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The Idiot | 
| Artist: Iggy Pop
Label: Virgin
Category: Music
List Price: £8.99
Buy New: £3.90
as of 23/11/2009 09:33 GMT details
You Save: £5.09 (57%)
New (45) Used (8) from £3.50
Seller: andrewsavin2
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 7011
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4.7 x 0.5
MPN: 86152
UPC: 077778615224
EAN: 0077778615224
ASIN: B000000WH7
Release Date: April 2, 1990
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Sister Midnight | | • | Nightclubbing | | • | Fun Time | | • | Baby | | • | China Girl | | • | Dum Dum Boys | | • | Tiny Girls | | • | Mass Production |
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
Like having your head encased in concrete January 11, 2000
24 out of 24 found this review helpful
Early in 1976 David Bowie invited Iggy Pop to join his 'Station To Station' tour. Not as a performer, but as part of Bowie's small group of friends and advisers. Bowie was trying to kick cocaine, Iggy was trying to stay clear of heroin, and at the end of the tour they made a pact - to leave the USA for Europe, and to kick drugs for good. They first decamped to Paris where Bowie had booked studio time to record a single with Iggy. 'Sister Midnight' had been played on the 'Station..' tour. It was a funky, hard tune, but in Iggy's hands it became much more sinister. It soon became apparent that a whole album's worth of material was being recorded by the duo. In many cases Iggy would play drums, Bowie the guitar or keyboards - just the two of them. The resulting tracks were taken to Berlin to be mixed by Bowie's long time producer Tony Visconti, and became 'The Idiot'. Contained within the album are some of Iggy's best ever tracks. Most of the music was composed by Bowie, the lyrics mainly improvised by Pop. 'China Girl' will be a familiar title to most, by Bowie's 1983 remake is incredibly weedy compared with the original which has a grandeur and a power that is incomparable. 'Nightclubbing' contains an evocative description of the duo's new life, set to an almost Kraftwerkian beat. And 'Dum Dum Boys' lists what happened to the Stooges. 'What happened to James?' asks Iggy possibly refering to himself 'He's goin' straight..' is the sardonic reply. Interestingly Iggy has recently said that the beautiful ballad 'Tiny Girls' (with a breathtaking sax solo from Bowie) is one of his personal favourites. Oh, and the quote at the top - I think it was Brian Eno who described 'The Idiot' as like having your head encased in concrete - he was being complimentary, in his typically oblique way. But what he meant was the album totally envelops you, in a thick muddy sound, and the beat thuds it's way through. It's an album that repays many listens. It's as much Bowie's record as Iggy's, but together they created a sound totally unlike anything they would ever create again, either solo or as a team. Devastatingly wonderful.
A superb murky arty classic. November 26, 2002
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
Completely different to any album Iggy attempted before or after, "The Idiot" is a testament to two fine rock musicians working together at the top of their of their game. Iggy expands on the darkly debauched crooning style of vocals which had cropped up before with The Stooges ("Dirt", "I Need Somebody") but here the material really suits it. The other Bowie/Pop "Berlin" albums, "Low", "Heroes", and "Lust For Life" are all to some extent influenced by their grim yet inspiring European setting, but none more so than "The Idiot" which reeks of Kraftwerk and Krautrock on the one hand, but also older Germnaic music like the songs of Brecht and Weil and the Weimar republic. p"Sister Midnight" opens the album with messed up funk and tripping guitars chiming in the background as Iggy recounts a Freudian nightmare similar in theme to The Doors' "The End".br"Nightclubbing" is lobotomised Kurt Weil drug pop, blank and vampiric as Iggy and Bowie leer out of the mists of Berlin on a night on the town.br"Funtime" is almost childish, but at the same time driving and desperate, implying that Iggy's having absolutely no fun at all. Creepy in many ways, with echoing syndrum beats and massively reverbed vocals.br"Baby" is more soft and romantic, but dark and continues the European theme of the album very nicely as Pop implores "Baby, please stay young..."br"China Girl" is probably the highpoint of side one, and is vastly superior to Bowie's later remake. Another desperate love song, but this time epic in its scope, featuring synths, massive guitar solos, the full deal. Anthemic and bleak.br"Dum Dum Boys" opens side two, and features a titanic riff, which continues throughout the song's duration, and its autobiographical content makes it an essential bridge between the arty agenda of "The Idiot" and what happened to his former bandmates from The Stooges.br"Tiny Girls" is possibly the weakest track on the album, but it still sits relatively well amongst its superior bedfellows, and is a sentimental though grim tune based around The Ig's paranoia over a girlfriend.br"Mass Production" is the masterpiece of the second side, and is possibly the best "song" on the entire album. Massively long, and the most experimental tune, it also features Iggy's most desolate and hard hitting lyrics: both musically and lyrically the song is about the metaphor between life and industrial mass proiduction. Centring around the line "Though I try to die, you put me back on the line" it focusses on the emptiness in one relationship being replaced with another almost exactly the same "yeah she's almost like you, and I'm almost like him...."pOf all the Bowie/Pop Berlin albums, this and "Low" are the best, and I think all in all this is a grotesquely neglected classic, lyrically, musically, thematically. And a very influential album too, as listening to it certainly reminds of the dark, icy sonics of post punk acts such as Joy Division (and not merely because Joy Division singer Ian Curtis committed suicide whilst this record played).brUnquestionably recommended.
