TRACK REVIEW: Iggy Pop - Dirty Sanchez

TRACK REVIEW:

Iggy Pop

PHOTO CREDIT: Andreas Neumann

Dirty Sanchez

9.3/10

The track, Dirty Sanchez, is available via:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PABH33BqZrc

GENRES:

Proto-Punk/Art-Rock/Jazz

ORIGIN:

Michigan, U.S.A.

The album, Free, is available here:

https://iggypopofficial.lnk.to/FreeWE/officialartiststore

RELEASE DATE:

6th September, 2019

LABEL:

Thousand Mile Inc.

__________

I want to cover a number of things…

when it comes to this review. I have been thinking a lot about artists for whom music is their real outlet; the reason they are here and what drives them. That is definitely true when we consider the legendary Iggy Pop. I also want to address stamina and artists like Pop who have been in the industry for years; those who show no signs of slowing and are making some of their most interesting work now. I also will allude to artists changing sounds and keeping things fresh; music that has a hugely powerful effect on us and is so different to what is around at the moment – I will end by suggesting what is next for Iggy Pop and where the master might step next. We all take a little while to figure out what we should be doing and where we need to be in life. For me, I was sort of switching back and forth between various careers and options. After university, it took me a little while to move into music journalism but, looking back, it seems like it was the only route. Radio and production/presenting is where I want to be but, as I get older, I wonder how realistic that option will be. In any case, music is the place where I feel safest and happiest and, for that reason, I have spent years trying to give back to the industry. Iggy Pop’s awakening and realisation came from a fairly young age. I guess, when you have a voice like his – those bourbon-rich and deep tones that sound utterly compelling –, you have options what you can do. I could imagine Iggy Pop leading the U.S. or working in film; maybe he could have been anything. When you apply his voice and passion to music then you have that perfect fit. He has been in the game for decades and one cannot see the man calling it time until mortality says so.

PHOTO CREDIT: Third Man Books

In this fascinating BBC interview, Pop talked about his start and getting into music:

"You know, I finally got the voice that I was supposed to have in some senses. When I was 21, I was in love with a girl from Cleveland and we actually got married for a couple of weeks," he explains.

"I had just put out the first Stooges album and I met her dad, he was a big shot in business. He said, 'Well, meeting and listening to you talk I guess you probably sing like Neil Diamond right?'

"I've since learned a lot of respect for Neil but at that time, you don't tell Iggy Pop that he sounds like Neil Diamond. But on the other hand, a part of me was thinking, 'Damn, if I sang like Neil Diamond, I'd have a lot more money you know'".

Iggy Pop dropped into BBC Radio 6 Music earlier this week and, whilst promoting his new album, Free, he talked about his career and path. There is such gravitas in his voice; a command and reputation that means people are spellbound and hooked. I can imagine the young Iggy Pop rifling through records and discovering all these neat and different artists. Maybe the music of The Stooges is more intense and inflamed than what he is putting out now but, look back at the sheer range and diversity of his work and you have an artist who is among the very finest ever. You see artists come through now and you can see they want to make it and have that spark but you wonder how deep that commitment is. Are they really looking decades ahead and have a plan? It is hard to navigate and survive in a competitive industry but, for Iggy Pop, there is nothing else for him. Music is what drives him and swims in his blood. I have been following his work with The Stooges and his time working with David Bowie. Whatever he does and no matter where he goes, Pop is intoxicated by music’s emotions, possibilities and pleasures. You can hear his love, soul and curiosity run riot through Free: an album that is as assured and memorable as any he has ever made. I mentioned how, sound-wise, Pop is a little calmer than he was back in the 1970s. I feel the Iggy Pop we have now is a more interesting and deep artist than we had back then – controversial, perhaps, but Pop is an artist who, like wine, improves with age!

