iggy pop Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Iggy Pop & James Williamson “Kill City”

sfilzen — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 17:57:41 +0000

Iggy Pop & James Williamson “Kill City” released 45 years ago today, November 7th, 1977. Bomp! Records. Limited edition green vinyl. Pop and Williamson recorded Kill City in 1975 following the breakup of The Stooges in ’74. Supposedly John Cale was supposed to produce Kill City but after the demos were recorded (Pop’s vocals on the weekends while on leave from treatment for his heroin addiction) and then shelved for a couple of years (Williamson was jailed for heroin possession; they couldn’t find a record company to release the record), Williamson ended up producing it himself. From what I’ve read, it sounds like Iggy wasn’t happy about the release and the final product differs significantly from the original recording (which is not available): a lot of saxophone was added in on the track “Johanna;” there’s actually a lot of sax on the whole record, giving parts of the drug-hazed garage rock record a jazzy, 70’s New York City feel.

I like the non-sax forward hard garage rockers best: the title track “Kill City” is Stooge swagger and growl. “Consolation Prizes” has a killer hook, a sweet Zeppelin-esque blues guitar slide and Iggy’s vocals have his classic sneer. And “Beyond the Law,” though it does have saxophone, is a gritty rocker.

The post Iggy Pop & James Williamson “Kill City” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Iggy Pop “Party”

sfilzen — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 17:24:16 +0000

Iggy Pop “Party” released 40 years ago today, June 1st, 1981. Party is Iggy’s fifth solo album and, to quote one reviewer, it’s “a bizarre train wreck of an album.” It didn’t do particularly well, going to just #166 on the US charts. It’s like he was trying to cash in on the new wave…wave of the early 80′s – it doesn’t work. He also apparently promised his label, Arista, a more commercial album (his ‘80 album Soldier also didn’t do very well but at least had the benefit of having David Bowie and Glen Matlock involved on that one). That didn’t work either. He released one single from Party: “Bang Bang” which went to #38 on the US Mainstream rock chart. Also not completely bad is “Pumpin’ for Jill” though the weird keyboard sound after the first verse does not work in what is otherwise a fairly decent straight-forward rock track. Iggy does two covers on Party – “Sea of Love” (originally by Phil Phillips, 1959) and “Time Won’t Let Me” (The Outsiders, 1966). The rest is just plain goofy, like “Happy Man,” “Rock and Roll Party” and “Eggs on Plate.”

Here’s the video for “Bang Bang” – Iggy doing Adam Ant doing Iggy with somewhat creepy girls dressed in bad white 80′s dresses. Total head-scratcher.

The post Iggy Pop “Party” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Iggy Pop “New Values”

sfilzen — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 15:46:41 +0000

Iggy Pop “New Values” 1979. Spanish import, hence the “Nuevos Valores” subtitle. New Values is Iggy’s third solo album; it features co-Stooge James Williamson on guitar on one track (which he also co-wrote): “Don’t Look Down.” Williamson also produced the LP. Scott Thurston, who played keys for the Stooges, plays guitar on the rest of New Values and co-wrote about half of the songs with Iggy. New Values was Pop’s first solo album that David Bowie didn’t have his hand in, though Bowie did cover “Don’t Look Down” on Tonight (1984). I’m not really crazy about either version. My top tracks on New Values are the title track, “New Values,” “I’m Bored” (mainly because it’s funny and in the video for the song Iggy perfects his depraved slithering slinky self) and “Five Foot One” (because that’s my height but also it’s an ass-shaking rocker).

The post Iggy Pop “New Values” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Iggy Pop “Apollo”

sfilzen — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 19:50:22 +0000

Iggy Pop “Apollo” 2017. Easy Action Records. 10″ single. Recorded at the Manchester Apollo on September 25th, 1977 while on his “Lust for Life” tour in the UK. Just two tracks, but they’re two of Iggy’s best and best-known, extended in the live performance (hence the 10″ format): “Lust for Life” and “The Passenger.” He swears and sneers, stomps and slithers as the band churns along (the Sales brothers on drums and bass, Stacey Heydon on guitar and Scott Thurston on keyboards). Punk was in its screaming toddler infancy in ‘77 in the UK, with new groups forming everywhere, and my guess is any of them at Iggy’s shows that tour learned a thing or two about punk swagger, audience intimidation and how to rock leather pants from the godfather.

