Iggy Pop Keeps Hard-Hitting Avengence Alive Via Swaggering ‘Every Loser’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

Photo Credit: Vincent Guignet

Iggy Pop is never one to sit still for very long. The tanned, shirtless, leather-faced frontman has been playing with his sound for so long that each new album feels like a comeback attempt, but with the solid Every Loser, Pop, and company delivers a smattering of the styles he has used over the years with success and professional sheen. 

The 75-year-old still has energy, wit, and observations to share as he partners with producer Andrew Watt (Miley Cyrus, Ozzy Osbourne, Eddie Vedder). Watt worked with Pop (producing and playing) to give him a modern, full sound without diluting his style. A host of A-list rockers also contribute including Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses), Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters), Travis Barker (Blink-182), Chad Smith, Josh Klinghoffer (Red Hot Chili Peppers), and more.   

The disco punk of “Strung Out Johnny” and the new wavey “Comments” recall Pop’s work with David Bowie in the late ’70s, structured around strong bass work from Watt and Eric Avery (Jane’s Addiction) respectively, as Pop sings about hard drugs and the drug of the internet. “New Atlantis” is a spoken word ode to his beloved adopted hometown of Miami, containing a gorgeous weepy guitar solo from Watt. The deep-voiced Pop channels Leonard Cohen on the slow-rolling “Morning Show” as well as two weird interludes (“The News For Andy” and “My Animus”). All these efforts are serviceable, yet tepid.    

Pop’s best work has always been when he fronts a blitzkrieg guitar assault in his patented Stooges style. Opener “Frenzy” is kick-ass loud, an angsty blast as Pop is sick of everything and the senior citizen lets his punk flag fly with wild abandon; these opening snarls deftly recall Pop’s masterpiece “Search and Destroy” from Raw Power. Another dynamite explosion of rock can be found on the hard, sardonic, and furious “Neo Punk” while “Modern Day Rip Off” may just be the best of the bunch.  There is no buyer’s remorse with this track as the screeching riffs and piano lines cook while crazy drum rhythms from Smith spice up the sound.

Also of note is the swaggering, Raconteurs-sounding, “All The Way Down” expertly deploying shaking rhythmic blasts, strutting piano, and added guitar runs from Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam). These straight-ahead rock winners never seem to satiate the wild man though and he ends the album with the artsier, less successful “The Regency” as more members of Jane’s Addiction (Chris Chaney and Dave Navarro) arrive to help him yell repeated expletives about “feeling murderous towards journalists”. Pop’s lyrics are clumsy most of the time and revelatory in their directness occasionally, that pattern continues with Every Loser.

On 2019’s Free, Pop went in a softer poetic direction with mixed results, Every Loser returns to the rock and angry themes that have suited him well during his career. While perhaps not a major cultural statement, Every Loser is an extremely secure album for the legendary mercurial artist to deliver this late in his career. 

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