Iggy Pop
Beat Em Up
(Virgin)
He's back . . . louder, dirtier and more furious than ever. Mr Pop returns to his masochistic rock-god form which others have for 30 years imitated but never surpassed. In this gift to the hard rockers exiled by the establishment but refusing to die, he takes back his crown as the king of what-is-left-of-punk rock.
And not before time. His disappointing last effort Avenue B - more melancholy than metal - left fans in fear that the original punk preferred pyjamas to painted-on leather. This effort dispels those anxieties.
Even so, with all manner of rock artillery being fired in a decibel-devastating onslaught, there are no Lust For Lifes, or even Nightclubbings here.
But what the former Stooges frontman does deliver is solid and full-on. It's the stuff of hard-drinking, headbanging dreams and parental nightmares. Tracks with names such as Beat Em Up, It's All Shit, Howl and Go For The Throat score high on the rage-ometer, always of fundamental importance for any self-respecting air guitarist. Get strumming.
