Iggy Pop - Lust For Life

Great sounding 1980s German vinyl reissue

24-bit 96kHz FLAC

"On The Idiot, Iggy Pop looked deep inside himself, trying to figure out how his life and his art had gone wrong in the past. But on Lust for Life, released less than a year later, Iggy decided it was time to kick up his heels, as he traded in the midtempo introspection of his first album and began rocking hard again. Musically, Lust for Life is a more aggressive set than The Idiot, largely thanks to drummer Hunt Sales and his bassist brother Tony Sales. The Sales proved they were a world-class rhythm section, laying out power and spirit on the rollicking title cut, the tough groove of "Tonight," and the lean neo-punk assault of "Neighborhood Threat," and with guitarists Ricky Gardiner and Carlos Alomar at their side, they made for a tough, wiry rock & roll band -- a far cry from the primal stomp of the Stooges, but capable of kicking Iggy back into high gear. (David Bowie played piano and produced, as he had on The Idiot, but his presence is less clearly felt on this album.) As a lyricist and vocalist, Iggy Pop rose to the challenge of the material; if he was still obsessed with drugs ("Tonight"), decadence ("The Passenger"), and bad decisions ("Some Weird Sin"), the title cut suggested he could avoid a few of the temptations that crossed his path, and songs like "Success" displayed a cocky joy that confirmed Iggy was back at full strength. On Lust for Life, Iggy Pop managed to channel the aggressive power of his work with the Stooges with the intelligence and perception of The Idiot, and the result was the best of both worlds; smart, funny, edgy, and hard-rocking, Lust for Life is the best album of Iggy Pop's solo career."

- AllMusic review by Mark Deming

Like most of Iggy's best post-Stooges work, Lust For Life arguably succeeds in large part by being the product of especially successful collaborations with other musicians. Scottish guitarist Ricky Gardiner (formerly of prog band Beggars Opera) had played on Bowie's Low album and had then toured with Iggy. The riff he came up with for The Passenger must surely be responsible for a significant percentage of the value of both his and Iggy's pension funds. The brothers Sales (late of Todd Rundgren's Runt and future Tin Machine members) brought a muscular and uncomplicated rock sound that was quite different from what might have resulted if David Bowie's more nuanced rhythm section of Dennis Davis and George Murray had been retained from The Idiot.

Speaking of Bowie... Yes, Iggy pushed back somewhat against David's loftier sensibilities and steered this album in a more rock 'n' roll direction than The Idiot. Nonetheless, Bowie co-produced the record, played keyboards (the organ part that underpins Fall In Love With Me is great) sang backing vocals and contributed all or some of the music to seven of the nine compositions.

Turn Blue, credited to Bowie, Pop, Los Angeles artist Walter Lacey and Bowie's old London buddy Geoff MacCormack (aka "Warren Peace") had first been tried during an abortive recording session in LA in May 1975. At that time Iggy's recovery from drug addiction was still a work in progress. The lyrics to this number weren't printed on the album sleeve. The reasons why are probably best guessed at by listening to them.

Sixteen is the only song on the album that Iggy composed alone and it's no coincidence that it's the one that sounds most like an old Stooges number (not that that's a bad thing).

This German RCA International pressing dates to about 1983 and was issued to supply the UK and Western European markets. For Side 1 a fresh lacquer was cut at Sonopress, while Side 2 utilises an earlier cut by Tonstudio Pfanz for the original 1977 German RCA Victor release. I haven't had an opportunity to compare this pressing directly with the original UK or US versions. Subjectively though, it's always sounded pretty good to me and hopefully this rip confirms that impression.