A1 	Trollin' 	3:06
A2 	You Can't Have Friends 	2:22
A3 	A.T.M 	3:15
A4 	My Idea Of Fun 	3:17
A5 	The Weirdness 	3:45
A6 	Free & Freaky	2:39
B1 	Greedy Awful People 	2:07
B2 	She Took My Money 	3:48
B3 	The End Of Christianity 	4:19
B4 	Mexican Guy 	3:29
B5 	Passing Cloud 	4:04
B6 	I'm Fried 	3:44

Bass – Mike Watt
Drums – Scott Asheton
Guitar – Ron Asheton
Saxophone – Steve Mackay
Vocals – Iggy Pop

The creative and interpersonal dynamics of a rock band are notoriously tricky, and when a band hasn't worked together for a few decades, simply getting the same people together in a recording studio doesn't guarantee lightning is going to strike again. In 2003, more than 30 years after the original lineup of the Stooges collapsed after the commercial failure of Fun House, Iggy Pop finally buried the hatchet with his former bandmates Ron Asheton and Scott Asheton, and they hit the road for a series of heroic reunion shows (with Mike Watt standing in on bass for the late Dave Alexander) in which they miraculously re-created the dinosaur-stomp sound and feel of their first two albums. After the riotous reception of the Stooges' reunion shows, Iggy and the Ashetons took the next logical step and recorded a new Stooges album, but while the reconstituted band sounded stunning on-stage (check out the Telluric Chaos CD or the Live in Detroit 2003 DVD for evidence), in the studio the Stooges reunion went horribly awry with 2007's The Weirdness. It would have been foolish to expect The Weirdness to sound just like The Stooges or Fun House, given how much water has flowed under the bridge, but what's startling is how little this album recalls the primal groove of their previous work (or the sound they recently delivered on-stage). While Ron Asheton's guitar howls as loud as ever, the pulsating wah-wah and ripsaw fuzz that were his aural trademarks are all but missing, and while his solos step back into the noisy id, they lack the coherence and internal logic of his brilliant work on Fun House. Similarly, Scott Asheton's drumming is muscular and his timing is superb, but while he created an unexpectedly sensuous groove out of stuff like "Down in the Street," "1969," and "Real Cool Time," here he stomps away with lots of gravity but little nuance, and like his brother, he's traded soul for jackhammer force (emphasized by Steve Albini's hard-edged recording). But surprisingly, the guy who really drops the ball on this set is Iggy. Pop's been in fine voice on his last few solo albums, but much of The Weirdness finds him singing a bit flat or sharp, and while he belts out these songs with commendable passion, this ranks with Beat Em Up as the dumbest set of lyrics the man has ever committed to tape. Instead of reaching into the Real O Mind for the cosmic simplicity of stuff like "TV Eye," "1970," or "I Wanna Be Your Dog," Iggy goes into inane blather mode from the jump-start, and if titles like "Greedy Awful People," "Free and Freaky," and "I'm Fried" don't tip off listeners that he's off his game, lines like "England and France, these cultures are old/The cheese is stinky and the beer isn't cold," "They drive those f*ckin' awful cars/And roll their lips in titty bars," and the deathless "My dick is turning into a tree" tell the rest of the story. ---Mark Deming, allmusic.com

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1 	Free 	
2 	Loves Missing 	
3 	Sonali 	
4 	James Bond 	
5 	Dirty Sanchez 	
6 	Glow In The Dark 	
7 	Page 	
8 	We Are The People 	
9 	Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night 	
10 	The Dawn

When we last left Iggy Pop, it was on his best, most cohesive record in at least two decades. Written and recorded with Josh Homme, Post Pop Depression was released just weeks after the death of Iggy’s collaborator and patron David Bowie, and exhumed much of the thrilling avant-rock grandeur that typified the work he had made with Bowie on The Idiot and Lust for Life. Post Pop Depression was billed by Iggy as his last ever and, continuing in that grand tradition of final ever (ever) albums and farewell tours, he’s back once again with another au revoir – and why not? Iggy got there first, and what thanks did he get?

A career that yo-yo’d between occasional renaissance and decade-long patches of commercial indifference. And if we’re happier than ever to have Iggy around, well it’s not hard to see why. David gone, Lou gone, the original Stooges gone – the world’s forgotten boy is now the last man standing.

