Lust for Life

i've heard theories that these two albums are supposed to musically and lyrically reflect iggy's state of mind at the time; 'the idiot' was the depressing descent into pills-and-booze despair; 'lust for life' was the optimistic, pick-yourself-up recovery. comparing the two albums, the differences are more than apparent. whilst 'the idiot' was murky, druggy teutonic art-rock that sounded not unlike kraftwerk et al, 'lfl' is a pure and jubilant rock album, through and through. ig even sounds happy on occasions!

the hunt brothers' rhythm section pounds and thunders through 9 fantastic tracks whilst the guitars crunch, twist and wail courtesy of the excellent carlos alomar and ricky gardiner. and iggy's never sounded so good since his stooges days, proving that he doesn't have to scream to be a great frontman (not that i'm complaining, i love the stooges). bowie also adds some subtly tinkling piano in places, although i think his touch is a bit less obvious here than it was on the previous album.

thankfully, iggy's not gone all nice on us; there's plenty of sleaze here. sixteen year-olds in leather boots, weird sins, OD's and neigbourhood threats, the iggy of old has not left us completely just yet (thank god)!

all in all, this is iggy's best and most accessible solo work, and if you only want the one iggy solo record in your collection, this is the one, without a doubt. sadly, the rest (apart from 'the idiot') are patchy. anyway, 'lfl' is a rock classic and should appeal to anyone with decent musical taste. five stars!!

PS: if you like this, try some stooges stuff (iggy's first band). i wouldn't really say it's in the same vein as 'lfl' (it's a lot rawer, dirtier, louder and a hell of a lot more unprofessional), but it's iggy in his prime and it's damn good music. all of their 3 albums are fantastic, but i think 'raw power' is possibly the best.


"...Jesus....this is Iggy..."   May 12, 2004
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

The second solo outing by Iggy, having left the Stooges behind, and getting a helping hand from David Bowie. This was recorded close on the heels of 'The Idiot', but is an entirely different animal. It has a very 'live' sound to it, courtesy of a band put together by David Bowie, and including Bowie on keyboards and backing vocals.

There are two standout tracks here that almost anyone who has ever heard of Iggy knows - the amazingly arranged 4 chord repetition of 'The Passenger', and the highlight of the 'Trainspotting', 'Lust for Life'.

In general the album is a lot of Iggy and a lot of Bowie, and most tracks show the input of both of them. Maybe some are a little on the long side, but it's a collection of great songs. 'Some Weird Sin' and 'Turn Blue' are a couple of favourites of mine, but I think most of the tracks on this are pretty strong.


Part 2 of the Berlin period...   January 31, 2004
 3 out of 8 found this review helpful

In between the release of the 2 seminal “Bowie” albums “Low” and “Heroes”, “David Bowie” got together with “Iggy Pop” to record what would turn out to be the most significant albums of “Iggy” career in my humble opinion.
First to be released on March 18th 1977 was the “Germanic” sounding album “The Idiot” with its doom-laden soundscapes influenced by “Kraftwerk”,”Neu” and “Can”.
On September 9th 1977 “Lust for Life” was released, running at just under 42minutes and just having 9 tracks, with it’s opening track that barks into life with it’s musical themes stolen by “Bowie” from the tune that introduced the “American” overseas radio network in “Germany”. But with the words of “Iggy” it became something else that was so much more threatening, so much so that the song with forever be linked to the cult film “Train spotting”.
For the recording of this album “Bowie” brought in a couple of new players into the equation in the form of the “Sales” brothers who make up the rhythm section, which accounts for the more aggressive sound to the tracks, Hunt Sales (drums) and Tony Sales Bass who would later appear on the “Tin Machine” project.
The next track in the album would see the use of heavy echo on the vocals along with metallic percussion giving “Sixteen” more of the sound of urgency about it.
One of the more threatening sounding tracks is “Some Weird Sin” (one of my personal favourites) with the choppy sounding rhythm guitar of “Carlos Alomar” against the metal sound of “Ricky Gardiner’s” lead guitar played against the powerhouse playing of the “Sales” brothers giving the heavy echo effect vocals of “Iggy” a perfect background.
As the lead guitar of “Mr Gardiner” starts to introduce the classic song “The Passenger”, which “Mr Gardiner” also wrote the music for, you feel as if you are going on a journey that don’t want to take, but think again you do really!
The song “Tonight” which to me has a “dramatic” introduction to it has an “Iggy” singing on it that is full of despair, the keyboard playing from “Mr Bowie is also worth mentioning.
The track “Success” starts with “Iggy” singing the line “Here come success” and then the whole of the band repeat that line giving the feeling of a mob, and as “Iggy” loses it and shouts “O’ Sh###” the band even repeat that and then the track fades.
The most dangerous sounding track is “Neighbourhood threat” (“Bowie” would later cover this track along with the song “Tonight” for the album "Tonight" from 1984) with the lines “somewhere a baby’s feeding, somewhere a mother’s needing, outside her boy is trying, mostly he is crying, did you see his eyes, did you see his crazy eyes?”
These lines have me scared to live in that neighbourhood; the album closes with the song “Fall in love with Me”, another track where the vocals have an effect on them, we are again treated to the keyboard skills of “David Bowie” with a little solo at the end just before “Iggy” sings the lines “and when you’re tumbling down, you just look better, when you’re tumbling down, you just look finer” and as nosily as the album started it quietly fades out.
This is another album that was re-released by “Virgin America” in 1990 and again it’s not re-mastered all the delicate touches that could be heard on vinyl are just drowned in a sea of background hiss, please fix this classic album for the new century ASAP…


Iggy's pop album. And its a damn good one.   November 27, 2002
 9 out of 9 found this review helpful

There is no overarching theme to this album, and it is not as aggresively driven as Iggy's work with The Stooges, or as murkily arty and compelling as his first solo album, "The Idiot", although like that album the majority of music here is also written by David Bowie. Luckily though, this is Bowie in his greatest period, and perhaps Iggy too, as this album is a classic.
The first five songs are near perfect sleaze driven slightly european sounding rock, all tight funky drums and twisting guitars, and fantastically langerous, crooning, shrieking desperate, sexual vocals from Iggy.
Side two of the album fares less well, as "Success" and "Turn Blue", despite definitely having their moments, are not really up to the quality of the rest of the album. The last two tracks finish the procceedings in a fine style however.
Its like the more upbeat side to the same dark world visited by Iggy and Bowie and friends on "The Idiot", but although there is desperation, drug overdoses, and gloom, the more driving edge of the material is strangely uplifting, and shows Iggy to be a total survivor. A short, concise album which just gets better the more you listen to it.