Iggy Pop – “Lust for Life”
“Lust for Life” marks Iggy Pop’s second collaboration with David Bowie after “The Idiot” (another personal favorite of mine) – this album, unlike “The Idiot”, Iggy Pop had more of a hand in the songwriting, as opposed to having David Bowie with more of the creative control. Iggy Pop is also just fantastic, he’s the Godfather of Punk and the namesake to my Dog.
The title track, “Lust for Life” opens the album, and from that familiar guitar and bass, to the snare drum the song is an instant hit. Everybody has heard this song at least somewhere, whether it be on the radio or even in “Trainspotting” – could it be Iggy’s most well known song? Or is it his cover of “Wild One“? “Sixteen” comes next, and we go into that punk sound as Iggy belts out his lyrics over the repetitive guitar riff and jangly sound, we also get some cowbell, and for some reason I can imagine a coked-up Bowie just jamming with that cowbell on this song. “Some Weird Sin” comes next, and it’s got that jangly piano, the deep bass and the snare. The guitar riff is pretty great, Iggy comes in with his vocals and I don’t think many people realize just how powerful Iggy’s vocal range is, but it is intense. The guitar solo is pretty great. Next up, we get “The Passenger” and from the opening guitar riff, to the cowbell and Iggy’s vocals, it makes for a great song. I’ve always preferred the live version of this song as I feel it just sounds even more powerful, and this is also one of the great road-trip songs. The A-Side closes out with the song “Tonight“, which Bowie later covered on his 1984 album by the same name. This song as kind of happy and upbeat as you’d think it is, it’s actually a song about heroin addiction. The cool thing about this song, is Bowie’s backing vocals are very prominent and Iggy’s vocals are very reminiscent of Bowie’s vocals on “Station to Station” – honestly, as big of a fan of David Bowie that I am, and I mean, how can you not be? I do prefer Iggy’s version of “Tonight” over Bowie’s. I said what I said.
“Success” opens the B-Side, and this one is a fun, happy, upbeat song that you really can hear the Bowie style in the music, but lyrically it’s definitely an Iggy Pop song. “Turn Blue” comes next, and it’s another song written by Iggy Pop about heroin addiction. It’s considered to be the albums darkest and most experimental songs, it was originally titled “Moving On” it was written in 1975 during Bowie and Iggy’s first attempt at making a record together, it’s scattered lyrics are meant to mimic the thoughts of a heroin addict. There are a few spoken parts littered throughout the song, and the occasional Iggy screech, that ultimately sounds like a baby wailing. “Neighborhood Threat” comes next, and this is another one of my favorite Iggy Pop songs, the delivery of the vocals is fantastic, the bass and guitar is wonderful. I read that Stephen Morris of Joy Division once referring to “Lust for Life” (not sure if it’s the album or song) said the drums sounds “not huge, but massive! The loudest cymbals known to man” and you know, I can definitely resonate with that because the drumming is pretty intense, and definitely can explain Joy Division’s incomparable drumming. Lastly, the album closes out with “Fall in Love With Me” ringing in at six and a half minutes, the song is said to be about Iggy’s then-girlfriend, Esther Friedman, it’s definitely a jam. It’s got everything you’d expect from an Iggy / Bowie song.
Catalog Number:
00602557363258 / B0026275-01
Credits:
Drums – Hunt Sales
Bass – Tony Sales
Guitars – Carlos Alomar & Ricky Gardiner
Piano – David Bowie
Vocals – The Band (Carlos Alomar, David Bowie, Hunt Sales, Ricky Gardiner & Tony Sales)
Produced by Bewlay Bros. for RCA Recorded
Recorded by David Bowie
Recorded in Hansa Tonstudios, Berlin, Germany
Engineers – Eduard Meyer & Colin Thurston
Remasted by Robert Vosgien at Capitol Mastering, Hollywood, CA
Cover Photo – Andrew Kent / Mirage
Released:
1977 (Original Release) / 2017 (Reissue)
