Just over a year after Iggy Pop announced he was prepping a set of ballads and standards, the proto-punk icon has officially unveiled the covers disc, titled Apres. While he had hoped to have it out by last Christmas, the album, which finds Pop practising his bilingualism, hits retailers May 9.
As previously reported, the set has the singer tackling the Beatles' "Michelle," but also includes tributes to French-language favourites by Edith Piaf ("La Vie En Rose") and Serge Gainsbourg ("La Javanaise").
"I wanted to sing some of these songs myself, hoping to bring the feeling I felt as a listener to my listeners through my voice," Pop explained in a press statement. "Many of these songs are in French, probably because it is French culture which has most stubbornly resisted the mortal attacks of the Anglo-American music machine."
Despite dabbling in a new tongue, Pop also delivers cuts made famous by Frank Sinatra, Harry Nilsson, Yoko Ono and Cole Porter. Seemingly, the most important thing about Apres is that each song has a good beat.
"All popular music forms of today get their strength from the beat," he added, "Rap, hip-hop, metal, pop and rock producers will tell you that the beats they use imitate the human heartbeat and that is where the power lies. I've always loved this other feeling, one that is intimate, sometimes a little sad, and does not try to beat me on the head."
Apres:
1. Et si tu n'existais pas (Joe Dassin)
2. La Javanaise (Serge Gainsbourg)
3. Everybody's Talkin' (Harry Nilsson)
4. I'm Going Away Smiling (Yoko Ono)
5. La vie en Rose (Edith Piaf)
6. Les Passantes (Georges Brassens)
7. Syracuse (Henri Salvador)
8. What Is This Thing Called Love? (Cole Porter)
9. Michelle (The Beatles)
10. Only the Lonely (Frank Sinatra)
As previously reported, the set has the singer tackling the Beatles' "Michelle," but also includes tributes to French-language favourites by Edith Piaf ("La Vie En Rose") and Serge Gainsbourg ("La Javanaise").
"I wanted to sing some of these songs myself, hoping to bring the feeling I felt as a listener to my listeners through my voice," Pop explained in a press statement. "Many of these songs are in French, probably because it is French culture which has most stubbornly resisted the mortal attacks of the Anglo-American music machine."
Despite dabbling in a new tongue, Pop also delivers cuts made famous by Frank Sinatra, Harry Nilsson, Yoko Ono and Cole Porter. Seemingly, the most important thing about Apres is that each song has a good beat.
"All popular music forms of today get their strength from the beat," he added, "Rap, hip-hop, metal, pop and rock producers will tell you that the beats they use imitate the human heartbeat and that is where the power lies. I've always loved this other feeling, one that is intimate, sometimes a little sad, and does not try to beat me on the head."
Apres:
1. Et si tu n'existais pas (Joe Dassin)
2. La Javanaise (Serge Gainsbourg)
3. Everybody's Talkin' (Harry Nilsson)
4. I'm Going Away Smiling (Yoko Ono)
5. La vie en Rose (Edith Piaf)
6. Les Passantes (Georges Brassens)
7. Syracuse (Henri Salvador)
8. What Is This Thing Called Love? (Cole Porter)
9. Michelle (The Beatles)
10. Only the Lonely (Frank Sinatra)
