[.ca] Skull Ring

Worst Iggy Pop Album Ever (even with The Stooges):
I can already see the "1 out 5 people found this review helpful" because if you're reading this now, you are an Iggy Pop fan, and you don't want to hear anything negative about your favorite rock star. But I'm not writing this to garner your support, rather to warn off people who might want to try an Iggy Pop album... don't start with this one! Any previous Iggy Pop album would be better (may I suggest the infinitely more mature Avenue B, or his best album ever, American Caesar?) Here we have a rather confused rush job with no central focus. There are so many collaborators that it sounds more like a "tribute" album than anything self-contained or cohesive. It jumps from one back-up band to the next, changing musical styles and points of view in a rather disconcerting fashion. What was the point? The best of the "back-up" bands here are Asheton brothers (a.k.a. The Stooges). Too bad Iggy didn't choose to revive this part of his career and use them for the entire project. In fact, if it weren't for their presence, I would have given this Green Day, et al crap one star. What a shame actually. Iggy Pop deserves more recognition. This album won't give it to him. A full blown Stooges reunion is way overdue too, but this isn't it either. In both cases, maybe next time.

This is a good one:
Iggy Pop has put out some mediocre records over the past ten years. Like his pal, David Bowie, he was due for a change. Bowie put out Heathen a few years ago. Now Iggy has Skull Ring. A year ago he reformed with some of the remaining Stooges and played some shows. Four new songs resulted. This is the core of the record. The collaborations with Green Day and Sum 41 are interesting. The songs with Peaches fail miserably. It when you get to the Fred McDowell inspired "Till Wrong Feels Right" that Iggy seems like he is at his most original. This is a great record to have, so trade in those other solo albums.

Iggy fans, don't sweat it:
It's another good one. Does he ever really disappoint us? I don't know what's with the flood of negative reviews below. Do you own all his CDs like I do? Then add this one to your collection. Best tracks I think are "Skull Rings" and "Superbabe"

Good, but not great:
Iggy's latest CD is a mixed bag. The songs with the Stooges are awesome old school rock. They rock hard and are worthy of the Iggy Pop name. The collaberations with Peaches, Green Day and Sum 41 are also very good. While not "old school" rock, the songs Iggy does with these bands/people are fast and very good. His songs with the Trolls fall flat though. They are boring and lifeless. Fortunately, there are only 5 tracks on the Cd with the Trolls. The rest of the CD is pretty good. Worth picking up if you are a fan of the Doors or other old rock. While hardcore Iggy fans might be more than a little disgusted that Iggy teamed up with Sum 41 and Green Day, don't let that deter you from buying this album. The songs with the Stooges alone are good enough to warrant the purchase of Skull Ring.

An American Tragedy:
Perhaps artists with great ambitions or unusual talent ought to curb their hopes of making a great record for fear that everything they release afterward will be held to that standard. I say this because if anyone is suffering from this paradoxical fate it is Iggy, whose astonishing and brilliant "American Caesar" finally revealed the enormity of his talent to the world in all its immediacy, glory and depth. Granted, he recorded the album under the guidance of producer Malcom Burn, whose contribution to rock 'n roll becomes more invaluable with each record he graces with his instincts. Nonetheless, anyone who has been conscious for at least brief intervals over the past 35 years has probably some inkling of an appreciation for Iggy Pop's achievement. Stooges classics like "Sick of You," "Now I wanna Be Your Dog" or anything from the riveting "Raw Power" sessions demonstrate that Iggy knows what great rock 'n roll sounds like. Though his talent seems to require the guidance of back-door geniuses like David Bowie, Don Was, Burn or The Stooges themselves to realize its full promise, Iggy proved himself capable of bringing plenty of his own to the table on audible miracles like American Caesar's "Jealousy," "Mixin' the Colors," "Hate" and "Highway Song." An emotional urgency, pathos and beautiful anger emerged throughout that collection, which seemed less like an album and more like an act of God. I do not understand why Iggy so infrequently resolves to dig a little deeper in the well, but it is both infuriating and tragic. He seems to be catering to some rather unfortunate image the media has bestowed upon him: that of a mere noise-maker, perhaps; an aging punkster who consents on album after album (Beat 'Em Up, Naughty Little Doggie? Please.) to deliver only that minor public sliver of an otherwise boundless and consequently underrated talent for songwriting and performance. "Skull Ring" serves only to further this unfortunate downward spiral into novelty, obscurity and a rapidly diminishing power. We get 15 tracks of ear-infecting noise and drivel in exchange for one instantly captivating acoustic masterpiece in the bluesy and snarling "'Til Wrong Feels Right." "I took a pounding/From the radio today," Iggy croons to the lonely and edgy accompaniment of a single acoustic guitar, "I heard the radio say/Some piece of s***/Was the sound of today." Surely Iggy didn't have his own latest album in mind when penning those lines -- or did he? He sure leaves fans wondering here, on yet another uninspired and disappinting album of filler dappled aimlessly with the good names of The Stooges, The Mouldy Peaches along with, of all people, the friggin' Green Day kids.

• Little Electric Chair - Iggy Pop, The Stooges
• Perverts in the Sun - Iggy Pop,
• Skull Ring - Iggy Pop, The Stooges
• Superbabe - Iggy Pop,
• Loser - Iggy Pop, The Stooges
• Private Hell - Green Day, Iggy Pop
• Little Know It All - Iggy Pop, Sum 41
• Whatever - Iggy Pop,
• Dead Rock Star - Iggy Pop, The Stooges
• Rock Show - Peaches, Iggy Pop
• Here Comes the Summer - Iggy Pop,
• Motor Inn - Iggy Pop
• Inferiority Complex - Iggy Pop,
• Supermarket - Green Day, Iggy Pop
• Til Wrong Feels Right - Iggy Pop
• Blood on Your Cool - Iggy Pop,