Second acts in music are hard to come by, worthwhile ones that is. The story of Iggy Pop was neither destined to have a second act at all, let alone a good one. The Stooges are a prime example that the best music of yesterday may have barely gotten any love in it's time. If you think it's ridiculous that I think a record by Broken Social Scene can be top ranking in 2002 because you've never heard of it, congratulations, because that's how people in 1973 probably would have reacted to Raw Power. Iggy was niche, underground, he wasn't rolling in fame and attention. And that sucks because he should have been, and because the light of fame might have helped him to avoid the nearly fatal decline that occurred. The band? The Stooges? The Raw Power sessions were basically recorded without them aside from Iggy. People went all their separate ways, and that left Iggy freefloating not long after Raw Power. A guy like this needs structure, and when he lost it drug addiction came rolling in. There's really no reason at all to doubt that Iggy would have died if someone hadn't been looking out for him. Even if that person turned out to be the extremely drugged up David Bowie of the mid-70's. Bowie is a great rock artist of course, but he's been a lifelong master of props, giving them that is. Bowie is the kind of guy who keeps his ears on the ground. I honestly kind of hate how great artists when they get old, also stop paying attention to new young upstart bands. They become jaded and spiteful and sort of just hear the same crap most of us do and get all condescending. Not Bowie, from Arcade Fire back to the Pixies...and back to The Stooges, he's always kept a great ear out. His ear caught The Stooges, and him and Iggy became friends. The great Berlin experience eventually came along, and both men, both needing more stability in their lives took this as their chance to clean themselves up. Saving both lives for us to enjoy to this day. Everyone of the three Berlin saints made great music while there, and Iggy is no exception. This gets to be his second act, two pretty different records both of which leave no doubt that he was and is a huge talent. The Idiot is particularly interesting because it's Iggy showing off alterior sides to him. Every soul in the Berlin trifecta enjoyed a huge boost from collaborating with the others, and Iggy is no exception, here he has a huge boost from Bowie's aid on the sound of the thing. It's a deeper more sonically delicious pallet the hard rock of The Stooges, a sort of precursor to Post-Punk in many ways with it's dark urban feel. In many ways the sound of this is what I always hope Roxy Music sounds like and doesn't. Iggy's best surprise here is how great he can sing when he dips his voice and doesn't try and act like an animal. And in the very subject matter he changes it up, Iggy goes introspective! Imagine that! He was just emerging from some crappy years, several coworkers had died, and all that drug business too. A new life and outlook was ahead of him, but before he could embrace that joy he had to flush out the lingering darkness, which is what you get here. The slow dirge like sleaze of so many wasted nights characterizes the first two songs. And a manic unhappy talk of fun times on Funtimes that sure sounds like he's talking about stuff that isn't actually fun! The biggest system clearer is the most obvious, Dum Dum Boys, an actually kind of touching tribute to all the various other Stooges both in their original form and the Raw Power one. Some are dead even at the time of 77' as it turns out, while others have moved on to this or that. It's both mournful, dark, but also a bit warm too. Iggy really does seem to care about these guys, after all he had no stones to cast. All this gets accompanied by great production and guitar work from Bowie? What's to hate exactly? In many ways, of the five Berlin records this one may have had the greatest influence on the Post-Punk yet to come. As for Iggy, he has another record this year too. One for looking forward rather than backward...
By: Zephos