The Greatest Downer; but a great recording. July 20, 2004
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I recall first hearing this in a "listening booth" in a record shop in Bristol. I was stunned by it, and it became an oft-played record during my spead-freek youth.br I haven't bought the CD version, as I cannot decide if I want to re-visit those days, in memory form. I cannot decide if this is the all-time, most depressing album, or Lou Reed's "Berlin."br It's strongest elements are on what was originally side two.br "Mass Production" is a monumental song.br For many years, I thought that "Low" the record found on the late Ian Curtis's turntable; but,no,it was this one.br It is amusing that "China Girl" (co-written by Bowie) was totally ruined by him. Iggy Pop's is the definitive version. I recall some totally misguided person slating the song on Radio 4; disparaging Bowie's version as a piece of sexist exoticism. It's plainly about heroin! The fact that Osterburg released the almost-as-good "Lust For Life " within the same year is quite an impressive achievement. He never topped this, with perhaps "American Caesar" being a close contender. But "The Idiot" is his EUROPEAN album. 1977 was a year that saw many classics released. This one ; "Marquee Moon"; "Low "; "Talking Heads 77." This one is timeless.
Welcome back Mr "Pop"... January 29, 2004
Milt Ingarfield (Arbroath, Scotland)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
When #8220;David Bowie#8221; had left L.A. along with his luggage he brought with him #8220;James Jewel Osterberg#8221; a.k.a. #8220;Iggy Pop#8221;, who had just got out of hospital with #8220;Bowie#8217;s#8221; help, to Berlin to try and clean up both their collective acts.brAfter appearing on the seminal #8220;Bowie#8221; album #8220;Low#8221; (#8220;Iggy#8221; is singing in the backing chorus of the song #8220;What in the World#8221;)br#8220;David#8221; and #8220;Iggy#8221; decided to work on what would be the first solo album for #8220;Iggy#8221;, to record this album #8220;Bowie#8221; involved the same personal that made up the #8220;Low#8221; sessions that#8217;s #8220;Dennis Davis#8221; on drums with #8220;George Murray#8221; on bass #8220;Ricky Gardener#8221; on guitar and long standing #8220;Bowie#8221; sideman #8220;Carlos Alomar#8221; on rhythm guitar, and everything else from saxophone, guitar and strange devices, and backing vocals was #8220;David Bowie#8221;, all that plus the production of the album as well, mixing duties where by #8220;Bowies#8221; producer #8220;Tony Visconti#8221;.br#8220;David Bowie#8221; even took the black and white photograph that appears on the front cover. pThe album begins with a song that #8220;Bowie#8221; had performed on his 1976 #8220;Station to Station#8221;, in fact the music of the track #8220;Sister Midnight#8221; would later appear on the #8220;Bowie#8221; album #8220;Lodger#8221; as the song #8220;Red Money#8221;.brThis album is full of key moments in my option for both artists#8217; for #8220;Iggy#8221; the track #8220;China Girl#8221; would later appear on #8220;Bowies#8221; #8220;Lets Dance#8221; album all be it with a different arrangement courtesy of that albums producer #8220;Nile Rodgers#8221;.brThe inclusion of this one song from this album on #8220;Lets Dance#8221; would make more money for #8220;Iggy#8221; then any of his previous work put together.brThe key moment for #8220;Bowie#8221; career, was the outstanding saxophone playing he did on the song #8220;Tiny Girls#8221; which for me is one of his best performances on that instrument in his recorded career in my option. brThe sad thing to report is that the pressing that #8220;Virgin America#8221; released in 1990 wasn#8217;t re-mastered and so tracks like #8220;Mass Production#8221; which have quite intros suffer from the curse of C.D., background hiss, so please somebody get the master tapes and get them to #8220;Abbey Road#8221; studios at the double, an album of this significance deserves better than the present state of affairs#8230;
Iggy's Low February 4, 2004
Ted Maul (Cowsick)
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
This LP, produced and co-written by David Bowie, is Iggy's equivalent of Low. i think Brian Eno described it as like 'having your head encased in concrete'. he meant it as a compliment, and weirdly, he's right. It is an aloof, enigmatic record which is still full of wondeful, unforgettable songs like Sister Midnight and the original and best version of China Girl.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
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