The post Iggy Pop “Apollo” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

The Stooges “Fun House”

sfilzen — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 16:11:33 +0000

The Stooges “Fun House” released 50 years ago today, July 7th, 1970. Elektra Records, original pressing, gatefold. (Note: as I was writing this, Wiki was literally editing itself to change the release date to August 18th 🤷‍♀️ but every other source says July 7th) The Stooges second LP, Fun House – like their debut The Stooges – is, in retrospect, considered a massively influential release and influencer of punk and alternative rock but at the time of its release was not well-received commercially or critically (“inaccessible,” “a muddy load of sluggish…rubbish” and “exquisitely horrible” – though that last review quote makes Fun House sound somehow more appealing). It definitely wasn’t accessible for most ears in 1970; Fun House was far ahead of its time for sound: The Stooges, for all intents and purposes, recorded live, setting up as if on stage with Iggy singing through a hand-held mic which allowed for improvisation musically but no sense of pristine-ness sonically. It’s bluesy, dirty…scuzzy: a glimpse into the feel of the urban 70′s decade. I love “T.V. Eye” and “1970″ is a great follow-up to “1969″ (side-note: punks Radio Birdman got their band name from “1970″ with a great misheard lyrics accident) and “Down on the Street” (which I guess was released as a single, but with a different take and extra organ), plus the title track “Fun House.”

The post The Stooges “Fun House” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Iggy Pop “Soldier”

sfilzen — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 20:37:27 +0000

Iggy Pop “Soldier” released 40 years ago today, February 7th, 1980*. Pop’s 4th solo LP has some major collaborators: Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols) plays bass, does backing vocals and wrote “Ambition” and co-wrote with Pop “Mr. Dynamite,” “I Need More” and “Take Care of Me.” David Bowie co-wrote “Play It Safe” (and it really does sound like a Bowie track); Bowie and Simple Minds also provide backing vocals for that track. Iggy is also backed by punk Steve New on guitar (Rich Kids, Gen X – and he almost joined Duran Duran!), Ivan Kral on guitar and keyboards (Patti Smith Group) and Barry Andrews on keyboards (XTC). Soldier went to #125 on the US charts. It’s an OK album but not great, likely because of the typical chaos swirling around Iggy for most of his career. Stooge James Williamson was originally slated to produce Soldier but he clashed with Bowie and quit the project. Also Bowie was allegedly punched by Steve New at some point during the recording process (it was over a woman). I like “Knocking ‘Em Down (In the City)” which is a good rocker, also “Mr. Dynamite” which is classic slinky protopunk Iggy and “Dog Food” which is a snotty ass-shaker.

*The release date is not entirely solid – another source has it as Feb. 1st 1980 but since today is the 7th, I’m going with that date.

The post Iggy Pop “Soldier” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Siouxsie and the Banshees “The Passenger”

sfilzen — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 20:34:58 +0000

Siouxsie and the Banshees “The Passenger” 1987. Wonderland Records. 12″ single, “lllllloco-motion mix.” The single version of “The Passenger” – a fantastic cover of Iggy Pop’s version from 1977 (on Lust for Life, released as a single in ‘98) – appeared on Siouxsie and the Bashees’ 1987 all-cover album Through the Looking Glass and went to #41 on the UK charts. About a million other artists have covered “The Passenger” (well, not exactly, but there are a lot, and I do like the 1997 version by Lunachicks that’s on the We Will Fall: The Iggy Pop Tribute record), and Siouxsie’s is the best. Her voice is a great counterpoint to Pop’s masculine monotone growl, all clear soaring gothic gloss and mirrors, and a whole lot of horns. Pop quite liked Siouxsie’s rendition, stating, “She sings it well and she threw a little note in when she sings it, that I wish I had thought of, it’s kind of improved it. The horn thing is good.“ The “lllllloco-motion mix” is significantly longer than the single – I think about double in length – and seems to have even more horns plus what I think are tubular bells (well, bells at least). The B-side has two tracks, “She’s Cuckoo” and “Something Blue,” a lush lament that is perfectly and gothically sorrowful.

