Harsh guitar work and awful lyrics, that is quite the frenzy. Iggy Pop marks a return to garage rock not with a bang but with a peculiar, sexually charged track that does little to reward its listeners. Lenience is required for Frenzy, a track that has no hopes of engaging much, with its disappointingly plain lyricisms and its unfortunately neutered sound. Garage rock this is not, it appears Pop and company have prepared a dose of traditional, heavily dubbed rock that explores nothing at all and hopes to coast by on the name value of The Stooges’ former draw. Nice try, Pop. It is unfortunate, but there it is, a disappointing opener to the promotion of Every Loser.
Considering the piece to follow this one up, Strung Out Johnny, the qualities and attitudes taken up by Pop for this latest album are confused to say the least. Frenzy is a rough and rock-ready track that would find itself planted on the radio if it were not for the “Got a dick and two balls” opening line. Fascinating stuff, Iggy lad, thanks for the reminder. He does appear, as he often says, to be “in a frenzy”. That much is thoroughly clear on Frenzy, a peculiar-yet-simple track that depends on at least the sincerity found at the heart of it. Pop, for all his outings and broad genre range, can consider himself an artist who is faithful to his craft and is at least trying new sounds. Not on this track, obviously.
For those new sounds, it is a blessing that Strung Out Johnny exists and appears on the same record. A biographical piece that slowly moves Pop to the forefront of the track. Frenzy feels like a tonal opposite, as if embarrassed of offering up what turned out to be one of the most deeply personal and well-versed tracks to come from Pop this side of the century. Instead of that on Frenzy though, Pop claims, quite feverishly and frequently, that he is “addicted to walls”. Not exactly opiates or Mars bars, but Pop, like everyone else, has his foibles. Walls, though? Pop shows glimmers of that autobiographical charm with “My mind is on fire, when I oughta retire?” although the delivery is lacklustre and the playing that supports Pop is not all that great.
Disarming that opening line may be (and horribly hilarious too), Pop’s first single for his latest album is as disappointing as it is broadly out of step with what the singer is capable of achieving. A cop-out track that will be defended by fans for it shows great range and ability at the tender old age of seventy-five. Bob Dylan is eighty-one and knocked out a sixteen-minute track strapped to an hour-long album. Age has no response to musical quality or integrity, it is the strawman of acceptance – that older musicians gain the respect of an audience solely through existence rather than creation is a worrying misstep, and it will see Frenzy defended, despite the best part of the track being the genuinely bizarre moment that Pop declares he does indeed have a “dick and two balls”. He is sick of the “squeeze”, but he should be sick of the messy wall of sound production scattered through this piece.
