IGGY POP - FREE
See what Pavlis made of Free
The Stooges reformation LPs and “Post Pop Depression” got lots of attention and are great in their own ways but they are almost Iggy Pop by numbers. Much as I love wired, punk Iggy, for me, he has always been at his best when at his most experimental, pushing the boundaries on albums like The Idiot, Lust For Life or Brick By Brick. Free comes close to that but it is very much an album of two halves.
After the short spoken word, post-rock meets lounge jazz of the title track, the next five songs are properly BRILLIANT. Funky, sleazy and surreal, James Bond is classic solo Iggy with a glorious trumpet solo from Leron Thomas. With mass gang backing vox, the bratty Dirty Sanchez is even sleazier. Dark, spooky, disconcerting, Glow In The Dark comes on like Joy Division with trap style percussion.
If this was a five tracker, it would be bordering on a 10. Despite more great trumpet and superb vocals, the ambient post-rock lullaby meets film noir soundtrack at a post rave comedown of the last four songs is little more than aural wallpaper that doesn’t do it for me.
Still, this is a brave work from someone who surely still has much more to give.
6.5/10