PHOTO CREDIT: Rob Baker Ashton

I have discussed Iggy Pop’s start and the fact that he was born to conquer the music world. I was recently writing about icons like Pop and that they are of a ‘certain age’. It is not meant to be insulting but plainly stating fact: artists like Pop and Paul McCartney have been around for a long time and we have to accept the fact that, one day, these people will be gone. That does sound grim but there seems to be this band of brilliant artists who are still around and have been playing and plugging for decades. What also amazes me about these decades-serving artists is their stamina and commitment. I see artists today who are around for a couple of years and then call it quits. It is, perhaps, harder to succeed and get recognised now than it has ever been and, because of that, I wonder whether we will see artists endure for long and whether the notion of an ‘icon’ is a thing of the past? Iggy Pop is definitely providing inspiration to those who want to keep playing and affecting people for years. Look at the man and, sure, he is in great shape, but he also is strong of voice. He is not weary and looking to the end: instead, he is passionate about everything and excited to see what the future holds. Maybe this has something to do with a change of lifestyle – I will get to that in a bit – and how his career has shifted. The older Iggy Pop is as energetic, pumped and wonderful as always. In this interview with The Times, Pop talks about his life now and actually raises an interesting point about Rock music today:

“Instead he’s still making records, still on the road, doing five-hour exercise routines to get through his famously febrile live performances. A concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2016, when he all but attacked the audience with a ferocity belying his 69 years, has gone down as one of the greatest shows in rock history. But the gigs are getting fewer and farther between. It makes you wonder how much longer he can keep going — and how many more years there are in rock’n’roll itself.

“Rock music can only carry on now in the context of other, related cultural activities. Women have come forward now and some of the rock girls are getting support from the big fashion houses,” he says, thinking of the frontwomen of the punk bands Amyl and the Sniffers and Surfbort modelling for Gucci. “But it won’t ever again reach the ridiculous pinnacle of big lights! Big stadium! Big music! For rock, that’s gone. All that is for the hippety-hops. It is their time now”.

There are a few really great interviews out there right now with Iggy Pop so, when it came to selecting passages to quote, it was tricky to decide which to highlight. I would urge people to read these interviews in-full because they are illuminating and fascinating. I think Iggy Pop is going to be making music for a very long time because he has calmed down a bit. Once was this wild artists who lived to excess and enjoyed all the benefits of fame and focus. Now, one can hear someone who has seen and experienced a lot but is more focused on the purity and beauty of music than blowing the roof off of venues and creating a scene. Pop is still a thrilling live performer but his music now is so reflective, thoughtful and, yes, cheeky! There are a select group of artists who have been around as long as Pop and actually seem to get better with time: we can all learn something from this musical titan. According to this feature from The New Yorker, Pop is a man focused on health and happiness:

“Pop wakes up early these days—by 6 a.m. or so—and his only significant indulgence is a few glasses of wine in the evening, usually with dinner. If he is touring, his preshow ritual takes eight or nine hours. “I wake up, cup of coffee, stay in bed, clear my mind, don’t think about the show,” he said. “I’m not going to talk to anybody about anything. Three hours before, I lie down on the floor and do something called wu chi breathing, where I breathe very deep into my gut for almost a half hour. I’m a little high, but not dizzy, and my voice has widened.

He is not currently considering retirement: “I always wonder, if I stopped doing music, would I really start drinking tea instead of coffee, and, you know, brush my teeth more, and all that? Or would I become, like, an alcoholic depressive?” Though his recent work might suggest that he is entering a more contemplative period, he is confident that whatever wildness exists inside him is intact. “Don’t tell me that I can’t strip off my shirt and go make a big primitive noise,” he said”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Ryan McGinley for The New York Times

Look at early albums from The Stooges such as Fun House (1970) and Raw Power (1973) and solo albums such as The Idiot (1977) and Lust for Life (1977) and mark them against Post Pop Depression (2016) and Free. Post Pop Depression talked about sex and death and, whilst that is not new to the Pop cannon, the angle is. If a younger man talks about death as this far-off thing and challenge, almost, then Pop now is looking at mortality in a different way. Every Iggy Pop album is about him and his soul. Even if he is playing with other artists (Josh Homme joined him on Post Pop Depression) then you still gravitate towards Pop. It would be insulting and stereotypical to suggest older artists are more concerned with comfort and safer subjects than stirring the pot and ruffling feathers. Pop is still a truly electric live performer but I think his work now is, as I suggested, deeper and more interesting than his classic albums. On Free, there are meditations and ponderings that get under the skin and move you. I think Free is one of the most organic and natural albums Pop has ever released. The songs sound completely engrossing and there is an interesting thing Pop said about Free: that it was a record where he let others speak for him. I have talked about Iggy Pop and how he dominates every album but, perhaps, between Post Pop Depression and Free, there was this sense of change and transition that created some uncertainty and anxiety. Here, in this feature from DIY, Pop went into more detail:

