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Before you lay down good money for Instinct, go see His Igness in the flesh. In recent shows, he's dropped the stylish art punk of Blah Blah Blah and regressed to good old Stooges nyah nyah nyah, twisting and bawling with genuine animal madness and chowing down on old bones like "I Wanna Be Your Dog" with renewed relish. As good as Instinct is – it's as close as the drug-free Eighties Iggy has come to revving up the vintage violence – it isn't quite good enough. There's too much bash and not enough slash in Bill Laswell's kill-joy production; he turns the brass-knuckle guitar of ex-Sex Pistol Steve Jones into a standard heavy-metal roar. Iggy, if
Read More anything, is heavy mental – as shown by the frayed rhythms, sawtoothed distortion and lupine howling of Funhouse and Raw Power – and subterranean lovesick blues like "High on You" and "Tuff Baby" could use the extra crackle that they get onstage. Still, it takes more than wrong-minded production to keep a good Ig down. "Easy Rider" rolls over you like a runaway train on a downhill track; "Cold Metal" is five-star teen angst; and "Squarehead" is classic Iggy fuck-you music. See the Pop live and get the real meal. Then get Instinct to go. (RS 535) DAVID FRICKE Keeping ex-Pistols guitarist Steve Jones in tow, Iggy handed the production reins to rock avant-gardist, Bill Laswell for this weirdly retro hard rock release. There are beefy guitar riffs and '70s style "glitter drums" galore but it's all downhill after the opening salvo "I play tag in the auto graveyard." Sadly, Pop seems to be channeling Billy Idol on "High On You. | 
