''Préliminaires'' is the fifteenth studio album by American rock singer

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the " Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of proto-punk band The Stooges, who wer ...

, released in Europe on May 25, 2009 by record label

Astralwerks Astralwerks is an American record label primarily focused on electronic music owned by Universal Music Group. Its material is distributed via Capitol Music Group in the United States. The label was founded in 1993 and, in its early years, featur ...

, and in the US on June 2. It was inspired by the singer's reading of

Michel Houellebecq Michel Houellebecq (; born Michel Thomas, 26 February 1956 or 1958) is a French author, known for his novels, poems and essays, as well as an occasional actor, filmmaker and singer. His first book was a biographical essay on the horror writer ...

's novel ''La Possibilité d'une île'' ('' The Possibility of an Island'').

Style

Unlike his previous works, the album is less rock-oriented and was said by Pop to be a "quieter album with some jazz overtones" with its sound influenced by New Orleans jazz artists such as

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and Singing, vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and se ...

and

Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. Morton was jazz's first arranger, proving that a gen ...

. Pop also admitted that the album is his response to being "sick of listening to idiot thugs with guitars banging out crappy music". The album includes a cover of the 1940s French

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

standard " Les feuilles mortes" ("Autumn Leaves"), which Iggy sings in French. The song is most associated with such artists as

Yves Montand Ivo Livi (), better known as Yves Montand (; 13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991), was an Italian-French actor and singer. Early life Montand was born Ivo Livi in Monsummano Terme, Italy, to Giovanni Livi, a broom manufacturer, Ivo held stron ...

and

Édith Piaf Édith Piaf (, , ; born Édith Giovanna Gassion, ; December 19, 1915– October 10, 1963) was a French singer, lyricist and actress. Noted as France's national chanteuse, she was one of the country's most widely known international stars. Pia ...

. The album also includes "How Insensitive", a jazzy bossa nova standard composed by

Antônio Carlos Jobim Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim (25 January 1927 – 8 December 1994), also known as Tom Jobim (), was a Brazilian composer, pianist, guitarist, songwriter, arranger, and singer. Considered one of the great exponents of Brazilian mu ...

, and "Nice to Be Dead", more of a

swamp rock Swamp rock is a genre of rock music that originated in the mid-1960s as a fusion of rockabilly and soul music with swamp blues, country music and funk. The genre originated in Louisiana by artists such as Tony Joe White, but was subsequently p ...

song. The visuals for the album were created by French-

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Tu ...

ian graphic novelist and animated film director

Marjane Satrapi Marjane Satrapi (; fa, مرجان ساتراپی ; born 22 November 1969) is a French-Iranian graphic novelist, cartoonist, illustrator, film director, and children's book author. Her best-known works include the graphic novel ''Persepolis'' ...

. Marjane and Iggy met when she asked him to voice one of the characters in the English-language version of her Academy-award nominated movie '' Persepolis'' in 2007. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its cov ...

'' called it "definitely the weirdest record of the punk godfather's career".

Reception

The album received a

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

score of 66 based on 27 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews. It debuted at No. 187 on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling around 3,000 copies on its first week of release. ''Preliminaires'' has sold 10,000 copies in the United States as of February 2016.

Track listing

# " Les feuilles mortes" (music:

Joseph Kosma Joseph Kosma (22 October 19057 August 1969) was a Hungarian-French composer. Biography Kosma was born József Kozma in Budapest, where his parents taught stenography and typing. He had a brother, Ákos. A maternal relative was the photographe ...

; lyrics:

Jacques Prévert Jacques Prévert (; 4 February 1900 – 11 April 1977) was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. His best-regarded films formed part of the poetic realist moveme ...

) – 3:55 # "I Want to Go to the Beach" (Iggy Pop) – 2:53 # "King of The Dogs" (

Lil Armstrong Lillian Hardin Armstrong (née Hardin; February 3, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer, and bandleader. She was the second wife of Louis Armstrong, with whom she collaborated on many recordings in ...

, Iggy Pop) – 2:02 # "Je sais que tu sais" (Lucie Aimé, Hal Cragin, Iggy Pop) – 3:12 # "Spanish Coast" (Hal Cragin, Iggy Pop) – 3:59 # "Nice to Be Dead" (Hal Cragin, Iggy Pop) – 2:49 # "How Insensitive" (

Vinicius De Moraes Marcus Vinícius da Cruz e Mello Moraes (19 October 1913 – 9 July 1980), better known as Vinícius de Moraes () and nicknamed O Poetinha ("The little poet"), was a Brazilian poet, diplomat, lyricist, essayist, musician, singer, and playwright ...

Ray Gilbert Ray Gilbert (September 5, 1912 – March 3, 1976) was an American lyricist. He grew up in Hartford, Connecticut. Career Gilbert is best remembered for the lyrics to the Oscar-winning song " Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" from the film ''Song of the South'', ...

) – 3:03 # "Party Time" (Hal Cragin, Iggy Pop) – 2:08 # "He's Dead / She's Alive" (Iggy Pop) – 2:00 # "A Machine for Loving" (Hal Cragin,

, Iggy Pop; English translation by Gavin Bowd) – 3:16 # "She's a Business" (Hal Cragin, Iggy Pop) – 3:11 # "Les feuilles mortes (Marc's Theme)" (music: Joseph Kosma; lyrics: Jacques Prévert) – 3:53

Personnel

*Iggy Pop – vocals, concept, guitar on "He's Dead, She's Alive" *Hal Cragin – bass, guitar, percussion, keyboards, drum programming, producer, recording, mixing *Kevin Hupp - drums (tracks 3, 4, 6, 7, 11), congas (tracks 1, 12) * Jon Cowherd – piano on "King of the Dogs" *Clarence L. Banks - trombone on "King of the Dogs" *Tim Ouimette – trumpet on "King of the Dogs" *Marc Phaneuf- clarinet on "Les feuilles mortes", "King of the Dogs" and "Les feuilles mortes (Marc's Theme)" *Lucie Aimé - vocals on "Je sais que tu sais" ;Technical *Alfred Figueroa, Iggy Pop, Kevin Hupp - additional engineering *

- cover painting "King of the Dogs" contains elements of "King of the Zulus" written by Lillian Hardin Armstrong

Charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Preliminaires Iggy Pop albums 2009 albums Virgin Records albums Michel Houellebecq Music based on novels