iggy pop's bowie years

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

when iggy pop was making records bowie should have recorded himself, was that a good thing?

― dickvandyke (dickvandyke), Thursday, 17 June 2004 11:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Iggy's version of China Girl -vs- Bowie's... Bowie's is total shit. Now would it have been better if he recorded it in Berlin .. it might have been better, but Iggy can put the power in the vocals more than Bowie .. so .. if Iggy had done Heroes, I think it may have been even better.

No, I think the Ig records might have even been better if Bowie hadn't been there. They might have been sloppier, which would be a plus in this case. I can't see them being better being done by Bowie, even at his best... but I can see them being better if they had been produced by some (other) German heroin addict non-musician ...

― dave225 (Dave225), Thursday, 17 June 2004 11:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Iggy's version is a bit murky. It sounds like he's making it up on the spot; there's something slightly unformed about it. It's rock, but with string synths and stuff. The theme relates to 'Tiny Girls'. It's about how East and West, or weak egos and strong egos, only deform each other in the end. In these songs, yin and yang are eating each other, not making love. The songs start out with a picture of harmony and co-dependence, but end up with rupture and separation: the 'tiny girl' 'screams for love like a young banshee, aw what did ya think?' and the 'China girl' gets ruined by television, eyes of blue, and western domination. Relationships are a power struggle, more trouble than they're worth. But there's guilt, self-hatred and remorse too. (These are exactly the kinds of songs you'd expect two men escaping from damaging women and drugs to make.)

Bowie's version is post-modern crooner pop, and more ironic. In a way, to make it into a shiny clean pop song is by far the more original and perverse gesture, although it runs the risk of dipping over into 'twee', with the flirty gurning between Bowie and the 'China girl' in the video, and the twinky-winky little faux-Chinese riffs.

― Momus (Momus), Thursday, 17 June 2004 12:03 (twenty-two years ago)

i thought that song was just because iggy fell in love with some japanese girl but thought japanese girl had too many syllables for the song.

― dickvandyke (dickvandyke), Thursday, 17 June 2004 12:05 (twenty-two years ago)

(BTW I think that 'Sister Midnight' and 'Nightclubbing' and 'Mass Production' and 'Lust For Life' are the peak and zenith of all of Iggy's work.)

― Momus (Momus), Thursday, 17 June 2004 12:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Iggy's a bit "rock" for you isn't he Momus? I thought your lesson for today was four legs good, rock bad.

― thing of thing, Thursday, 17 June 2004 12:10 (twenty-two years ago)

But Bowie slowed him down, switched drum machines for drummers, added some pop arrangement tricks, just like he did with Lou Reed on 'Transformer'.

― Momus (Momus), Thursday, 17 June 2004 12:12 (twenty-two years ago)

"It's in the Whiiiiiiiiite of myeeeeyees" - whatever, Momus (☺).. Iggy's delivery of that one line is reason enough to choose his version over Bowie's.

― dave225 (Dave225), Thursday, 17 June 2004 12:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Iggy without Bowie: rock, super-masculine, American.
Iggy with Bowie: Cabaret, a bit ambiguous, more European.

Agreed about the 'white of my eyes' line. I always cringe when I hear Bowie trying to do something with that 'whiiiiiiiiite' and failing to match Iggy every time.

― Momus (Momus), Thursday, 17 June 2004 12:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Rock has been borrowing pop's underwear since the beginning. And vice versa. The hybridity is in the DNA of both genres. Therefore they aren't very carefully delineated genres, and I think Momus's vision of rock is something of a caricature.

― thing of thing, Thursday, 17 June 2004 12:20 (twenty-two years ago)

If Bowie doing Iggy songs = a sure sign that Bowie is at his Nadir ('Neighbourhood Threat' argh!), Bowie doing Iggy songs that weren't produced or co-written by Bowie is a sign we're in the very pits of Nadir ('Don't Look Down' aaaaaaarrrrggggghhhh!)

― Momus (Momus), Thursday, 17 June 2004 12:20 (twenty-two years ago)

interesting posts here.
about the iggy with/without bowie characteristics, i think there's quite a lot of 'cabaret' on the albums he did after the ones with bowie: new values/soldier/party. having said that, i really think bowie adds something 'extra' to the albums he produced/did with iggy [i'm not just referring to the 'berlin'albums, let's not leave out raw power, shall we?]. the backing vocals, quirky/great production, it all adds up, making them unique & wonderfull & matchless.

