Après Explained

Après is the sixteenth studio album by American rock singer Iggy Pop.

Background

Consisting partly of covers sung in French,^[1] it was released on 9 May 2012 on Thousand Mile Inc^[2] after the album was rejected by Virgin EMI Records. Pop said his record company would have 'preferred that I do a rock album with popular punks' and that "They didn't think they would make any money, they didn't think my fans would like it - very sensible attitudes for a sensible sort of person - but that's a different sort of person than I am."^[3]

The album has been described as containing ″crooning vocals, Cole Porter covers, soft melodies, and an all-around sense of everything suave″.^[4]

When asked by Bill Flanagan if he had heard any good records lately, Bob Dylan mentioned Après.^[5]

The cover photo is referring to the figure La Conscience played by Iggy Pop in the French movie L'Étoile du jour (Morning Star) by Sophie Blondy.

Personnel

Adapted from Discogs.^[6]

• Iggy Pop – vocals
• Hal Cragin – guitar (tracks 1–9), bass guitar, piano (tracks 3–5, 7, 8), vocals (track 9)
• Steven Ulrich – electric guitar (tracks 1, 2)
• Danny Blume – acoustic guitar (tracks 1, 2), electric guitar (track 9)
• Jerry Zaslavsky – organ (tracks 1, 2)
• Jon Cowherd – piano (track 10)
• Ben Perowsky (tracks 5, 9), Jerry Marotta (tracks 4, 7), Kevin Hupp (tracks 1–3) – drums, percussion
• Jainardo Batista – percussion (tracks 1, 2)
• Aaron Halva – tres guitar (tracks 1, 2)
• Lucie Aimé (tracks 1, 5), Sarah Fimm (tracks 1, 2, 9) – backing vocals
• Tim Ouimette – horn arrangements (tracks 5, 8), horns (track 5), trombone (track 8)
• Lulu Gainsbourg – horn arrangement (track 2)

Technical

• Hal Cragin – producer, engineer, mixing
• Andy Tommasi – additional production, engineer
• Guillaume le Grontec, Sophie Blondy – photography

Notes and References

1. Web site: Iggy Pop Announces Album of Mostly French Covers . 23 April 2012 . Rollingstone.com . 28 April 2012.
2. Web site: Iggy Pop vydá album s coververzemi . Jaroslav Špulák . 25 April 2012 . 28 April 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150924091840/http://www.rockandpop.cz/zpravy/zahranicni/iggy-pop-vyda-album-s-coververzemi/ . 24 September 2015 . dead .
3. News: Iggy Pop album shuns 'humiliating' record labels . 10 May 2012 . . 4 January 2015.
4. Web site: Iggy Pop: Après Album Review . Maren McGlashan . 22 June 2012 . Louderthanwar.com . 4 January 2015.
5. Web site: Q&A with Bill Flanagan | The Official Bob Dylan Site. Bobdylan.com. 19 December 2021.
6. Web site: Iggy Pop – Après (2012, Digisleeve, CD). 19 December 2021. Discogs.com.