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48 of 51 found the following review helpful:
 Iggy's best solo albumFeb 10, 2004
By the18yroldmusiccritic
"Mike"
That's right, this album is far better than "Lust For Life", Iggy's best known and best loved solo album that came right after this. In contrast to the Stooges albums and "Lust For Life", this album does not solely rely on overdriven guitars and loads of heady attitude (although the distorted and wah-inflected lead guitar on "Dum Dum Boys" here kicks and lounges with perfected sleaze) to make its point. In contrast, there are synthesizers (Synthesizers? Iggy?) and creepy, sinuous bass and drums, courtesy of David Bowie, who lent his band (Carlos Alomar, Tony Sales, Hunt Sales, and himself), his production, his keyboards, and his songwriting talent to Iggy, who was trying to come back to the music industry again clean. Bowie wrote much of the music on this album, but it is wholly Iggy's - the lyrics are masterful on this album, and the wasted Ig wrote every word and more than a little of the music. The eight tracks on the album go like this.
1 Sister Midnight - A distinctive, kicking drum line, clever bass and guitar, and synth bleeps characterize this one. Pop uses a gravelly and incredibly melodic bass-baritone throughout this song and much of the album. Bowie's wacky backing vocals are high and make this a great song.
2 Nightclubbing - The title is self-explanatory. Do you recognize the beginning drum beat? That's right, they are very similar to the beginning drums on Nine Inch Nails' infamous hit "Closer". But the track is much more musically sophisticated than that animalistic rant, centering on a down-toned decadent feeling especially suited to the lyrical content.
3 Funtime - This is a kind of uptempo punky song with echoing drums. Iggy gets a bit Stooge-y here by sneering about having fun with Bowie wailing backup, although Ig's mood throughout the album is pretty subdued).
4 Baby - Creeping down the cold corridor of the Berlin studio accompanied by subtle drums and fuzzy bass, tinkling piano frames this rant about trying to repair a fracturing relationship.
5 China Girl - By far the most famous song off this album, thanks to Bowie's bubbly dance-pop cover hit, "China Girl" is much more abrasive and frightening here because of the way Iggy handled the ending. But there is no moment exactly like the one here where the girl oddly tells him to shut up and then shushes him to sleep. This is a famous classic. Throughout the album, Iggy has increasingly shown how well he can sing, and this remains the definitive showpiece for the range of his vocal quality.
6 Dum Dum Boys - By far the greatest song Iggy ever recorded without the Stooges, "Dum Dum Boys" has some of the best reptilian, snakelike distorted guitar ever recorded (it literally drips with sleaze and disgust). Bowie's cocktail piano is perfect, and the rhythm section just locks together with a beautiful force. And guess what the song is about...the Stooges. Iggy sings here with stunning power about how much he misses his old comrades. Thank God this song goes on for seven minutes.
7 Tiny Girls - Cringe-inducing title, especially given Iggy's sexual history, but great song. Ig's lyrics here are much more intelligent than he ever was before. Keeping to the jazzy, slightly funky electronic vibe, Bowie lays down a beautiful saxophone solo. If anything else proved this was not a Stooges album and never could be, this sax solo is it.
8 Mass Production - The longest song on the LP, this eight-minute dirge staggers along and begins with soundscapes straight out of Bowie's "Low" (which Bowie had just released) and more sleazoid guitar and sinuous bass and drums. Iggy's despair is at its worst here, and that's how the album ends.So, there it is...not an album to listen to when you're feeling down. Just ask Ian Curtis, the lead singer of the great postpunk band Joy Division, who notoriously and infamously committed suicide after listening to this album (not that the LP caused his death - he had been having serious problems with depression and epilepsy before that). My favorite song is "Dum Dum Boys", which just lacerates everything in its path. This was one of Iggy and Bowie's artistic triumphs.
12 of 14 found the following review helpful:
Essential Iggy!Jan 08, 2004
By Carter
Iggy Pop made his official debut as a solo artist with this record and has struggled to scale the heights of this brilliant album since. Drugged up & boozed up after The Stooges broke up, Iggy was in the midst of a downward spiral when Bowie dragged him off to Berlin, got him sobered up (somewhat) and helped him write a couple of rockin' albums (see Lust for Life). In 1977 when this was released, Iggy said in an interview "I'm not a punk anymore!"... when The Ramones, The Sex Pistols & The Clash were only beginning Iggy had already proved all he could to punk and was moving on. Bowie's influence is heavy here, providing brilliant and catchy music for Iggy to lay his lyrics on top of. Iggy has upwards of 15 solo albums (not counting live albums and compilations) and this is right at the top of the list of ones to own. The pair's time spent enjoying the Berlin nightlife is covered here with 'Nightclubbing' & 'Funtime', both of which are regulars on Iggy's setlist thesedays. 'China Girl' was written about a girl Iggy was with at the time, and proved a huge hit for Bowie a few years later. Iggy's version is the definitive though, with his rougher vocals giving the song a different edge. 'Baby' touches on what can almost be considered glam-rock, and Iggy pays tribute to his former band on 'Dum Dum Boys', while yearning for them when he needed them ("Now I'm looking for/The dum dum boys/Where are you now/When I need your noise"). It's Iggy at his most personal and it's simply brilliant. Iggy set out to prove that he was more than his reputation, that he had musical talent and wasn't a burnt out case. He succeeded. This is not only great music, but it gives you a good understanding of Iggy's mindset at the time.
