Artist – Album: Iggy Pop – The Idiot
Released: 18th
March 1977
Sounds Like: Not quite Iggy but still great.
This may not be your typical Iggy fare, but The Idiot may
just be his finest hour. If the violent spit-in-your-face music of his previous
work with The Stooges went some way to laying the foundations for punk, this is
the precursor to the goth rock of the likes of Joy Division, Siouxsie and the
Banshees and Depeche Mode.
‘Nightclubbing’ celebrates
hedonism as well as his hit single ‘Lust
for Life’, only instead of pounding drums and rocking guitars, it’s all
humming synths and slow tempo. ‘Dum Dum
Boys’ is an affectionate tribute to his old bandmates, way at odds with its
insensitive moniker. His take on ‘China
Girl’ is far more uneasy then Bowie’s sparkly pop version, and all the more
appropriate to the lyrics of unrequited love.
Personally, I’m not entirely sure where I sit on this softer
side of Pop. Being the brainchild not only of the fatigued and Stooge-less
Iggy, but also Berlin era Bowie – this was released between Station to Station
and Low – means that it feels drugged and removed, a difficult thing to really fall
for. The songs are definitely strong, and I’d go as far to say that
collectively they’re better than the previously reviewed Stooges album Raw
Power, but that record just excited me more. I could put up with the weaker
tracks to listen to a song as incredible as ‘Search and Destroy’, a high nothing here attains.
As I said earlier, it’s not your typical Iggy fare, and it
may just be his finest hour. But then it may not. You decide!
Albumaday... rating:
8/10
1. Sister
Midnight – 4:19
2. Nightclubbing
– 4:14
3. Funtime
– 2:54
4. Baby
– 3:24
5. China
Girl – 5:08
6. Dum
Dum Boys – 7:12
7. Tiny
Girls – 2:59
8. Mass
Production – 8:24
Listen to ‘China Girl’:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BBAEUOOFKQ
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Also released on the 18th March:
1997: Ben Folds Five – Whatever and Ever Amen
|
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Also released on the 18th March:
2008: Devotchka – A Mad & Faithful Telling
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