The post Siouxsie and the Banshees “The Passenger” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

David Bowie “Tonight”

sfilzen — Tue, 24 Sep 2019 19:28:02 +0000

David Bowie “Tonight” released 35 years ago today, September 24th, 1984. (There are a few different dates given for this release, including September 1st and 29th but the website bowiebible.com cites the 24th and who am I to argue with a bible?) Tonight was Bowie’s 16th studio LP; it went to #1 in the UK and #11 in the US, mostly on the heels of success from Let’s Dance and his Serious Moonlight tour because Tonight is not one of his better albums. It has been much maligned over the years by critics and even Bowie himself admitted it was far from his best. He only wrote two new tracks for the LP: “Loving the Alien” and the single “Blue Jean” which hit #6 in the UK and #8 in the US. (I actually really love that song – fond ‘84 MTV memories and all that) The songs “Tumble and Twirl” and “Dancing With the Big Boys” were new Iggy Pop/Bowie collaborations. “Neighborhood Threat” was another Pop/Bowie (along with Ricky Gardiner) effort but it was originally recorded by Pop in 1977 for his Lust for Life LP and “Don’t Look Down” was a Pop cover (Iggy recorded it for his ‘79 New Values album). Also from Lust For Life on Tonight is Bowie’s version of the title track “Tonight,” a duet with Tina Turner. Bowie explained all of this to NME in September 1984 by saying, “I didn’t really [have] enough new things of my own because of the tour [Serious Moonlight]. I can’t write on tour, and there wasn’t really enough preparation afterwards to write anything that I felt was really worth putting down, and I didn’t want to put out things that ‘would do’ so there are two or three that I felt were good things to do and the other stuff…What I suppose I really wanted to do was to work with Iggy again, that’s something I’ve not done for a long time. And Iggy wanted us to do something together.” Bowie also covers the Beach Boys with “God Only Knows” (I really dislike that song and knowing it’s a Beach Boys cover doesn’t help) and the Lieber and Stoller song “I Keep Forgetting” originally released by Chuck Jackson. Overall Tonight is a fairly bland album: it has the big 80′s production polish but lacks the groove – supplied by Nile Rodgers on his previous smash LP Let’s Dance (Rodgers is quoted saying about Bowie’s decision to use producers Derek Bramble and Hugh Padgham rather than Rodgers that “Journalists would start asking David questions like ‘How much did Nile have to do with this?’ and this is very difficult for any artist, especially someone of David’s stature…It seemed to be a conscious effort to distance himself from me.”)

The post David Bowie “Tonight” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

The Stooges “The Stooges”

sfilzen — Mon, 05 Aug 2019 16:36:43 +0000

The Stooges “The Stooges” released 50 years ago today, August 5th, 1969. The Stooges’ debut album is, in retrospect, one of the best and most important records released during its era. At the time of its release it was criticized as dumb (well, yes, it is: the lyrics to “No Fun” and “Real Cool Time” should wipe away any doubt about that), musically simple (“stripped-down” is the polite term I think), brutally loud (nothing wrong with that) but it helped usher in punk a few years later as a widespread musical and cultural movement. The Stooges sold moderately well, hitting #106 on the US charts, with two released singles: “1969” and “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” I don’t think either charted but the former has been recognized as one of the greatest guitar songs ever and the latter is one of my personal all-time favorite tracks and many mainstream music publications agree, listing it as one of the best rock songs ever made – it is certainly the best non-holiday song to feature sleigh bells (played by John Cale, who also plays viola on the epic dirge “We Will Fall” and mixed the first iteration of the album but Elektra rejected his mix and Iggy Pop and Elektra exec Jac Holzman mixed the final release).

The post The Stooges “The Stooges” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Iggy Pop “TV Eye”

sfilzen — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 15:51:08 +0000

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.

The post Iggy Pop “TV Eye” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.