On Free, Iggy has recruited the jazz trumpeter Leron Thomas and the experimental noise guitarist Noveller, tantalisingly suggesting a record that shelves its predecessor’s classicism in favour of invention. Speaking ahead of the album’s release, Pop discussed feeling “drained” after touring Post Pop Depression, and how this album “just kind of happened to me, and I let it happen”. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what this fragmented and ultimately malnourished record sounds like.

There’s glimpses early on of the record that could have been. In the same way that Post Pop Depression was stalked by mortality, Free too flits between poignancy and very last chance urgency. Desire is up against the clock – take ‘Love’s Missing’, the most straightforwardly enjoyable track on the album. A descending rock riff that’s embellished, then suddenly dominated by Leron Thomas’ jazz trumpet, it builds thrillingly. It sounds fevered, agoraphobic, hemmed in. Likewise the brooding ‘Sonali’ is excellent, a randy paean to a first generation immigrant who won’t take his calls when he’s tipsy, delivered in an unusually mannered baritone.

There’s no questioning the honesty of Iggy’s affiliation with the more experimental reaches of jazz – he’s spoken of the revelation of hearing ‘A Love Supreme’ in 1968, and the extent to which the Stooges’ apocalyptic discord was born from what he heard in that music. He picked up a copy of the newly released Bitches Brew shortly before heading into the studio to record Fun House, and that record can be viewed as in dialogue with Miles Davis’ future-shock fusion. But what Fun House did (and indeed what Bowie’s Blackstar did with Donny McCaslin), was utilise the structure and form of jazz to shape something novel; and that is not what’s going on here. Indeed, the best tracks on this record are curiously the least jazzed out of the whole affair.

Iggy is a master of economy – his best work does a hell of a lot with precious little – but ‘James Bond’ simply feels underthought, if not gimmicky and annoying. This in itself is surpassed by the mystifyingly poor ‘Dirty Sanchez’, whose lyrics were written by Leron Thomas. “The online porn is driving me nuts” goes one line, “just because I like big tits doesn’t mean I like big dicks”. The most charitable reading of this, and I am trying, is that Thomas’ writing is striving for the dumb trash aesthetic that Iggy has mined so successfully throughout his career. Again, that’s a charitable reading.

This also means that it can feel tonally off-kilter when Iggy returns to the somber and to the reflective – be careful you don’t get whiplash from the aesthetic u-turn of Iggy then pivoting to a spoken word recital of Dylan Thomas. As any listener to Iggy’s 6Music show can testify, he’s a charismatic and weighty spoken word presence, but this run-through of Thomas’ most familiar poem can feel faintly hackneyed. Continuing in this vein, ‘We Are the People’ is a recital of a Lou Reed poem that went unpublished until after Reed’s death in 2012, and it nicely aligns Pop with his contemporaries who have gone ungently into that good night. But it’s too little. Free may share a melancholy, and an engaging self-referential spirit, with Post Pop Depression, but it’s a grab bag of incomplete ideas grasping for cohesion. ---loudandquiet.com

Sam Iggy Pop powiedział o "Free": "To płyta, na której inni artyści mówią w moim imieniu, ale ja użyczam swojego głosu. Pod koniec tras promujących +Post Pop Depression+ doszedłem do wniosku, że muszę pozbyć się problemu chronicznej niepewności, który od dawna torpedował moje życie oraz karierę. Czułem się również wyzuty z energii. Miałem moment, w którym pragnąłem po prostu włożyć ciemne okulary, odwrócić się i odejść. Chciałem być wolny. Wiem, że to tylko iluzja, a wolność to jedynie poczucie; jednak całe swoje życie spędziłem w przekonaniu, że to uczucie jest wszystkim, do czego warto dążyć – niekoniecznie szczęście czy miłość, ale właśnie wolność. Dlatego album +Free+ po prostu mi się przydarzył, a ja na to pozwoliłem".

