Customer Reviews

American Caesar

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Why am I afraid, why am I afraid," Iggy pleads amid the torn maelstrom of sound that is "Hate," easily one of his most distinctive compositions. These songs -- powerfully written and sincerely performed -- are the best Iggy has put to tape since his time with The Stooges. The brilliant Malcom Burn, whose other projects with such acts as Emmylou Harris would suggest that he is the last person expected to work with Iggy Pop, astonishes with the deft hand he displays throughout this masterpiece. Song by song, Burn and Iggy construct a sonic document that echoes not only one man's personal hell, but the true torments of the common man. Like Dylan's equally riveting "Time Out of Mind," "American Caesar" so skillfully walks the line between the private and the public that its harrowing disclosures eliminate that boundary in favor of a lyrical and musical accessibility. More surprisingly, this is done without any compromise of authenticity. From its burst of manic divinity in "Highway Song" and "Boogie Boy" to those softer audible ghosts, "Jealousy" and "F-in' Alone," "American Caesar" solidifies Iggy Pop as one of the most original voices ever to emerge from the American rock scene. While some tracks are more interesting than others, not a single one of them fails to capture the listener's attention. Only the unnecessary cover of "Louie Louie" fails to contribute anything of further value to the album's incredibly varied grab-bag of emotions, moods and confessions. Simply put, Iggy never approached this kind of vulnerability before or after "American Caesar," and the album belongs on every all-time best rock albums list. While I understand that we all come from different musical backgrounds and aesthetical tastes, I have to say that, in this case, rock fans who fail to comprehend this album's flawlessness and power are either not listening or need to check themselves for a pulse.

"Brick By Brick" brought a hard-edged, but highly-polished Iggy. With American Caesar, Iggy gets deliciously raunchy again. Some of my favorite titles on this include "Wild America," a typical Iggy-style anthem to hedonism that does its best to castigate the thug mentality in some circles of music when he chants "Exterminate the brutes!"

"Mixing the Colors" is a deliciously mellow trance-like blues heavy beat tune extolling interracial relationships in the face of prudish Americans and racial separatists. And the "Highway Song" is just one happy tune that calls me back to the days of standing at the edge of the road with my thumb out in that classic Lennon-type posture of "Oh that magic feeling, nowhere to go."

"Boogie Boy" is quintessential Iggy in all his gyrating and jumping glory, with "Perforation Problems" providing a matter-of-fact comment on the inherrent apathy of drug addiction. And what makes us torture ourselves so much over all this? It's the G--D----- "Social Life"!

With all the pop formula out there providing an incessant flow of musical pablum for the masses, it's so refreshing to hear artists like Iggy Pop who are just as in-your-face today as they were when their careers were launched 30 years ago.

Iggy Pop has some of the hardest hitting rock. He can be angry, funny and cynical all at the same time. This album is one of his best.

Rock music does not get much more sincere then American Caesar! This album has each track centered around the most important instrument of rock, the electric guitar. If you didn't think twice, you may think you're listening to an old Stooges album. Each track has that same sincerity and passion that The Stooges albums did. After trying to run from his reputation with The Stooges by self-exile in Berlin, Pop returns to his musical roots with American Caesar. You never know where Iggy will turn to next. This time Iggy turned to the past for answers. And he found them in all the right places. Every track is a great piece of music. But my personal favorites would have to be "Mixin' The Colors", "Wild America", "Highway Song", "Plastic & Concrete", and "F___in' Alone".

The last solid solo effort by "The Godfather of Punk," the September 1993 release has 17 songs and clocks in at nearly 72 minutes, which fittingly is around the time that Iggy Pop would log on stage as the headlining act.

Wild America is not Pop taking a satirical jab at society; the lyrics are pointed, indicting and brutal. The album smacks into emotions from a guy who has lived in the shadows - Jealousy, Hate, Sickness, Social Life, Perforation Problems - and has crawled out barely alive.

Louie Louie is a concert mainstay, but Pop's performance art has a jagged edge that gets sharper through each number. Not for the feint of heart, Pop is the drum major in a band for tortured souls.

Decent 1993 effort by the Igster. Follow-up to his 'Brick By Brick' disc. This is actually my first time I've ever heard this CD. Notice it's dark, loud and heavy - which of course I liked. Tunes here I was most impressed with was "Wild America", "Mixing The Colors", the rocker "Plastic & Concrete", his tribute (I assume) to teenage sexual frustration "F**kin' Alone" and the old Kingsmen nugget "Louie Louie". Not his best cover I've heard him do.

