Thanks Goof!
And now...
Title: The Idiot
Artiste: Iggy Pop
Genre: Art Rock
Familiarity: I know the odd Iggy track, but nothing like most people here know him.
1. Sister Midnight: I've read up on this album and I see that it's not the wild, crazy punk rock of The Stooges, which pleases me no end of course. Likened to and linked to Bowie's “Berlin trilogy”, particularly “Low”, it seems to offer a more restrained Iggy, with ambient and electronic influences. Sounds like it could be interesting. Okay, you can hear the Bowie influence in this right away. Quite funky, soul infused. Great bass, courtesy of Bowie's regular bass player, George Murray. Not mad about it but I don't hate it. It's catchy but very repetitive.
2. Night clubbing: Slower, kind of sleazy feel to it with some good guitar. Again the bass is great. Lot of blues in it too. The vocal is mostly spoken though.
3. Funtime: Like the overall feel of this. Good mix of electronic and rock guitar in it. The ending is awful though.
4. Baby: Is Bowie singing on this one? Or does Iggy just sound very like him? Pretty decent song too. Nothing really doing it for me yet though. Nice synth work.
5. China girl: Well now I know this of course, but the Bowie version is far better. Given that, it's not a bad version, and of the tracks here definitely my favourite so far.
6. Dum dum boys: Harder rock on this one, reminds me in places of “Keychain” by Rory Gallagher. Bit too long though.
7. Tiny girls: Oh **** this is fantastic! That sax! The vocal delivery, the melody: I love everything about this. Why isn't the rest of the album like this? And of course, it's one of the shortest tracks on it!
8. Mass production: Well I really like this too. Love the way it builds up, the heavy percussion and the kind of whistling keyboard. Weird, discordant synth there at the end. Love the vocal.
End result: Nowhere near as bad as I had originally expected, though as I mentioned I read up on the album and had my fears (!) assuaged a little. Got much better towards the end, and while I liked it it's not the sort of album I feel I'd be returning to any time soon, nor seeking out any more of Iggy's music.
So, Love or Hate? On balance though it has to be a
Love.