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01.Les Feuilles Mortes
02.I Want to Go to the Beach
03.King of the Dogs
04.Je sais que tu Sais
05.Spanish Coast
06.Nice to be Dead
07.How Intensive
08.Party Time
09.He's Dead, She's Alive
10.A Machine for Loving
11.She's a Business
12.Les Feuilles Mortes (Marc's Theme)

Bass, Guitar, Drum Programming, Keyboards, Percussion, Producer, Recorded By, Mixed By – Hal Cragin
Clarinet – Marc Phaneuf (tracks: 1, 3, 12)
Congas – Kevin Hupp (tracks: 1, 12)
Drums – Kevin Hupp (tracks: 3, 4, 6, 7, 11)
Guitar – Iggy Pop (tracks: 9)
Piano – Jon Cowherd (tracks: 3)
Trombone – Clarence L. Banks* (tracks: 3)
Trumpet – Tim Ouimette (tracks: 3)
Vocals – Lucie Aimé (tracks: 4)
Vocals, Concept By – Iggy Pop

The timing of Iggy Pop's album Preliminaires is probably a product of coincidence and fate rather than careful planning, but it's hard to ignore the fact that just a few months after the unexpected death of Ron Asheton put the Stooges into limbo (at least for a while), Iggy has released an album that almost entirely avoids the issue of rock & roll. In a publicity piece for Preliminaires, Iggy wrote "I just got sick of listening to idiot thugs with guitars," and the man whose music helped inspire so many of those thugs keeps a wary distance from electric guitars on most on this album. Advance reports suggested that Preliminaires would be a jazz album, but that's not accurate, even though one of the best songs on the set, "King of the Dogs," features Iggy borrowing a melody from Louis Armstrong while backed by a traditional New Orleans jazz band. Instead, most of the music on Preliminaires recalls European pop -- music influenced by music influenced by jazz -- and the lion's share of the arrangements resemble some fusion of Serge Gainsbourg and late-period Leonard Cohen, fitted with a distinctly American accent on songs like "Spanish Coast," "I Want to Go to the Beach," and a cover of "How Insensitive." For those put off by such things, "Nice to Be Dead" is dominated by distorted electric guitars and "She's a Business" (like the nearly identical "Je Sais Que Tu Sais") booms with martial drumming, (both recall Iggy's moody solo debut The Idiot), while "He's Dead/ She's Alive" is backed by Pop's powerful acoustic blues guitar. Like 1999's Avenue B, Preliminaires is an introspective set, with Iggy crooning in a low murmur as he contemplates the failings of the world around him; he cites Michel Houellebecq's novel The Possibility of an Island as an influence (Houellebecq's words provided the lyrics for one stand-out track, "A Machine for Loving"), and the album is bookended by tunes which Iggy sings in French. Where Avenue B was a pretentious mess, Preliminaires is flawed but significantly more successful; though "Party Time" is mildly embarrassing in its depiction of decadence among the idle rich, the other songs are intelligent and often compelling meditations on a world where love and compassion are in short supply, and if "King of the Dogs" isn't exactly a new sentiment coming from Iggy, it's cock-of-the-walk air fits him like a glove (as does the trad jazz arrangement). Iggy's a better shouter than a crooner, but time has burnished his instrument with the character to fit these lyrics, and the best moments on this disc are truly inspired. Iggy Pop would be ill advised to give up on rock & roll, but Preliminaires shows he can do other things and do them well, and it speaks of a welcome maturity missing from many of his efforts outside the realm of fast and loud. ---Mark Deming, AllMusic Review

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01 – Et si tu n’existais pas
02 – La javanaise
03 – Everybody’s Talkin’
04 – I’m Going Away Smiling
05 – La vie en rose
06 – Les passantes
07 – Syracuse
08 – What Is This Thing Called Love
09 – Michelle
10 – Only The Lonely

Acoustic Guitar – Danny Blume (tracks: 1 to 2)
Backing Vocals – Lucie Amie (tracks: 1, 5), Sarah Fimm (tracks: 1 to 2, 9)
Bass, Producer, Mixed By – Hal Cragin
Drums – Ben Perowsky (tracks: 5, 9), Jerry Marotta (tracks: 4, 7)
Drums – Kevin Hupp (tracks: 1 to 3)
Electric Guitar – Steven Ulrich (tracks: 1 to 2)
Guitar – Hal Cragin (tracks: 1 to 9)
Organ – Jerry Zaslavsky (tracks: 1 to 2)
Percussion – Jainardo Batista (tracks: 1 to 2)
Piano – Hal Cragin (tracks: 3 to 5, 7 to 8)
Tres – Aaron Halva (tracks: 1 to 2)
Vocals – Iggy Pop

Has the grandfather of punk mellowed with age? While it may appear that way, it really isn’t. How so? While it is true that Iggy achieved such legendary status as a Wildman from his early Stooges days in the late 1960’s. He’d threaten the audience. Cut himself with broken bottles hurled at him by the audience. Basically, he’d appear out of control. He was. But as the 70’s wore on, he started to change musically. He experimented with more somber music; Especially on his classic album, “The Idiot”. Teaming up with Bowie on that particular album, Iggy showcased his darker, more melancholy side. Songs like “Night clubbing” and even “Sister Midnight” came off like neo-modern cabaret songs.