9 of 11 found the following review helpful:
The Wonderful Drugged Maze of SludgeSep 30, 2002
By DerUeberMensch
It's no surprise that Iggy would eventually turn into Bowie. With the Idiot, he moved to Berlin and hooked up with the man. The backing band here is the same one that Bowie used for Low, and Bowie actually wrote the music for this. Naturally Iggy provided the wonderful lyrics, "Last night I was down in the lab/ With Dracula and his crew."
This album is really too wonderful to put into words. It's dark, scary, depressing, and confusing. I especially love the muddy sound. You know, Joy Division's Ian Curtis hung himself while listening to this.
Iggy's scream is gone (with the exception of the end of "China Girl") and replaced by this new baritone crooner (David Bowie's ... son). Stand out tracks include the quite unfun "Funtime", the frightening drugged up "Nightclubbing" and of course "China Girl". This really is fabulous and unique. If you enjoy Heroes and Low by Bowie, as well as Fun House by the Stooges get this and thank me later.
9 of 12 found the following review helpful:
China Girl: It's not Bowie vs. IggySep 04, 2003
By Jorje Chica
A few of the reviews express the oft-repeated belief that Iggy's China Girl on The Idiot is better than Bowie's version on Let's Dance. This reflects a false dichotomy--Iggy versus Bowie. As many of the reviewers have noted, The Idiot was as much (if not more) Bowie's project as Iggy's. Bowie resurrected Iggy from obscurity, wrote most of the music, played most of the instruments, and produced the album. Thus, China Girl is as much Bowie's song as Iggy's. The true dichotomy is 1977 Bowie versus 1983 Bowie. The version of China Girl on The Idiot reflects Bowie's experimental vision which bore fruit for him on the celebrated Berlin trilogy. The version on Let's Dance reflects Bowie's desire at that time (perhaps a misguided one) to tap into the mainstream of pop. Both versions were appropriate for their time and purpose. Keeping this context in perspective, I enjoy both versions, but given my affinity for Bowie's late 70's work over the Let's Dance era, I must agree that the earlier version is my favorite.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Like a beautiful nightmareAug 25, 2010
By McGuildicuff
"cartoonist and music lover"
David Bowie may have instigated this jazzy, synth-driven monster of an album, but only Iggy Pop could have taken it home. Iggy, stoned but enthusiastic, belts out sinister songs of desire, decadence, and detachment that might have given Raymond Chandler pause, if only for their ability to convert the angst and false glamour of film noir into shimmering rock-and-roll abstraction. He yells, he croons, he snaps and purrs his volatile, sometimes haunting lyrics with conviction that was totally new to Stooges listeners in 1977. The songs are dynamite from the jaunty beginning to the devastating end. In between, the basis for Bowie's 1983 hit, "China Girl," forms the album's centerpiece, as a majestic, heartfelt ballad that still leaves room for bitterness and doubt.
Due to some self-serving actions on Bowie's part surrounding the album's release, and to the album's ominous, groundbreaking nature, it never really took off. But a generation of goths and new-wave heavyweights heard it. The results -- from Depeche Mode to Siouxsie and the Banshees to Nine Inch Nails' "Closer," which apparently samples the drum machine from "Nightclubbing" -- speak for themselves.
To say whether this eye-opening, genre-bending milestone is also "safe" to listen to is a tough call. If I were most people, I might warn against it because it's a bona-fide downer. But I'm not most people. I grew up fascinated by the striking visuals and dangerous human drama of those old detective pictures, and I count the slick but sickly cyber-noir Blade Runner among my favorites. The Idiot is sort of the musical equivalent of Blade Runner if it were shot on a Super 8 camera. Scuzzy and coarse, it thumbs its nose at the idea of a digital remaster, but you can't look away for all the glitz and color, however cynically it's applied. Besides, you might not want to. The Idiot is creepy, sure, but there's a compelling flow from song to song and more than enough sublime pop melody to go around (though your mileage may vary).
If you love rock, and you hear this, and then try to go back to Lust for Life, Low, Heroes, or what have you, you can't. A mix of those might be all right for a party, but The Idiot takes you to another world -- for better or for worse.
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