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SKULL RING
Iggy Pop
(Virgin/EMI)
Anyone who believes rock 'n' roll is strictly a young man's game needs to spend some quality time with the one and only Iggy Pop.
At 56, the former James Jewell Osterberg of Ypsilianti, Mich., remains the iron man of rock -- a self-appointed streetwalkin' cheetah with a heart full of napalm, a blustery baritone, the body of a razor-scarred Greek god, and the take-no-prisoners nihilism of a man one-third his age.
Most of which the godfather of punk puts to good use once again on his thundering 14th solo studio album Skull Ring.
After decades of having his sound, style and stance pilfered by no-talent punks, The Ig sets out to reclaim his throne and show the kids how it's done on this 17-song barnburner. That he succeeds handily on both counts is due in no small part to the fact that Skull Ring serves as the vehicle for a four-song mini-reunion of the original dum-dum boys -- Iggy's seminal and revolutionary '60s guitar-rawk outfit The Stooges.
Iggy, guitarist Ron Asheton and his drumming brother Scott (aka Rock Action) split three decades ago, but it might as well have been yesterday, judging by the primal choogle, groovy handclaps and whoo-hoo! exuberance that propel tunes like Little Electric Chair, Loser, Dead Rock Star and the Peter Gunn-style title cut.
Along with the old guard, Iggy teams up with some younger turks here, enlisting Green Day for a blast of snot-punk shuffle (Private Hell), drafting Sum 41 for a Ramonesy power-pop anthem (Little Know it All), and picking up electro-skankstress Peaches for a double dose of her raw, raunchy sexuality (Rock Show, Motor Inn).
Toss in half a dozen crunching riff-fests from Iggy's current henchmen The Trolls and Skull Ring adds up to yet another impressive display of raw power from the world's oldest forgotten boy.
Track Listing
1. Little Electric Chair
2. Perverts In The Sun
3. Skull Ring
4. Superbabe
5. Loser
6. Private Hell
7. Little Know It All
8. Whatever
9. Dead Rock Star
10. Rock Show
11. Here Comes The Summer
12. Motor Inn
13. Inferiority Complex
14. Supermarket
15. Til Wrong Feels Right
16. Blood On My Cool