I haven’t listed these two separately as my copies are part of a Euro budget release packaged as a double LP so you too are getting a twofer deal today.

These are Iggy’s two “Berlin” albums, recorded when he and David Bowie decamped to Berlin (at the time the Heroin capital of Europe) to escape the drug culture in the USA that was seriously damaging both of them. “The Idiot” was in actuality recorded between France and Munich and “Lust For Life” at Hansa in Berlin where Bowie also made “Heroes”. The musicians on “The Idiot” were Bowie’s band at the time, Bowie himself, Carlos Alomar (guitars), George Murray (bass), Dennis Davis (drums) plus session guitarist Phil Palmer. For “Lust For Life” the rhythm section was Hunt and Tony Sales (later to re-appear in the laughable Tin Machine with Bowie), Alomar plus Bowie’s then guitarist Ricky Gardiner and keyboard/vocalist Warren Peace.

The musicians aren’t the only things shared across the pairs albums, “The Idiot”s opening song “Sister Midnight” became “Red Money” on Bowie’s album “Lodger”, something Iggy was apparently none too pleased about, and Bowie covered “China Girl” on “Let’s Dance”. From “Lust For Life” Bowie covered both “Tonight” and “Neighbourhood Threat” on his 1987 album “Tonight”. 

“The Idiot” was Iggy’s first solo album post the Stooges. It does seem like an incredibly long time between The Stooges splitting in 1974 and this album being released in 1977 but that is what happened. Bowie contributed most of the music with Iggy writing lyrics to fit what Bowie produced while laying on the studio floor. The title was taken from Dostoevsky's indentically titled novel and the artwork was inspired by German artist Erich Heckel's painting Roquairol. While we’re on the subject of the artwork, if you also own “Heroes” and Patti Smith’s “Horses” have you ever laid the three out next to each other ? Try it, Bowie on the left, Iggy on the right and Patti in the middle, they make quite the striking triptych.

Soundwise “The Idiot” is very different to Iggy’s previous proto-Punk Rock with The Stooges. It has far more in common with Bowie’s “Low” (which he began recording as soon as “The Idiot” was finished). Iggy described the sound as “a cross between James Brown and Kraftwerk”. That description doesn’t really fit “Sister Midnight” which sounds much more like “Station To Station” period Bowie. Interestingly “Sister Midnight” was the first track on what could be seen as the pair’s “Berlin” period albums, while Bowie’s rewrite of it, “Red Money”, was the last track on “Lodger”, the last of the “Berlin” albums. 

Iggy’s James Brown/Kraftwerk analogy is much easier to hear on the next two tracks, “Nightclubbing” and “Funtime”, the former icily covered by Grace Jones 4 years later, the latter the closest Iggy gets to the old Stooges sound on this album and Bowie very prominent on backing vocals, both of them big on the dancefloor at the Bowie/Roxy/Futurist nights of the early 80’s. Iggy’s take on “China Girl” is not at all the twee pop song Bowie turned it into on “Let’s Dance”. By the time he gets to the end he’s screaming the lyrics frantically and sounds far more menacing.

Nightclubbing - https://youtu.be/XOSajEshJWA?si=WGp-LHV2a3yhMe7K

If you didn’t know anything at all about Iggy Pop you found out about him if you were a fan of the movie “Trainspotting”. Hunt Sales stampeding drum intro soundtracked Renton and his pals escaping from security guards after a shoplifting spree on Edinburgh’s Princes Street. “Lust For Life” (the song) is a genuinely groovy romp and it’s not the only one within. The first four songs are all the sort of thing that could convince me to cut a rug. “Sixteen” has Iggy straining out his desires to the very young object of his desire, “Some Weird Sin” I can almost hear Bowie singing, a pounding boogie with a great chorus. Then there is “The Passenger”, a warped reggae romp about seeing life pass you by from the window of a car, or a train maybe. Another Iggy classic that filled dancefloors in the clubs we were hanging out in around the early 80’s.

“Tonight” at the close of Side 1 and “Turn Blue” over on Side 2 both deal with Heroin abuse. “Turn Blue” specifically addresses a 1975 recording session with Bowie when Iggy was in the depths of drug use and got as far as the plea of “Jesus, this is Iggy”. “Success” is a fabulous call-and-response number about that, or the lack of it perhaps, and collapses into much silliness toward the end, “oh shit”indeed.

“The Idiot” is almost a Bowie demo for what he was aiming for on “Low“ and “Heroes”. It’s said to be one of the last records Ian Curtis listened to before taking his own life. “Lust For Life” is much more of an Iggy Pop record. Both are great and both still seen as hugely influential albums.

Lust For Life - https://youtu.be/HuBU3pzy7is?si=GqbcbocmgEHl8hjr

I was very lucky, for a while, to own a hellishly rare UK 1st issue of this album. You may or may not be aware that there has been some controversy over the recording and mixing of this album and it has been remixed many times. Well let me tell you something, the mix on the UK 1st issue is freaking unlistenable ! It’s absolutely terrible!

I’d first heard “Raw Power” in the very early 80’s, maybe the late 70’s. My brother owned a copy as did a few mates so it was easy enough to hear it. They all owned sunburst CBS label re-issues which contained one of the many remixes (I believe it’s known as the Bowie Mix), that’s what I was used to. So when I got hold of that solid orange CBS label 1st issue it was quite the shock to hear how bad it sounded. It was muddy and confused and the guitars, which I was used to leaping out of the speakers and virtually throttling you, well they didn’t. So what did I do ? Well, I sold it for a gargantuan amount of money and replaced it with one of those sunburst re-issues for literally a 10th of the price…result !