― willem (willem), Thursday, 17 June 2004 12:58 (twenty-two years ago)

i think we should leave out raw power as that was more to do with DB just producing the album, rather than directing the music as well.

― dickvandyke (dickvandyke), Thursday, 17 June 2004 13:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Dud only in comparison to the Stooges LPs. Otherwise OK. Certainly, their collaborative songs are better than any Iggy could've written on his own.

I'm presuming that "Bowie years" refers specifically to 1977-8, ie. Iggy solo. Bowie's production (or mix or whatever) of Raw Power was murky; but, to be fair, Iggy's '97 remix wasn't really much better, just murky in a different way.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Thursday, 17 June 2004 13:41 (twenty-two years ago)

no no no, iggys mix gave the album raw freaking power! he gave it big balls again like it always needed!

― dickvandyke (dickvandyke), Thursday, 17 June 2004 13:42 (twenty-two years ago)

But without Bowie, who would have gotten all the excelent drugs?

― brg30 (brg30), Friday, 18 June 2004 09:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Classic, but I like every album Iggy put out in the 1970s, regardless of Bowie's involvement.

― Vic Funk, Friday, 18 June 2004 10:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Classic all the way. The only downside is comparing the new/old Raw Power mixes and thinking The Stooges shoulda stuck with Don Galucci. Funhouse sounds immediate and perfect.

― The Velvet Overlord (The Velvet Overlord), Friday, 18 June 2004 14:11 (twenty-two years ago)

While we're at it, let's choose sides: "Sister Midnight" or "Red Money"?

― briania (briania), Friday, 18 June 2004 14:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Sister Midnight.

― The Velvet Overlord (The Velvet Overlord), Friday, 18 June 2004 14:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Red Money

― Jonathan Z. (Joanthan Z.), Friday, 18 June 2004 14:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Equal — and easily the best of Bowie's Ig remakes.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:06 (twenty-two years ago)

It's a tough call for me -- I put 'em back-to-back on a mix tape once.

― briania (briania), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I've always loved how radically different The Idiot and Lust For Life are. On a related note, "Fall In Love With Me" has got to be some kind of dueling guitar masterpiece.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:29 (twenty-two years ago)

eleven months pass...

tv eye has its moment(s).

― titchyschneider (titchyschneider), Sunday, 5 June 2005 20:23 (twenty-one years ago)

"Fall in Love With Me" is also some kind of verbal masterpiece.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Sunday, 5 June 2005 23:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Are we talkign about "Blah Blah Blah"? I heard "Shades" the other night; it was better than I remembered it.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Sunday, 5 June 2005 23:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Two of the funniest album covers in rock history. Two great albums.

― Nic de Teardrop (Nicholas), Monday, 6 June 2005 00:18 (twenty-one years ago)

fall in love with me is one of my favourite songs

― gem (trisk), Monday, 6 June 2005 00:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Wow, what a coincidence, I'm actually listening to that song RIGHT NOW. And it's fantastic, naturally.

― Steve Gertz (sgertz), Monday, 6 June 2005 00:38 (twenty-one years ago)

"With your cheap fur on/Or maybe your plastic raincoat/And your plastic shoes/They look good too."

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Monday, 6 June 2005 04:12 (twenty-one years ago)

His Bowie produced albums are the only things he has ever done that may be considered classic. Everything else Iggy Pop has ever done=dud!

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 6 June 2005 07:46 (twenty-one years ago)

This is corrects. Iggy required Bowie's melodic and production genius to construct proper songs like "Lush For Life" and "Passengers" which would make a difference from the anthropoid howling we hear on all his other ouvre, apart from "Wild One" which was cover versions and unsurprisingly only top ten hit, even though it pales besides interpretation by Freddy Starr.

― Comstock Carabinieri (nostudium), Monday, 6 June 2005 07:50 (twenty-one years ago)

You guys are goofy.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Monday, 6 June 2005 07:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean, come on, Comstock, "Real Wild Child" doesn't even have much in the way of your beloved melody -- in any version!

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Monday, 6 June 2005 07:59 (twenty-one years ago)

No. Goofy was cartoon character invented by Walt Disnae in 1923. His vocal characters isstics can be heard in many of today's socalled rappers.

― Comstock Carabinieri (nostudium), Monday, 6 June 2005 08:00 (twenty-one years ago)

"Real Wild Child" is just as useless as most of the rest of his output.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 6 June 2005 08:01 (twenty-one years ago)

No, you are the just as useless as most of the rest of your output because "Wild One" has "I'm a real wild one, wild one" which is one more hooks than any of collective works by Green Pyjama.

― Comstock Carabinieri (nostudium), Monday, 6 June 2005 08:02 (twenty-one years ago)

"His Bowie produced albums are the only things he has ever done that may be considered classic. Everything else Iggy Pop has ever done=dud!"

well that includes raw power as well then!

― ppp, Monday, 6 June 2005 08:43 (twenty-one years ago)

"Raw Power" is most definitely dud. Just noise and screaming and no musical value at all.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 6 June 2005 11:14 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

Classic. The Idiot is surely the best thing Iggy has done, and maybe even the best thing Bowie has done (MAYBE). If only for "Baby." Show tunes from hell. Oh yeah.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Thursday, 7 July 2005 22:32 (twenty years ago)

I find "Real Wild Child" endearing. And "Shades" off Blah Blah Blah is a real charmer, a minor masterpiece.

Re the '70s stuff: I love Bowie's wildly inept, howling guitar on The Idiot.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 7 July 2005 22:39 (twenty years ago)

seven years pass...

This is tearing me to shreds tonight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBwtihfuz7M

― Mule, Friday, 23 November 2012 22:35 (thirteen years ago)

When are the lps going to get cd remasters? About blooming time innit?
Been hoping for one for the Idiot for ages.

― Stevolende, Saturday, 24 November 2012 12:24 (thirteen years ago)

Yeah, I know. It's strange, really. I don't know who sits on the material, but there's no reason to hold them back. I mena, everyone and their grandmother is being remastered and re-issued these days, so why not this, totally fucking awesome, stuff? There has to be a lot of outtakes, concerts etc. in the vaults as well

― Mule, Saturday, 24 November 2012 22:10 (thirteen years ago)

Outtakes would be cool but it's pretty easy to find the LPs on vinyl, are the current CDs that bad? I dunno, I have The Idiot & Lust For Life (and Kill City) on vinyl, but I have New Values on CD and that sounds great to me.

― Just noise and screaming and no musical value at all. (Colonel Poo), Saturday, 24 November 2012 22:37 (thirteen years ago)

Why do the originals sound bad?

― 'Separate Lives', by Phil Collins & Marilyn Manson (PaulTMA), Saturday, 24 November 2012 22:43 (thirteen years ago)

Like the previous post wot said

― 'Separate Lives', by Phil Collins & Marilyn Manson (PaulTMA), Saturday, 24 November 2012 22:43 (thirteen years ago)

I think th ecd version is really old, hasn't been updated in years. Last cd version rateyourmusic has listed is 1990 which I think is probably right. last vinyl was 2009.

― Stevolende, Saturday, 24 November 2012 22:51 (thirteen years ago)

I have "the Idiot" and "Lust" on cd, and they don't sound bad. Pretty good, considering their age. I just want more from that period, and find it somewhat strange that something hasn't surfaced.

― Mule, Saturday, 24 November 2012 22:51 (thirteen years ago)

dated sleeve design means time for remaster!

― 'Separate Lives', by Phil Collins & Marilyn Manson (PaulTMA), Saturday, 24 November 2012 23:07 (thirteen years ago)

That too.

― Mule, Saturday, 24 November 2012 23:20 (thirteen years ago)

seven years pass...

Iggy Pop: The Bowie Years box set available for pre-order

I've already ordered my copy.

1977 the story of Iggy Pop and David Bowie's Collaboration on two of the most iconic albums of the decade is told in a new seven CD box set which features the albums remastered, a disc of outtakes and three discs of live recordings officially released for the first time.
In 1977, Iggy Pop signed with RCA Records and with the help of David Bowie the two of them wrote and produced The Idiot and Lust for Life, Iggy Pop’s two most acclaimed albums as a solo artist, the latter featuring one of Pop’s best-known songs “The Passenger”.
Among the songs David Bowie and Iggy Pop wrote together were “China Girl,” “Tonight," and “Sister Midnight,” all of which David Bowie performed on his own albums later on (the last being recorded with different lyrics as “Red Money” on the album Lodger). David Bowie also played keyboards on Pop’s live performances, some of which are featured on the album TV Eye Live in 1978.
This set has been mastered from the best possible sources, and contains a 40-page booklet written by the Guardians Michael Hahn with contributions from the musicians who played on the records and fans who talk about the influence the albums had on them.

