IGGY POP - THE IDIOT @ 45

 

Issued on March 18, 1977, Iggy Pop’s debut solo album, The Idiot, is celebrating 45 years since its release. As well as re-birthing Iggy’s career, it also marked the beginning of what would become known as David Bowie’s “Berlin” period, even though the bulk of the album was recorded at the Château d'Hérouville, France.

By 1976 both Bowie and Pop had abused themselves sufficiently with drugs, cocaine and heroine respectively, that the two artists found themselves in a position where they were ready to do some self maintenance and clean themselves up. Their friendship had brought them together to go through this process as a team and they set about putting their ships to rights by getting out of the US and heading to France where they figured they’d be able to better buffer themselves against temptation. Arriving at the Château in June, they spent the next two months working there until relocating to Musicland Studios in Munich in August to finish off the album. Production on The Idiot somewhat dovetailed with work on Bowie’s Low album, which was recorded back at the Château through September & October of 1976. Though Low was recorded after The Idiot, it was released first in January of 1977 so that The Idiot did not distract from the Bowie release, at least as far as the record label was concerned.

The Idiot, insofar as it’s a solo album for Pop, should really be considered a collaboration between Bowie and Iggy. Bowie’s participation on the album is significant, writing most of the music and performing much of the instrumentation, which included guitars, keyboards, synths, sax & backing vocals. Its style is very much part of the direction Bowie was going with his own music at the time, taking in the influence of Germanic experimental music like Kraftwerk and the general Krautrock aesthetic. Iggy and Bowie even managed to have themselves name-checked in the Kraftwerk song, Trans-Europe Express, after encountering the group while visiting in Germany. This influence pushed Pop away from the proto-punk thrash of The Stooges and into a more subdued, restrained sound, something which alienated him from some of his fan base. Some considered Bowie’s influence here too overwhelming and that the album is less than representative of Pop’s true character and style.

Production wise, it may have suffered a bit from neglect as recounted by Laurent Thibault, the owner of the Château. Bowie bonded with him while they started work on the project and the former Magma bassist was asked to play on the album. He recorded bass, engineered and hired Frenchman Michel Santangeli to play drums on what he thought were demo recordings. After Bowie dismissed him from further work, he realized that the recordings were actually going to constituted final takes for the album and has since expressed dissatisfaction with the end results.

Despite the mixed responses to the album from critics and fans, in the long term, the album still contains numerous classics. Songs like Sister Midnight, Nightclubbing, China Girl and Dum Dum Boys have established themselves as essentials within Pop’s solo canon. Nightclubbing was also covered by Grace Jones, who had a major hit with it, as did Bowie with his version of China Girl. While it may not be completely representative of Iggy’s raw essence, it still demands acknowledgement as an innovative and forward looking album that set up both artists for success throughout the remainder of the decade and beyond.

DAVID BOWIE - LOW @ 45

 

January 14th marks the 45th anniversary of David Bowie’s 11th studio album, Low, which was released on this date in 1977. It marked the beginning of his “Berlin” period, an era of his work which would come to be considered the most challenging and ambitious of his career.

This phase didn’t actually begin with Low, however and didn’t start in Berlin, but rather in France where he and Iggy Pop had relocated with the intention to dry out. Bowie had spent the previous few years in LA, becoming a serious cocaine abuser and living the rock star lifestyle to the point that it nearly took him down. After becoming the emaciated “Thin White Duke”, complete with questionable politics, he recognized his trajectory was purely self-destructive and that he needed a major course correction. Pop was in the same boat with his heroine habit, so the two set about cleaning themselves up and working on Iggy’s first solo album, The Idiot, on which Bowie would co-write most of the songs and contribute significantly to the music. Tony Visconti came in to help with production and the stage was set for Bowie to start working on his own new album after The Idiot wrapped.

Some of the foundational work for Low started in 1976 when Bowie was working on the film, The Man Who Fell to Earth, for which he was initially planning to provide the score. That plan failed to come to fruition as director Nicholas Roeg didn’t like where he was going with the demo music and Bowie abandoned the idea completely. But the direction he was going was something he still wanted to explore, which is where Brian Eno comes into the picture as a collaborator for the new album. They’d both become enamored with the German “Krautrock” scene and bands like Tangerine Dream, NEU!, Kraftwerk and Harmonium, whom Eno had worked with. This influence became central in guiding the direction for Low as it lead them in the direction of experimentation with electronics and new compositional approaches which would become central in creating the sound for the album. One of the key ingredients, technology wise, was a bit of gear brought in by Tony Visconti, the Eventide H910 Harmonizer, which became a vital tool for achieving the album’s bizarre, electronic drum sound.

While most of the album was recorded in France before eventually moving to Berlin for final production, overdubs and mixing, the general mood was easy going. There were no schedules or deadlines looming over their heads, so the musicians could relax, try out unusual ideas and explore fresh approaches. That wasn’t immediately appealing to some, like guitarist Carlos Alomar, but even he eventually got onboard with the vibe and started to appreciate the creative freedom. But things in France were not all peachy as the skeleton crew staff at the studio were often neglectful of their guests and the cooks were bad enough to give the band food poisoning on at least one occasion. This made the move to Berlin something of a welcome change, one which would find Bowie rooted there for both Iggy’s next solo album, Lust for Life, and two more albums of his own, “Heroes” and Lodger. Collectively, that set of five albums by Pop and Bowie can be seen as the complete arc of the Berlin period. The album cover for Low, which was also a modified still from The Man Who Fell to Earth as was the Station to Station cover before it, was something of a visual pun as it showed Bowie in profile as he appeared in the film. The gag being that Bowie was being “Low profile” (insert rim-shot).

Once the album was completed and presented to RCA records, their executives were pretty much horrified by the results. After the massive success of Young Americans and Station to Station, the label had hopes for more in that vein and were not expecting the level of experimentation nor the emphasis on instrumental tracks that was integral to Low. They were so taken aback by it, they delayed releasing it for 3 months and, even when it did come out, refused to promote it. Bowie didn’t help as he wouldn’t tour to support the album and, instead, went on the road to support Iggy as his keyboard player. The miraculous thing about all this was that the album STILL managed to be a hit! It peaked at #2 in the UK charts and #11 in the US and remained on the charts for a considerable number of weeks.

Critically, the album split the press into a fragmentary array of those who didn’t understand it, those who thought it was an insult or a move of desperation or those who thought it was sheer genius. In terms of its legacy, it became a launchpad for virtually the entire post-punk scene as bands from Joy Division to Human League to Cabaret Voltaire read the signposts Bowie had planted in his music and duly set course for the strange waters he’d charted for them to explore. The confusion it inspired upon its release has since given way to the recognition that it represents a turning point, not just for Bowie as an artist, but for pop music as a cultural component as it set the standards for pushing boundaries and setting examples which others have used for their own ends.