Saluting Iggy....One Last Time The last solid solo effort by "The Godfather of Punk," the September 1993 release has 17 songs and clocks in at nearly 72 minutes, which fittingly is around the time that Iggy Pop would log on stage as the headlining act.
Wild America is not Pop taking a satirical jab at society; the lyrics are pointed, indicting and brutal. The album smacks into emotions from a guy who has lived in the shadows - Jealousy, Hate, Sickness, Social Life, Perforation Problems - and has crawled out barely alive.
Louie Louie is a concert mainstay, but Pop's performance art has a jagged edge that gets sharper through each number. Not for the feint of heart, Pop is the drum major in a band for tortured souls.
Let it be written that Iggy Pop briefly reclaimed his diginity once... Recorded in New Orleans, "American Caesar" is swampy and dark without sacrificing the audio quality too much. The grungy music is tough and seemingly very loose as Iggy and the band freely ramble without regard in many instances. The occassional accoustic guitar and dreamy production keeps things from getting too ugly, as the songs mostly shift from hard rock to well...hard folk. Leaving behind the goofy camp of the 80s, Iggy perhaps more accurately comes across as observant and world weary. Seemingly dealing with personal alienation in a crumbling American society, Iggy's lyrics find common ground between intelligent pondering and the more primitive language of hard rock. While he never captures the life or death urgency of his manic glory days, Iggy comes across as a convincing old crooner that can still get up and move with the best of them. The album also markes one of the few times where Iggy managed to mature and "act his age" while maintaining an exciting edge to his work.
The noisey swagger of "Wild America" sets the tone as Iggy describes an apparent sex romp with hints of boredom and impending doom. The accoustic "Jealousy" builds with very bad intentions while the grunge powerhouse "Hate" teeters and crumbles as Iggy howls and wails about being afraid. The catchy blues rock of "Mixing the Colors" describes America's increasingly melting pot culture. The edgy folk rocker "F**king Alone" is seriously one of the best solo songs Iggy has ever wrote with groovy almost hip hop verses that give way to vunerable longing and self loathing. The tragically romantic (should have been a pop hit single) "Beside You" climaxes the collection with inspiring bittersweet bliss. Outside of the wonderfully wierd performance art piece "Caesar," the last few songs are hard to get through. They are not bad, they just don't offer anything new and "Louie, Louie" stands out like a sore thumb. Though this is a masterpiece that outstays its welcome, the first ten songs are so rank among Iggy's best solo work ever and for at least one moment he was the diginfied solo artist we were always hoping he would become. So how did he follow up this promising statement of maturity, "Naughite Little Doggie".......
Iggy Pop - 'American Caesar' (Virgin) 3 1/2 stars Decent 1993 effort by the Igster. Follow-up to his 'Brick By Brick' disc. This is actually my first time I've ever heard this CD. Notice it's dark, loud and heavy - which of course I liked. Tunes here I was most impressed with was "Wild America", "Mixing The Colors", the rocker "Plastic & Concrete", his tribute (I assume) to teenage sexual frustration "F**kin' Alone" and the old Kingsmen nugget "Louie Louie". Not his best cover I've heard him do.
Not the best of Iggy's work The Igster has done some great stuff since the earlier days, and some not-so-great. This is the latter category. I gotta say Iggy does challenge Jonathan Richman for the best bad lyrics in his special rendition of "Louie Louie" here:
*A fine little girl is waitin' for me *But I'm as bent as Dostoyevsky
That couplet right there is what got this album the 2 stars it has, right there folks. If you want great Iggy from the later "hard rock" albums, get the "Instinct" album, or "Brick by Brick." Iggy is a great performer with an unequaled sense of irony, but other albums carry that better.
Iggy steps into a new era. Iggy comes over as a wizened, erudite street poet on this one. American Caesar still sounds fresh and hip, but the melodies also evoke classic Iggy albums like Lust for Life and Soldier. If you liked the aforementioned albums, rush out and buy American Caesar! If you have never heard any of these albums, but know you like your rock n' rollers literate and wild at the same time, you will probably like American Caesar!
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