Préliminaires

Préliminaires is the fifteenth studio album by American rock singer Iggy Pop, released in Europe on May 25, 2009 by record label Astralwerks, and in the US on June 2. It was inspired by the singer's reading of Michel Houellebecq's novel La Possibilité d'une île (The Possibility of an Island).

Préliminaires
Studio album by
Iggy Pop
ReleasedMay 25, 2009
RecordedEarly 2009 in Miami, Florida and Woodstock, New York, United States
Genre
Length36:19
Label
ProducerHal Cragin
Iggy Pop chronology
A Million in Prizes: The Anthology
(2005)		 Préliminaires
(2009)		 Après
(2012)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic66/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic [3]
Drowned in Sound4/10[4]
The Guardian[5]
NME8/10[6]
Pitchfork5.4/10[7]
Rolling Stone[8]
Spin[9]

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 and Jelly Roll Morton. 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 standard "Les feuilles mortes" (Autumn Leaves), which Iggy sings in French.[10] The song is most associated with such artists as Yves Montand and Édith Piaf. The album also includes "How Insensitive", a jazzy bossa nova standard composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim, and "Nice to Be Dead", more of a swamp rock song.

The visuals for the album were created by French-Iranian graphic novelist and animated film director Marjane Satrapi. 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 called it "definitely the weirdest record of the punk godfather's career".[8]

Reception

The album received a Metacritic score of 66 based on 27 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews.[2]

It debuted at No. 187 on the Billboard 200,[11] 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.[12]

Track listing
  1. "Les feuilles mortes" (music: Joseph Kosma; lyrics: Jacques Prévert) – 3:55
  2. "I Want to Go to the Beach" (Iggy Pop) – 2:53
  3. "King of The Dogs" (Lil Armstrong, Iggy Pop) – 2:02
  4. "Je sais que tu sais" (Lucie Aimé, Hal Cragin, Iggy Pop) – 3:12
  5. "Spanish Coast" (Hal Cragin, Iggy Pop) – 3:59
  6. "Nice to Be Dead" (Hal Cragin, Iggy Pop) – 2:49
  7. "How Insensitive" (Vinicius De Moraes, Ray Gilbert, Antônio Carlos Jobim) – 3:03
  8. "Party Time" (Hal Cragin, Iggy Pop) – 2:08
  9. "He's Dead / She's Alive" (Iggy Pop) – 2:00
  10. "A Machine for Loving" (Hal Cragin, Michel Houellebecq, Iggy Pop; English translation by Gavin Bowd) – 3:16
  11. "She's a Business" (Hal Cragin, Iggy Pop) – 3:11
  12. "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
  • Kevin Hupp - drums, congas
  • 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
  • Marjane Satrapi - cover painting

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

Charts
Chart (2009) Peak
position
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[13] 76
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[14] 39
French Albums Chart[15] 19
Swedish Albums Chart[16] 44
Swiss Albums Chart[17] 48
US Billboard 200[18] 187

References
  1. "Iggy Pop – Préliminaires".
  2. "Preliminaires by Iggy Pop". Metacritic.
  3. Deming, Mark. Préliminaires at AllMusic
  4. "Album Review: Iggy Pop - Préliminaires". Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  5. Simpson, Dave (21 May 2009). "Iggy Pop: Préliminaires". Retrieved 5 October 2016 – via The Guardian.
  6. NME.COM. "Album review: Iggy Pop - 'Preliminaires' - NME.COM". Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  7. "Iggy Pop: Préliminaires Album Review - Pitchfork". Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  8. Dolan, Jon (June 22, 2009). "Iggy Pop Preliminaires Album Review". Rolling Stone.
  9. Spin review Archived 2009-05-20 at the Wayback Machine
  10. "When Iggy Pop met Michel Houellebecq: They were already die-hard fans".
  11. "Billboard 200". Billboard. June 20, 2009.
  12. "Upcoming Releases". Hits Daily Double. HITS Digital Ventures. Archived from the original on February 29, 2016.
  13. "Iggy Pop - Préliminaires". Ultra Top. Hung Medien.
  14. "Iggy Pop - Préliminaires". Ultra Top. Hung Medien.
  15. "Iggy Pop - Préliminaires". lescharts.com. Hung Medien.
  16. "Iggy Pop - Préliminaires". swedishcharts.com. Hung Medien.
  17. "Iggy Pop - Préliminaires". Hitparade.com. Hung Medien.
  18. "Iggy Pop Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
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