“This is an album in which other artists speak for me, but I lend my voice…” Iggy explains. “By the end of the tours following ‘Post Pop Depression’, I felt sure that I had rid myself of the problem of chronic insecurity that had dogged my life and career for too long. But I also felt drained. And I felt like I wanted to put on shades, turn my back, and walk away. I wanted to be free. I know that’s an illusion, and that freedom is only something you feel, but I have lived my life thus far in the belief that that feeling is all that is worth pursuing; all that you need – not happiness or love necessarily, but the feeling of being free. So this album just kind of happened to me, and I let it happen”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Andreas Neumann

Iggy Pop is always going to be in the spotlight because he keeps changing and moving forward. There are a lot of artists who tend to stick with the same formula and do not stretch themselves. I can understand why popular artists keep that formula intact but the most interesting and enduring are those who are changeable and adapt. Iggy Pop could well continue his Stooges sound and repeat what came before but Free is the sign of a man who sounds completely inspired and fascinated by what is happening around him. Maybe it is because the world is divided and we are all feeling a bit isolated that Pop has picked up on this and combatted these feelings with an album that takes you somewhere special. I can understand why modern artists want to address politics and modern life with a sense of anger and outrage but, against this arsenal of rage, we need music that keeps is safe and gives us a sense of nourishment. I am selling Free short but you need to listen to all the tracks and the sheer variation on offer. I have selected Dirty Sanchez for consideration because I have not seen anyone review it but, to be fair, every album on Free is magnificent. I love how deep Free digs and the sense of beauty on display. It is almost too difficult to put things into words (clearly!) but Free is the sound of Iggy Pop at a new peak. You listen to the album and it stays in your head. I have heard a lot of great albums in 2019 but there are still too many (albums) that are too slight and brief. You might spin it once or twice and that is it: after the songs have settled, they go out of the head and that is that! With Pop, his latest album is as nuanced and long-lasting as anything around. One can feel the sheer meaning and importance of every song. It is an amazing work and one that is gaining a lot of great reviews – although some have been rather short-sighted and dismissive. I shall end things here because I am keen to talk about Dirty Sanchez and a song that, like everything on Free, has its own skin, feel and personality.

PHOTO CREDIT: GUZMAN

The opening to Dirty Sanchez, in a way, makes me think of Miles Davis and his album, Sketches of Spain. It is certainly an epic opener and one many people are not expecting! If you had to describe Iggy Pop’s music then Jazz and Hispanic influence might not be high up the list! The introduction broods and brews; it swoons and glides and has this deeply romantic edge to it. Before anything is said and you get a chance to hear Pop, you dive into the music and everything it suggests. Such is the wonder and tenderness of the horns; the rumble you get from the bass and the scenes projected…you are sort of carried away and hypnotised. It is a fantastic start to the track and sort of shows what I mean regarding Pop’s changing template and how he keeps moving forward. A lot of the album reflects on the weariness of post-tour life and how the energy levels are sapped. In a way, the introduction gives the impression of calm and settling after a turbulent time. You picture Pop taking in the environment and watching the sun set. It is a gorgeous and sweeping sound that gets into the head and calms the spirits. When words do arrive, they contrast the elegance and passion of the introduction – things are sharper and more spiked than before. The lyrics definitely intrigue me. “Don’t tell me I’m the benefit (Don’t tell me I’m the benefit” start things off and couple with “Of being a conscious idiot (Of being a conscious idiot)”. One wonders where that thought stemmed from and whether there is a political aspect. Pop talks about there being more slaves today than there were yesterday; him shooting himself in the knee and there being this feeling of exasperation and despair. There is a call-and-response aspect to the song (I am not sure who sings the other part of whether it is Pop singing to himself) that gives Dirty Sanchez gravitas and a really interesting angle.

