Gracing the cover wearing a belt of dynamite and shrouded in crosshairs, Iggy Pop is apparently well and truly Ready To Die with the release of the fifth album by he and his cohorts of proto-punk insubordinates, The Stooges.
When listening to Ready To Die though, one fast realises that the entire record does the complete opposite of implying that the 66-year-old pioneer of garage rock is ready to do anything but kick on for another 40 years, continuing on with the crusade of anti-industry and fuck-the-world ideals that Iggy And The Stooges have been waving a flag for since the late 60s.
The group of gnarly bandits bring forward the familiar bone-crunching and fist-flailing antics of destructive walls of noise and riotous lyrics.
Disappointingly that’s all that Ready To Die really does; patronisingly combining uninspired song writing with tired lyrical themes.
“I’m just a guy with a rock star attitude; I got no belief and I got no gratitude; I don’t wanna talk to my co-workers; I think they’re a bunch of dumb cock-jerkers,” Iggy snarls through third track ‘Job.’ Speaks for itself really.
It’s not all guns-blazing though, with Iggy and his Stooges taking it down a notch on the dully twanging and slow-burning ‘Unfriendly World.’
Unfortunately it’s only one of two tracks that provide any relief from the constant jarring shred of garage that’s seem to have lost its head and is subsequently running around for the sake of not standing still.
They’re really not bringing anything new to the table, or to the floor, or to any surface possibly associated with rock album reviews; but they are reassuring both us and themselves of their ever-looming stance in the world of rock’n’roll and that they probably aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
