Album Review: Iggy And The Stooges ‘Ready To Die.’ Iggy and co. do a do-over from the disastrous ‘The Weirdness.’  Mission partly accomplished.

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The Stooges 2007 release ‘The Weirdness‘ remains one of the worst comeback albums ever.  It got terrible reviews and espoused the old adage that ‘you can’t go home again.’

But Iggy Pop and his pals never gave a shit what anybody thought anyways, and now we have ‘Ready To Die.’

The good news is that its way better than ‘The Weirdness‘, although it doesn’t completely satisfy.

‘Burn‘ is the strongest contender, very much in the ‘Gimme Danger‘ vein with a middle eastern flavored riff courtesy of James Williamson. It’s dark, sinewy and evokes a hint of the sound that made the band such a daunting proposition in the first place.

‘Sex And Money’ is about just that, featuring blistering sax stabs by (Funhouse era contributor) Steve McKay. Pop’s lyrics are as randomly weird as ever; ‘nipples come and nipples go‘. What?

‘Gun‘ is a surf-flavored rocker where Pop skewers everything from George Zimmer; “murderer’s can stand their ground, aint nobody else around“, American’s war-faring nature “Yeah we killed the indians, and all we want to do is win“, and our polarized political system “everyone is talking loud I can’t stand the f–king sound/yelling at the other guy arguing over the pie”  Then he hits the hot-button issue of gun violence: “if I had a f–king gun I could shoot at everyone.”

It’s some of his best social satire. Sadly that doesn’t apply to “Job”  with the chorus: “I Got A job But it Don’t Pay Shit’; that just doesn’t wash when coming from a wealthy rock star.

But that’s nothing compared to ‘Dd’s‘, a comical ode to big tits; “I’m on my knees for those Double D’s. Why tell a lie that I’m stupefied‘.  It’s the only song I’ve ever heard that references both boobs and  Aristotle! Sigh.

Oddly enough some of the best moments are the quietest. Take the ballad “Unfriendly World,” where he clamors for solace from life’s stressors. It sounds like it could be a track off his solo  album ‘Brick By Brick.’

Last month I reviewed David Bowie’s new release ‘The Next Day‘ (read my review), an album obsessed with age and mortality. And Pop shares the same predilection with his former collaborator and friend..

This seems natural. The loss of his former band mate Ron Asheton in 2009 appears to have brought this into perspective.

The title track is a case in point. Over a Search And Destroy-ish riff, Pop sings;  “Now this lonely skin is weaning thin/I’m a hanging judge of the world I’m in/I’m shooting for the sky, the truth is I’m ready to die!”

What would once be a standard Pop nihilistic anthem now takes on more resonance.

‘The Departed‘ is Pop’s tribute to Asheton, starting with the main riff from  ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog‘, but done acoustically. It features Pop is at his most introspective; “where is the life we started–yesterday’s a door opening for the departed—the life of the party’s gone, the guest who still remain know that they’ve stayed a little long.”

The MVP on this album is Williamson who riffs like a man half his age and is a more than welcome return to the fold. Pop feeds off his energy and it’s palpable.

‘Ready To Die’ isn’t perfect, but if this is the last album they make before one of them shuffles off this mortal coil it’s a far better epitaph than ‘The Weirdness.’

‘Ready To Die’ will be released April 30th courtesy of Fat Possum Records. You can preorder vis iTunes of Amazon below:

[amazon_image id=”B00CF0VGUG” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Ready to Die[/amazon_image]

And click here stream it for free on NPR before it’s release .

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