PHOTO CREDIT: Rob Baker Ashton

I have not heard Pop sing quite like this before and I was really involved with the song from the off. The title is a sort of red herring but I wonder whether it refers to the prank outfit, Dirty Sanchez – maybe the feeling modern politics is a joke and someone is winding us up! One feels there is this fatigue and annoyance that Pop cannot ignore. I have seen some reviews for Free and Dirty Sanchez is one of the more divisive tracks. I have talked a lot about Free being a more mature and immersive album than previous works: Dirty Sanchez sounds closer to Pop’s earlier work than anything else. Compare a song like this to something like James Bond and you can hear a very different tone and feel – Pop showing he is a man of many different roles. After that beguiling and Davis-esque introduction, the song becomes a lot more firm and, well, explicit. This is a moment where Pop keeps a sense of Punk and rude awakening alive; a track that proves how diverse and eclectic his music is. He talks about someone grabbing their whip like they grab their heels; online porn and sexual preferences. I chose this song to review because, rather than it being an overt and unsubtle talk about sex, it is a commentary on commercialism and capitalism. It has political connotations and draws us back to Pop’s past world. I think a lot of Free is Iggy Pop pondering on the nature of existence and embracing something more philosophical and spiritual. Here, on one of the most memorable tracks, Pop turns the wick up! Drums roll and there is this heavy sound that is a world away from a lot of Free’s most beautiful moments. Whilst Dirty Sanchez is not my favourite track on Free (I think Sonali is the finest), I wanted to highlight it to show just how Pop works now. He is not, as I have said, someone who stands still and repeats himself. Free has so many different colours and tales; one needs to give the album several spins before everything starts to sink in and unfurl. Dirty Sanchez is the old master keeping his tongue firmly in cheek but conveying an important message in the process. Whilst the song will not get a lot of airplay (not during the day at least!), it is a moment that seems to reflect where we are now and how the world is being run. It is rude and crude; it has beauty and passion and it shows that Pop is as engaging and focus-worthy as he has ever been. I would recommend people explore everything on Free but I wanted to highlight Dirty Sanchez. It is a strange beast of a track and that is why I love it. Whereas other songs on the album are more straight and accessible, this has a bit of edge and spit. From that beautiful opening to the image of Iggy Pop talking about sex as a metaphor for modern politics and greed, you have to take your hat off to him! It goes to show that, this far down the line, this icon cannot be slowed or predicted.

IMAGE CREDIT: Fubiz Media

There are too many dates coming up at the moment for Pop…but one suspect that, with a huge album out, there will be more added. You can keep abreast of all the happenings for Iggy Pop on the links below and, looking ahead, where is he going to go? I know there will be more tour dates and one can get the chance to see Pop do his thing! In fact, the Godfather of Punk is going to be playing a special set at London’s legendary Maida Vale Studios. You can see here how to take part but that will be something special! I feel Pop is at a stage of life where he is very settled and optimistic. He has as much energy and commitment as he did back at the start and one hopes there are many more albums coming from him. I shall end things soon but, if you are fairly new to Iggy Pop’s music, I suggest you go right back and check out the stuff he did with The Stooges. Listening to those albums now is exhilarating but imagine how people must have felt when they heard that eponymous album back in 1969! Since then, we have seen this amazing figure give the world some of the most acclaimed and incredible music ever. Even in his seventies, Pop shows no signs that he wants to quit and rest up. Music is as important to him, one suspect, as anything else and gives him a sense of meaning. He has inspired artists for generations and who knows how many musicians have Pop to thank for getting them into the industry?! It is amazing to think how just how far Pop’s influence and command reaches. Listen to Free and experience an album that is hugely immersive and stunning. It is one of my favourite albums of 2019 and I am so pleased people are connecting with Free. Let’s wrap things up now because, as you can see, I have gone on for a bit! There are a lot of music icons still with us but, to me, there is…