Now that he’s gotten that surreal American Idol performance out of the way, Iggy Pop’s schedule is wide open for a pair of future studio releases that couldn’t be much more stylistically different: the first being a follow-up to 2009’s soft, jazz-inspired LP, Préliminaires, followed by a new Stooges record — the band’s first studio effort since the passing of guitarist Ron Asheton and reunion with Raw Power axeman James Williamson.
As the Guardian reports, the former album will showcase Pop’s Serge Gainsbourg-esque baritone on soft-rock covers of “American and French … classic tunes,” such as Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talking,” the Beatles’ “Michelle,” and songs by Gainsbourg himself. That Hal Cragin-produced set is due this winter. Meanwhile, Williamson and Pop have begun work on new Stooges material for a possible release in 2012 or the following year. Pop described their latest material as “halfway between [1973’s] Raw Power and [1977’s] Kill City,” adding, “Maybe some of them need to be more complete or some of them need to be forgotten, and then some of them… just flow right along.”
Earlier this month, the Stooges performed a tribute concert for their late guitarist in Ann Arbor, Michigan. You can watch our favorite 64-year-old punk icon lead the band through “T.V. Eye” and “I’m Loose” below: