Iggy Pop “TV Eye” 1978. Recorded live in March ‘77 (Cleveland and Chicago) and October ‘77 (Kansas City). Iggy’s backing band included David Bowie on keyboards for the March shows (with Ricky Gardiner on guitar, and the Sales brothers – Tony and Hunt – on bass and drums; in October Scott Thurston took over the keys, Stacey Heydon the guitar). I’m currently reading a biography about Iggy Pop and also listening to an audiobook about David Bowie so I figured I’d kind of listen to them both simultaneously on this concert comp album (plus Bowie collaborated with Pop to write “Funtime,” “Lust for Life,” and “Nightclubbing”). It’s not a great record, to be honest. It’s kind of a mess, which is exactly what Pop was at this point in his career – he was pretty much broke and touring endlessly to pay the bills, high and/or drunk constantly and had managed to piss off just about everyone in his life. The Sales brothers prop up the mess with a relentless, crushing rhythm section and I suppose Bowie is in there somewhere but it’s pretty difficult to hear. One of my favorite Iggy songs, “Lust for Life,” is turned into a crazed cacophony, hyper-speed with harmonica (that’s Scott Thurston) and my favorite Stooges’ cuts, “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” starts off with its typical deep menace but the mix is tinny and when Iggy sings “Now I’m ready to close my eyes, And now I’m ready to close my mind” it sounds like might actually do just that. The cuts were pulled from the soundboard tapes and all expense was spared to mix the album – Iggy threw it together to fulfill his record contract with RCA and earn some quick cash with the record company advance.