Iggy Pop - The Idiot

Electronic Iggy

At a point when punk rock was ready to streak across the pop culture sky, Iggy Pop went electronic in this 1977 comeback collaboration with David Bowie.

Bowie was exploring the world of experimental electronics during this "Berlin" period - he had wanted to work with Kraftwerk, but the band turned down the offer - and Pop was the beneficiary or victim, depending upon the outlook.

The electronic effects do take away some of the performance art punch of Pop's vocals, but are successful in adding additional textures to the funky Sister Midnight and haunting Nightclubbing. Pop soars despite the electronic noodling on China Girl and Funtime, with his keen satire on society in high gear on Mass Production.

Though the "Autobahn" Iggy may not have the same engine performance, he proved that even the most difficult soundscape could not completely stall his raw power.

September 7, 2008

good stuff!

Awsome album! It's quite a bit different from the Stooges & a great variety of musicians play on it too.What can I say -great stuff! May 9, 2008

The Idiot

Iggy Pop-The Idiot ****

It's in there I can feel it! Aside from Studio B, The Idiot is Iggy Pop's most adventerious album, and I think It had to be. It was his first solo record, and first since the demise of one of the true great American bands, The Stooges. The album was produced by fellow trail-blazer and also major fan, the one and only David Bowie. Now many Iggy fans loath Bowie, while many Bowie fans loath Pop. I love both, stick them along side Lou Reed and to me you might as well have the holy trinity of alternative music, and originality. So yeah this really did have to be a different album for Iggy. He couldn't make Raw Power again, he couldn't be Iggy Stooge anymore, he had to find himself again. Always known for his eclectic taste in music ranging from John Coltrane to The Velvet Underground, from The Kinks to Muddy Waters Iggy was a true fan and loved it all and over the coarse of his career would incorporate it all into his music.

I feel two ways about this album. The first is that this is essentialy a David Bowie album released vicariously through the body of Iggy Pop, sounds crazy but listen. It was produced by him, he cowrote every song on the album with Iggy, and would later go on to cover the albums best song, 'China Girl.' The over all sound of the album is very simular to that of David Bowies albums of the time, Station To Station, Low, Heros, The Lodger, and even Scary Monsters later on. The guitar work, which by the way is amazing, is done by Carlos Amor who would play on Bowie's later records. The general feel of the album is Bowie. Not that it is bad because Bowie is by far one of my favorite artists of all time, he owns just about every other artist and style of music for that matter.

Then there is the part of me. This album was hard. When I first bought the album and put it on I thought, "what the heck?" But by the end of the album I got it, I fully understood. This really was Iggy, as much as it could be. He was looking for himself in a drugged out haze of heroin that he and Bowie were both sharing together but would soon kick in Berlin, Germany together. The guitar work on most of the album was not done by just Amor, but by Phil Palmer. The song 'China Girl' while not the big hit it would become for Bowie a few years later is better in it's simplicity found here on The Idiot. The lyrics are classic and among some of the very best poetry ever written. 'Sister Midnight' and 'Nightclubbing' are techno/dance/trance/house before those genres even came to form and were given titles, which is one reason why I love Iggy Pop so much because he is a trail-blazer. 'Fun Time' and Baby' sort of go hand in hand and couldn't be listened to or appreciated with out the other one, the sort of feed of each other. 'Dum Dum Boys' is just one of the very best songs that Iggy Pop ever recorded. A tribute to the ol' boys, you know The Stooges. He would later call one of his bands the Dum Dum Boys, but this song along with 'Tiny Girls' showed of what was to come from Pop on his next record, the legendary Lust For Life. 'Mass Production' closes the album with just that, mass production, and over the top recording done by the king of over the top, David Bowie. Not the strongest track on the album but a nice place to call it quits non-the less.

The Idiot is a classic album in Iggy Pop's cannon as well as David Bowies. This may not be his strongest or best but for fans it is surely essential. February 5, 2008

Read between the lines

Those of us who really know the music of these two artists can consider ourselves very fortunate as this type of collaboration is few and far between. Right time right place!!
July 22, 2007

Two words

Just recently downloaded the hi-quality version. Had been getting by on a vintage vinyl copy since back in the day. Been listening to it again after a lapse of some years and have two words for it. One begins with an F, and the other one is Brilliant. "Dum Dum Boys" is reason enough to buy it. June 9, 2007

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