American Caesar (album)
American Caesar is the tenth studio album by American rock singer Iggy Pop, released in September 1993 by record label Virgin.
American Caesar | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | September 1993 | |||
Recorded | October 1992-February 1993 | |||
Studio | Kingsway Studio, New Orleans and Bearsville Studios, New York, United States | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 71:32 | |||
Label | Virgin | |||
Producer | Malcolm Burn | |||
Iggy Pop chronology | ||||
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Production
After the success of Brick by Brick, Pop opted to continue with that album's lyrical themes while toughening up the musical foundation. The album is often considered one of his stronger 1990s albums.
Videos were made for "Wild America" and "Beside You", and the album has a cover of the 1960s standard "Louie Louie" (made famous by The Kingsmen) for which Pop wrote his own set of politically fueled lyrics.
Release
The first single from the album, "Wild America", reached number 25 on Modern Rock Tracks on October 16 1993, spending a total of three weeks in the charts.[3] The album was not as commercially successful as its predecessor.
Musical style
In allusion to the sound of American Ceasar, Stephen Thomas Erlewine proclaimed the record a "grungy detour".[2]
Critical reception
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | |
The Independent | (favourable)[5] |
Rolling Stone |
In a retrospective review, Mark Demming of AllMusic called the album "an overlooked masterpiece."[4]
Track listing
All tracks composed by Iggy Pop, except where noted.
- "Character" (Pop, Eric Schermerhorn) – 1:07
- "Wild America" (Pop, Schermerhorn) – 5:52
- "Mixin' the Colors" – 4:49
- "Jealousy" – 6:04
- "Hate" – 6:56
- "It's Our Love" – 4:09
- "Plastic & Concrete" – 2:55
- "Fuckin' Alone" (Pop, Eric Schermerhorn) – 4:56
- "Highway Song" – 3:44
- "Beside You" (Steve Jones, Pop) – 4:29
- "Sickness" – 3:15
- "Boogie Boy" – 4:53
- "Perforation Problems" – 3:15
- "Social Life" – 4:12
- "Louie Louie" (Richard Berry) – 3:47
- "Caesar" (Pop, Eric Schermerhorn) – 7:09
- "Girls of N.Y." – 4:15
B-sides and alternate versions
- "Les Amants" (featuring Les Rita Mitsouko; B-Side to "Beside You" single) - 5:16
- "Louie Louie" (Live; B-Side to "Beside You" single) - 5:32
- "Beside You" (Acoustic version; B-Side to "Beside You" single) - 3:52
- "Evil California" (featuring Annie Ross & The Low Note Quintet; B-Side to "Beside You" single)
- "Home" (Live at the Feile Festival Summer 1993; B-Side to "Beside You" single) - 4:10
- "Mixin' The Colours" (Spanish version; B-Side to "Louie Louie" single) - 4:10
- "Wild America" (Radio edit)
- "Credit Card" (B-Side to "Wild America" single) - 2:25
- "Come Back Tomorrow" (B-Side to "Wild America" single) - 5:08
- "My Angel" (B-Side to "Wild America" single) - 4:10
Personnel
- Iggy Pop - guitar, vocals
- Eric Schermerhorn - guitar
- Malcolm Burn - guitar, keyboards, harmonica
- Hal Cragin - bass
- Larry Mullins - drums, percussion
- Jay Joyce - guitar on "Wild America" & "Mixin' The Colours"
- Bill Dillon - "atmospheric" guitar on "Mixin' The Colours"
- Darryl Johnson - percussion on "Mixin' The Colours"
- Henry Rollins - backing vocals on "Wild America"
- Katell Keineg - backing vocals on "Mixin' The Colours"
- Lisa Germano - backing vocals on "Beside You"
- Technical
- Mark Howard - recording
- Trina Shoemaker - engineer
- Todd Vos - engineer
Paul Mahern - engineer
Certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
France (SNEP)[7] | none | 81,000 [8]* |
*sales figures based on certification alone |
References
- American Caesar at AllMusic
- Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Avenue B Iggy Pop | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
- "Iggy Pop - Wild America". Billboard.
- Demming, Mark. "Iggy Pop: American Caesar". allmusic.com. Allmusic.
- Gill, Andy (September 16, 1993). "ALBUMS / Return of the vox Pop: Andy Gill on Iggy Pop and the week's new releases". newsbank.com. The Independent. p. 31.
- {{cite journal |last=Kemp |first=Mark |date=July 17, 1997 |title=American Caesar review |magazine=Rolling Stone
- "French album certifications – Iggy Pop – American Caesar" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
- http://www.infodisc.fr/Ventes_Albums_Tout_Temps.php?debut=5450
External links
- American Caesar at Discogs (list of releases)