The Stooges had made 2 albums and had fallen apart in a booze and drug fuelled act of self destruction. Step forward David Bowie to perform one of his acts of salvation (see Mott The Hoople). Iggy had signed to Columba/CBS as a solo artist and decamped to London to write a new album with guitarist James Williamson. They couldn’t find a rhythm section in London that they liked so Williamson suggested ex Stooges Ron and Scott Asheton, who came to London and guitarist Ron became the bass player in the newly rechristened Iggy & The Stooges.

“Raw Power” was recorded in London, Produced and “mixed” by Iggy himself. However Iggy’s mix resulted in all the instruments being in one stereo channel with the vocals in the other with no thought for balance or quality. Bowie’s manager, Tony DeFries, suggested that his client could remix the album. Iggy agreed because, as he has said “very few people recognised the quality of the Stooges' songwriting…. And to his credit, the only person I'd ever known of in print to notice it, among my peers of professional musicians, was Bowie. He noticed it right off”. Due to budgetary constraints (it has been suggested the band spent most of their recording budget on recreational substances) Bowie had one day to remix the whole album and Iggy insisted that his mix of “Search And Destroy” remained (which would be the source of the awful sound quality on that 1st issue).

Track 1, side 1, “Search And Destroy”, is the blueprint for Punk Rock in around three and a half minutes. James Williamson’s opening guitar barrage is vicious and when his lead part leaps from the speakers it’s like having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick (thanx Douglas). It is the sound that some London teenagers would refine 3 years later and present to the world as Punk.

Columbia/CBS had insisted on a “ballad” on each side of the record. The result was "Gimme Danger" (sample lyric “There's nothing in my dreams, Just some ugly memories”) and "I Need Somebody" (sample lyric “I am dying in a story, I’m only living to sing this song”), not your usual ballads. “Gimme Danger” does feature a beast of a guitar riff.

“Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell” brings us more search and destroy-ish guitar brutality while “Penetration” is a groovy, repetitive mind melter which features a numerical repetition of the word “baby” only approached ever again by Ian Astbury when The Cult came to record “Electric”!

“Raw Power” is, I think, the best of the Stooges 3 albums. It was a huge influence on Punk earning Iggy the “Godfather of…” tagline and “Search And Destroy” should be available on the NHS as an option for clearing stubborn earwax.

Search And Destroy - https://youtu.be/LC9km8qnbOY?si=rpJxZRKIPGiXd-v1

Well here’s one I’m sure no-one who knows me would have expected…If you’ve ever spent any time talking with me about music and the subject of Pink Floyd has arisen then you will know I am no fan of theirs. I was influenced at any early age by stories and pictures of Johnny Rotten and his “I hate Pink Floyd” t-shirt, if that stance was good enough for John it was good enough for me. As time passed and I actually heard some of their stuff it quickly became clear to me that this stance was correct and what they produced was some of the dullest, leaden, soulless boring “rock music” it had ever been my misfortune to encounter. So why do I own and am about to eulogise about a Pink Floyd album ?

For starters, “The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn” is a very different animal (pardon the pun) from the likes of “The Dark Side Of the Moon”, “Wish You Were Here” and “The Wall”. Those, to my ears, epitomise everything that is wrong about 70’s rock music… c’mon kids it’s just f*cking boring !

“The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn” however is a work of blissed out, psychedelic wonder made by what may as well be a completely different band to those 70’s rock dullards the name came to represent, this one led by the fractured, delicate genius of Syd Barrett. Syd co-founded Floyd in 1965 (in fact he named the band after two of his favoured bluesmen, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council) and helmed them for around 2 years until early 1968 and he was ousted from the band when, en route to a gig, the rest of the band decided not to pick him up. Syd had written their two hit singles (“Arnold Layne”, “See Emily Play” plius the non hit “Apples And Oranges”) and of the 11 songs on “…Piper…” he wrote 8 himself and co wrote another 2 (Roger Waters is credited with “Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk”). It’s probably not a surprise, therefore, that their sound changed markedly after he departed.

The Pink Floyd (as they were then known) signed with EMI’s Columbia Records in February 1967 after forging a reputation with their performances at London’s UFO Club (which I’ve only recently discovered was pronounced YouFo by its clientele). “The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn” was recorded between February and May at Abbey Road studios. Syd Barrett had his first LSD trip in the summer of 1965 and during the recording of the album his use increased which began to affect him significantly, ultimately leading to his departure from the band when they didn’t pick him up on the way to a gig due to his increasingly “challenging” behaviour”.

The album consists of two different types of songs, Barrett’s shorter more whimsical songs (“Lucifer Sam”. “Bike”, “The Gnome” and “Matilda Mother”) and longer improvised pieces, the sort of thing that made up their m,iuch talked about live set (“Interstellar Overdrive” and “Pow R. Toc H.”). “Lucifer Sam” is a beauty and one of the grooviest guitar riffs ever put to tape in the 1960’s, a song about Syd’s cat; “Intertellar Overdrive” is a pile-driving, almost 10 minute long instrumental based on the theme tune from “Steptoe And Son”; “Bike” is an almost comedic ditty about Syd’s bike and its bell and its basket and some things that make it look good, and he tells you about his mouse, Gerald.

It may all sound a little crazy and it is, but it sounds like like nothing else that was around at the time and it sounds nothing like Pink Floyd ever sounded again. I’ve never owned a copy until very recently, RSD 2018 in fact whence was released a remastered 180g Mono version  in all sorts of fancy packaging and I figured to hell with it, why not. Add to this album those 3 early singles and to my mind you have all the Pink Floyd you’ll ever need.

As the old saying goes “everyone has one in them”, right ? Well this is certainly Pink Floyd’s one. I wouldn’t give you tuppence for anything they did after this but “The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn” is a fantastic British psychedelic record and I really, really like it.

Lucifer Sam - https://youtu.be/np5z_yiuhKo