29th August - Iggy Pop's Lust for Life

Artist – Album: Iggy Pop – Lust for Life

Released:  29^th August 1977

Sounds Like: Choose life

There are many iconic scenes in Danny Boyle’s landmark 1996 film Trainspotting: from Renton’s Eno-soundtracked disgusting toilet dive, to the psychotic Begbie’s one-man-and-his-pool-cue brawl against an entire pub; from the terrifying drug induced roof crawling baby nightmare to the unfortunate kitchen episode with the parents of an underage girl that Renton has slept with. The film’s opener also sticks in the mind, with a young Ewan McGregor as Renton sprinting down Princes Street in Edinburgh, his eyes bulging on adrenaline and, no doubt, heroin. The music backing it is the bouncing, thrill-seeking ‘Lust for Life’, and a more appropriate song for a film there has never been.

In March 1977, Iggy Pop had released not-a-lot-of-fun The Idiot, a glum slow burner questioning rock posturing and detailing the demise of his contemporaries (reviewed what seems like a lifetime ago by yours truly here). Five months later, Pop had clearly laid those ghosts to rest with this nihilistic and rocking album. Things quick off splendidly with the rollicking title track, and this is followed by the aggressive ‘Sixteen’, the decadent ‘Passenger’, the mocking ‘Success’ and the cool ‘Tonight’. Pop was back enjoying life, and it's impossible not to be swept up in the enthusiasm.

As mentioned in its respective blog, The Idiot may well contain Pop’s strongest set of songs, but it’s an album to respect rather than love. Lust for Life, on the other hand, is necessarily primal and brazen, and requires little or no thought at all. As with Trainspotting, it may be visceral and unrefined, but it’s exhilarating and enjoyable, even for those of who would never dream of shooting up.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.       Lust for Life – 5:13

2.       Sixteen – 2:26

3.       Some Weird Sin – 3:42

4.       The Passenger – 4:44

5.       Tonight – 3:39

6.       Success – 4:25

7.       Turn Blue – 6:56

8.       Neighbourhood Threat – 3:25

9.       Fall in Love With Me – 6:30

Listen to ‘Success': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGbw-cz35qo

18th March - Iggy Pop's The Idiot

Artist – Album: Iggy Pop – The Idiot

Released:  18^th 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

Also released on the 18^th March:

1997: Ben Folds Five – Whatever and Ever Amen

Also released on the 18^th March:

2008: Devotchka – A Mad & Faithful Telling