This is considered one of Iggy Pop's greatest solo albums, and while initially I shy away from that claim, the more I think about it "they" might be right. Certainly this is Iggy's most successful balls-out rock and roll record since SOLDIER, if not LUST FOR LIFE. Most of his other albums in between have been either experimental pieces (THE IDIOT, ZOMBIE BIRDHOUSE), failed attempts at rocking out (SOLDIER, INSTINCT), and even weirder failed attempts at a pop crossover (PARTY, BLAH BLAH BLAH). Even his critical comeback album BRICK BY BRICK wasn't a straightforward rocker, but rather an "event album" with lots of guest stars and studied performances, the kind of thing Clive Davis at Arista Records specialized in during the late 90's. This album was something that Iggy hadn't done in a very long time: walked into a studio with a great band and a great set of songs, and bashed them out quickly and simply.

This wouldn't have worked any better than INSTINCT if the songs weren't some of the strongest of his career, but fortunately he's got some real winners here. After a strange ominous opening, "Wild America" kicks the album into gear with snarling guitars and an even more snarling Iggy. The album doesn't rely solely on bile or distortion: "Mixin' the Colors" is a downbeat number with a great melody and some nice duet vocals on the chorus, and "Jealousy" is even more low-key and pretty. But the rockers do define the record, and songs like "Hate", "Plastic and Concrete" and "Sickness" are some of the best aggressive songs Iggy's made since "Cold Metal", and they have much more depth and nuance than that somewhat lunkheaded classic.

The two songs that got the most attention on this record when it was initially released are the snarky cover of the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie", which is on par with the old Stooges version from METALLIC K.O., and has some fun new lyrics from Iggy, and the title track (actually half a title track) "Caesar", a disjointed number over seven minutes in length that might be his most successful experimental track since THE IDIOT. So yeah, while I wouldn't specifically call this Iggy Pop's best solo album, it's definitely in his top five, and maybe even his top three. Nicely done, Iggy.

American Caesar being Iggy Pop's 1993 album and contained the hit single "Wild America". Other great tracks are Iggy Pop's cover of "Louie Louie", "Beside You" and "Highway Song". I like Iggy Pop alot since he is an artist that goes against the grain and is a one of a kind. The booklet is straight forward and contains all the lyrics and also has a list of whom plays what on the album. 4/5.

This is Iggy's best album as a solo artist in my opinion. This album brings together elements of the old stooges sound along with a mix from albums such as lust for life. All in all its an album that has darker feel and the title "american caesar" seems to fit so well.

Recorded in New Orleans, "American Caesar" is swampy and dark without sacrificing the audio quality too much. The grungy music is tough and seemingly very loose as Iggy and the band freely ramble without regard in many instances. The occassional accoustic guitar and dreamy production keeps things from getting too ugly, as the songs mostly shift from hard rock to well...hard folk. Leaving behind the goofy camp of the 80s, Iggy perhaps more accurately comes across as observant and world weary. Seemingly dealing with personal alienation in a crumbling American society, Iggy's lyrics find common ground between intelligent pondering and the more primitive language of hard rock. While he never captures the life or death urgency of his manic glory days, Iggy comes across as a convincing old crooner that can still get up and move with the best of them. The album also markes one of the few times where Iggy managed to mature and "act his age" while maintaining an exciting edge to his work.

The noisey swagger of "Wild America" sets the tone as Iggy describes an apparent sex romp with hints of boredom and impending doom. The accoustic "Jealousy" builds with very bad intentions while the grunge powerhouse "Hate" teeters and crumbles as Iggy howls and wails about being afraid. The catchy blues rock of "Mixing the Colors" describes America's increasingly melting pot culture. The edgy folk rocker "F**king Alone" is seriously one of the best solo songs Iggy has ever wrote with groovy almost hip hop verses that give way to vunerable longing and self loathing. The tragically romantic (should have been a pop hit single) "Beside You" climaxes the collection with inspiring bittersweet bliss. Outside of the wonderfully wierd performance art piece "Caesar," the last few songs are hard to get through. They are not bad, they just don't offer anything new and "Louie, Louie" stands out like a sore thumb. Though this is a masterpiece that outstays its welcome, the first ten songs are so rank among Iggy's best solo work ever and for at least one moment he was the diginfied solo artist we were always hoping he would become. So how did he follow up this promising statement of maturity, "Naughite Little Doggie".......