Fast forward to 2009. Iggy released “Preliminaires”. It’s an album of French jazz. It’s a difficult album. First off, it’s not the rock many people associate Iggy Pop with. Second, it’s quite dismal. In fact, it’s so slow and atmospheric that’s it’s almost boring. Thankfully, “Apres” (an obvious follow-up to “Preliminaires”) trades out the bold unhappiness for a bit more fun. Iggy also ditches the “singing all in French” format for singing mostly in English and some in French. As much as the French language works in song, if the listener’s language is English, it’s a well appreciated change-up! “Apres” still has its share of darker songs like Cole Porter’s “What Is This Thing Called Love?”, “I’m Going Away Smiling” (Yoko Ono), and Sinatra’s “Only the Lonely” (not to be confused with the Roy Orbison classic).

There is a real lightness in most of the songs on “Apres”. Iggy covers “Michelle” (made famous by the Beatles) and it sounds quite lovely. Iggy’s deep voice adds a nice touch to the up-beat stripped-down song. However, the real highlight of the album is Iggy’s up-beat, yet mellow take on Edith Piaf’s “La Vie En Rose”. Sung all in French, it’s a slow but uplifting song. It almost has a New Orleans death march vibe to it. However, it is not somber by any means. It’s truly a gem and something one would think Iggy could never pull off. Another standout track on “Apres” is “Everybody’s Talking” (made famous in the film “Midnight Cowboy”). Iggy’s take doesn’t break too much new ground compared to the original. But, his hardened and baritone voice adds a depth to the tack that makes the song memorable. If you’re looking for punk rock Iggy on “Apres”, you are going to be sadly disappointed. This simply isn’t that record. All in all, Iggy Pop plays the role of the crooner well on “Apres”. If you’d like some chill music to mellow out to, “Apres” certainly delivers that. --- 411mania.com

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1 I Wanna Live (4:31) 
2 Pussy Walk (3:47) 
3 Innocent World (3:28) 
4 Knucklehead (4:09) 
5 To Belong (4:11) 
6 Keep On Believing (2:29) 
7 Outta My Head (5:36) 
8 Shoeshine Girl (3:50) 
9 Heart Is Saved (3:02) 
10 Look Away (5:02)

Bass – Hal Wonderful
Drums – Larry Contrary
Guitar – Eric Mesmerize, Iggy Pop (tracks: A4, B2, B5), The Mighty Whitey (tracks: A1)
Keyboards – Mr. Wonderful (tracks: B3)
Vocals – Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop's career is dotted with miscalculations and flat-out mistakes, and after releasing two of his strongest solo efforts in a row -- Brick by Brick and American Caesar -- it might have been tempting fate to expect Pop to pull off a hat trick. He didn't, and Naughty Little Doggie isn't much to write home about. If you were to compare Naughty Little Doggie to any of Pop's previous albums, it most closely resembles Instinct, his ill-conceived neo-metal project, and in all fairness Naughty Little Doggie is clearly the better album. As he did on American Caesar, Pop cut these sessions with his touring band (dubbed "the F*ckups" in the liner notes), and they sound solid and enthusiastic throughout, especially guitarist Eric Schermerhorn (aka Eric Mesmerize) and drummer Larry Mullins (aka Larry Contrary). Pop's voice is in great shape, and he seems to be having a lot of fun, especially on the dirty-old man's celebration of "Pussy Walk" and the nervy "Knucklehead." But Iggy Pop the Songwriter wasn't in the midst of one of his especially inspired periods when he was assembling Naughty Little Doggie, and while the music is mostly solid, bare-knuckled hard rock, the lyrics aren't all that special, and it doesn't take long for Pop and the band to run through all the tricks they have on hand. One notable exception, however, is the last track, "Look Away," a low-key remembrance of fellow rock & roll reprobate Johnny Thunders which wouldn't have been out of place on Brick by Brick or American Caesar. Naughty Little Doggie is a solid, respectable, and professional hard rock album, and Iggy Pop could do a lot worse. But then again, he could also do a lot better. ---Mark Deming, AllMusic Review

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