Tom Waits than Samuel Beckett. Iggy's voice is ideally suited to the material—weathered, full of folds, but not unsexy—and the results can come off like Leonard Cohen's cousin (e.g., "How Insensitive," which puts a soft, vaguely Latin beat under some clarinets; but also "Party Time," which is a little "Jazz Police" in its metallic clangs and embarrassing rhymes) or William S. Burroughs's recordings ("A Machine for Loving").
It definitely doesn't always work, but when it does—the New Orleans jazz of "King of the Dogs," "Les Feuilles Mortes," "The Spanish Coast," "Je Sais Que Tu Sais," which remixes "She's a Business," a later track on the record, in "Je T'Aime (Moi Non Plus)" style—the results are big, darkly bruised with hard living reflected on in age if not tranquility. It's something new from someone we didn't expect.
—Hillary Brown
05.21.09
Preliminaires Review
Preliminaires Track Listing
Preliminaires Notes
Iggy Pop takes on the language of romance and puts a decidedly French twist on his
new album, Préliminaires. Produced by longtime collaborator Hal Cragin (They Might
Be Giants, Sarah McLachlan, Rufus Wainwright), Préliminaires, which translates to
"foreplay", highlights another facet of the Iggy Pop persona, focusing more on jazz
arrangements and the distinctive, rich baritone heard on classics like "Nightclubbing"
and his duet with French legend Françoise Hardy on the song "I'll Be Seeing You".
As Iggy himself notes in a fan message on YouTube..."at one point I just got sick of
listening to idiot thugs with guitars banging out crappy music and I've started listening
to a lot of New Orleans-era, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton type of jazz. And I've
always loved quieter ballads as well."
The album themes and texts have been inspired by Iggy's reading of controversial
French novelist Michel Houellebecq (pronounced Wellbeck), and his book "The
Possibility Of An Island". "The book is about death, sex, the end of the human race,
and some other pretty funny stuff. I read the book with intense pleasure when it
came out, and in my mind, I created music that would have been the music that
I would hear in my soul when I read this book" explains Iggy.
On the record, Iggy even sings one song in French, a cover of jazz standard "Les
Feuilles Mortes (Autumn Leaves)", a song widely associated with French legends Yves
Montand and Edith Piaf. Other titles include New Orleans infl uenced "King Of The
Dogs", a story about a dog named Fox who explains "how cool it is to be a dog, and
how much it beats human life", and "How Insensitive", a jazzy bossanova standard
composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim. There are also more raucous moments like the
swamp-rock stylings of "Nice To Be Dead".
The visuals for the album were created by French/Iranian graphic novelist and
animated film director Marjane Satrapi of 'Persepolis' fame.
Credits of Preliminaires
- Tim Ouimette
- Trumpet
- Tony Gillis
- Mastering
- Alfred Figueroa
- Engineer
- Jon Cowherd
- Piano
- Hal Cragin
- Bass, Guitar, Percussion, Engineer, Producer, Keyboards, Drum Programming, Mixing
- Kevin Hupp
- Conga, Drums, Engineer
- Iggy Pop
- Guitar, Vocals, Engineer, Author, Concept
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