Iggy Pop by rights should be long dead by now, given the rock and roll lifestyle he’s led during near 50 years of pushing his body to the limit in the name of punk, so is the title of Iggy & The Stooges latest album Ready To Die a pretty apt summary as to how Iggy currently feels? And more to the important, do the critics agree with him?

Well, the praise has been cautiously positive though by no means out and out superlative from the press so far. Let’s start with the negative and the Irish Times, which writes “These songs are painfully average, even clichéd at times; Ready to Retire might have been a more accurate title.” It’s kind of crazy that, despite Iggy’s long solo career, this is actually only the fifth album for the proto-punk group, since their ground breaking 1969 album The Stooges. The Guardian comments “Ready to Die becomes really good when he stops trying. It feels an odd thing to say about a Stooges album, but the best moments are the ballads, which have a power and sincerity lacking elsewhere.”

However, Clash Music said “A time-bridging release that stands as an essential and timely reminder of just how rock ‘n’ roll ought to be played” while Rolling Stone comment “Iggy is ... in blunt f*ck-you and just-try-to-kill-me form.”

Iggy Pop

Is Iggy still on form?