DISC ONE (The Idiot)
Sister Midnight
Nightclubbing
Funtime
Baby
China Girl
Dum Dum Boys
Tiny Girls
Mass Production

DISC TWO (Lust For Life)
Lust for Life
Sixteen
Some Weird Sin
The Passenger
Tonight
Success
Turn Blue
Neighbourhood Threat
Fall in Love with Me

DISC THREE (TV Eye Live)
T.V. Eye
Funtime
Sixteen
I Got A Right
Lust for Life
Dirt
Nightclubbing
I Wanna Be Your Dog

DISC FOUR (Demo's and Rarities)
Sister Midnight - Mono Single Edit
Sister Midnight - Single Edit
China Girl - Single Edit
Dum Dum Boys - Alt Mix
Baby - Alt Mix
China Girl - Alt Mix
Tiny Girls - Alt Mix
I Got A Right - Single
Lust for Life - Edit
Interview with Iggy about Recording the Idiot

DISC FIVE (Rainbow Theatre - Finsbury Park, London 07/03/1977)
Raw Power
TV Eye
Dirt
1969
Turn Blue
Funtime
Gimme Danger
No Fun
Sister Midnight
I Need Somebody
Search and Destroy
I Wanna Be Your Dog
Tonight
Some Weird Sin
China Girl

DISC SIX (Agora Cleverland 21/03/1977)
Raw Power
TV Eye
Dirt
1969
Turn Blue
Funtime
Gimme Danger
No Fun
Sister Midnight
I Need Somebody
Search and Destroy
I Wanna Be Your Dog
China Girl

DISC SEVEN (Mantra Studios, Chicago 28/03/1977)
Raw Power
TV Eye
Dirt
Turn Blue
Funtime
Gimme Danger
No Fun
Sister Midnight
I Need Somebody
Search and Destroy
I Wanna Be Your Dog
China Girl

― but also fuck you (unperson), Friday, 10 April 2020 19:52 (six years ago)

woooooooow

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 10 April 2020 19:56 (six years ago)

omg

― Mule, Friday, 10 April 2020 20:40 (six years ago)

"Raw Power" is most definitely dud. Just noise and screaming and no musical value at all.
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 6 June 2005 12:14 bookmarkflaglink

hah I had that as my display name for a while, forgot where it came from

― Colonel Poo, Friday, 10 April 2020 20:43 (six years ago)

Chris O’Leary wasn’t a massive fan based on the tweets I’ve seen which bums me out as I would LOVE to see this record as a work in progress.

― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 11 April 2020 21:46 (six years ago)

I was excited for this when it was first announced, but it looks like either there wasn't much real "vault" material from the studios or they didn't bother using it, which is disappointing. I've never heard any of the live stuff; I remember TV Eye Live was widely disdained but maybe one of the live sets would be worth hearing? The packaging is pseudo-DiY '90s design yuck.

― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Saturday, 11 April 2020 21:59 (six years ago)

I thought cds were over now and records were making a comeback guess I heard wrong maybe iggys audience just doesn't get into records

― clouds (peanutbuttereverysingleday), Sunday, 12 April 2020 03:25 (six years ago)

There've been 180 gram repressings of the two studio joints out for years.

― "...And the Gods Socially Distanced" (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 12 April 2020 03:27 (six years ago)

ok right my apologies - I thought this was something new - xtra tracks / remaster or something like that

― clouds (peanutbuttereverysingleday), Sunday, 12 April 2020 03:45 (six years ago)

I'll probably get the 2 deluxe standalones.

& people elsewhere are saying TV Eye did capture some of their best work of the time. That's now coupled with Lust For Life i think.
& the Rainbvow set with the Idiot. THink that's the right way round, otherwise its the live sets on the other lp.

Shame there hasn't been any new studio stuff unearthed, would be good to have some outtakes.

― Stevolende, Sunday, 12 April 2020 11:21 (six years ago)

Re coupling:

"Iggy Pop has announced new 2xCD reissues of his classic albums The Idiot and Lust for Life. In addition to remastered versions of the original albums, the reissues feature bonus live discs: Live at The Rainbow Theatre, recorded at London’s Finsbury Park in 1977, and TV Eye Live, respectively."

― Duke, Sunday, 12 April 2020 11:33 (six years ago)

Email this morning:

"Thank you for purchasing from uDiscover Music!

We are reaching out regarding your order #********** containing The Bowie Years 7CD Boxset.

The release date for this album has been moved. Orders containing this item are expected to ship around July 3rd.

An email containing tracking information will be sent once your order ships."

― but also fuck you (unperson), Friday, 24 April 2020 13:21 (six years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.

iggy pop's bowie years - C or D?