...I guess they're here to stay."

OMG, the new Iggy Pop album Préliminaires is wonderful.



The Guardian says:

"I just got sick of listening to idiot thugs with guitars," Iggy Pop said recently, perhaps obliquely referencing last year's vapid Stooges reunion album, The Weirdness. Either way, this is a major volte face. Out go guitars (mostly). In come wistful saxophones, old New Orleans jazz and music made to waft through a fog of Gitanes smoke in some forgotten European bar. Préliminaires is inspired by French writer Michel Houellebecq's book The Possibility of an Island, which enables Iggy to sing in French, tell stories and expand on the theme of escape - especially escape from himself. The old Iggy makes fleeting appearances on rocker Nice to Be Dead, but otherwise he is beautifully fatigued and insightful. On lines such as "You can convince the world that youre some kind of superstar, when an asshole is all you are, but that's all right," he sounds simultaneously invulnerable and immortal. This may be his best album since 1977's Lust for Life.

They might be right.

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I knew it had potential to be something great...and I agree with Iggy's comments about thugs with guitars.



Well, 100% Brit (and apparently proud of it) is being a bit over the top when he says 8 hours [of Outside outtakes]. I'd love to know the truth concerning what 100% Git really has ~ Reeves Gabrels, 2003

apparently you can stream the whole thing on myspace this weekend....i'm off for a listen but i will be SHOCKED if it is as good as the review suggests....i live in hope...

sorry folks but it is a TRAINWRECK. his french is worse than bowie's and the lyrics are embarrasing. i gave up after the 7th or 8th selection , maybe i missed a gem but i don't think so.

Oh yeah his French pronunciation is dreadful (you'd think he'd be able to manage a simple word like "chanson"), but his delivery is beautiful, as are the arrangements.

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but the CD is brilliant! Bought it yesterday and it's been played to death already. Yeah, drop the thugs Iggy do more like this! Oi Bowie, take note and do something . . .

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Yes, I'm LOVING this too! Well done Jimmy.

....I thought it was just me.

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Iggy, pay a visit to your friend in New York please and shake things up there, for Christ's sake!

I heard Préliminaires and I'm getting more and more excited each time I hear it. And it makes me laugh too. I still have to listen to it a few more times to finally make up my mind about certain songs, but I do feel it's got more fiber than 99% of the stuff that is sold to us as The New Shit.

Immediate favorites:

Spanish Coast - pitiful, sorrowful, pathetic and sensationally sung.

How Insensitive - pitiful, sorrowful, pathetic, sensationally sung and a cover of Insensatez, by brazilian maestro Tom Jobim...

A Machine for Loving - Iggy delivers a speech about his love for dogs, but his tone and the background music suggest he's about to shoot someone in the wild west...

Nice to Be Dead - when it starts, you think it's got nothing new, but it escalates in a sonic attack.

He's Dead/She's Alive - my favorite for now, with Iggy channeling Mississipi ghosts and talking about a girl fucking a guy to death, if my ears don't fail me.

King of The Dogs - yes, Iggy, you are!!

Some songs didn't interest me, like Party Time, She's a Business and Je Sais que Tu Sais, but I find most of the album delicious and unexpectedly fresh. Whatever is happening to Iggy, I want some of that too.

And the artwork is also adorable.

Oh I love She's a Business, it reminds me of The Stranglers' ("Walking on the beaches looking at the") Peaches.

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Yes, it isn't bad, I just thought it goes on and on without actually going anywhere... Listening to it isolated from the rest of the record doesn't make much sense, but it fits very well in the album, it repeats certain riffs from He's Dead/She's Alive and it arrives in a very good moment. The songs are well distributed and the whole album is very cohesive.

I still have to listen to the record in full force from beginning to end, I just got it and it's 2:35 am, so I'm listening to it in my lame headphones... Tomorrow I'll let it blast through the house and I'm sure it will sound even better.

Here goes the video for King of The Dogs, it's awesome too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl7k9wgdtaU

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According to NME, it's "not just his strangest set in years, but also his best"

for pointing out the video - hilarious in a good way, love all 3 of 'em. The French press conference is very interesting too. Well done Iggy, brilliant stuff. Now, Bowie reads enough books . . .

i guess i will go and give it another try ... maybe i just wasn't in the mood. but i doubt i will be swayed. while iggy's live performances were still fantastic up until about 3 years ago i dont think he has made a good album since blah blah blah.he has not made a great one since lust for life.

While there's life, there's hope.

Didn't know anything about this album so thanks for the pointer. On first listen, there are a few tracks that wouldn't be lost on the Jungle Book soundtrack. With Iggy as Baloo of course.

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Yes, thanks Nibbler.

I ordered this today. One of my favourite Iggy tracks is "I Felt The Luxury" just because it's something really different and puts Iggy against a different backdrop. Interested to see what he does here.
http://www.scottfullermusic.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/scottfullermusic

I havent heard it yet but I hear it gets compared to Tom Waits. Do feel that's true?

Like demonic possession by Tom Waits. Unoriginal shite.

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I have never been an admirer of Iggy. In fact, always thought he was a bit of a prat. However, I adored The Idiot, L4L and BBB but that was Bowie.

Downloaded this of SoulSeek last night and I have to say it its awesome - I keep playing it through and through! A most bizarre album but simply awesome!

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Baal

I smile and go off waving
(Amiably) - for that's my way

http://www.helden.org.uk

> I havent heard it yet but I hear it gets compared to Tom Waits. Do feel that's true?

I can see why some reviewers might suggest that - mainly because they've probably heard a little bit of Tom Waits and very little, if any, Iggy.



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