Iggy Pop is the icon known for shedding blood onstage and not taking any shit from anybody. And in one minute and twenty-one seconds he proclaims that even in his fiftieth year he isn’t going to take “No Shit”. The biggest problem is that he has released Avenue B, offering himself up for public scrutiny, and, whether he wants to take any shit or not, he has released a real stinker.
The title track, “Avenue B”, sounds like a poor excuse for a lounge song. Could Iggy ever sing? Now I’m pondering whether his lack of vocal prowess just came about or if he’s always sounded so silly. He honestly sounds like Ernie from Sesame Street. Is that blasphemy? Perhaps, but I have to tell the truth. I was hoping that this album would be some triumphant conquest by an aging artist, but the scary truth is that the forever cool Iggy has lost his edge. “Shakin’ All Over” sounds like a lost The Who track. The riff isn’t going to grow more appealing with age, as has been the fate of his voice, but at least this track gets Mr. Pop off his velvet sofa and wagging his ass again.
So what does Iggy do after rocking? Slows down once again on “Long Distance”, doing his best at depressing us by telling everyone how at fifty he is still alone. Somehow I’m having a hard time buying this tortured tale. I mean, the man is legendary, and now he is exploring his mortality. Maybe that should be endearing, but I find it disturbing. “Corruption” then amps it up again. It seems every time I’m ready to throw every stone within reach at the image of Iggy Pop he comes back and grinds the guitars like glass into your flesh. And even though this song is completely bad, it is still perfect Iggy Pop.
Iggy could have done us all a favor and left off the tracks where he recites poems or statements. They are just plain boring. Maybe we’d enjoy his reminiscing at the local coffeehouse, but as I drive in my car or sit in my house with his voice echoing around each corner, I can only cringe. I may not sleep a wink tonight after persecuting a man David Bowie at one time decreed a genius, but I have to stand tall and say that this album just doesn’t have an ounce of soul or genius. The thing that bothers me most is that if any other artist brought this to a label they would have laughed them out of the building. I finally got this off my chest but I still feel that something just ain’t right.
+ rae gun
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