Iggy Pop

Skull Ring is Iggy Pop's best record in a while, which is kind of like saying the McDonald's drive-through went a little quicker today. It's generally assumed that Iggy's solo records bear two or three good tunes and that his main contribution is proof that Dionysian figures exist. It's pointless to suggest that Iggy need do anything more.

Skull Ring's most interesting material is stuck at the end. There's a sly rocker, "Blood on My Cool," a warped flush of backwoods blues and political poetry of the kind Iggy did on the strange Avenue B record a couple of years ago -- strange, but more affecting and honest than this stab at a garage-punk-revival slapback. When you are the undisputed king of the punk-rock throne, shit or get off the pot.