Day 0387 - The Idiot

Iggy Pop "the Idiot" (1977)

 
Have been wanting to dig into Iggy's solo stuff a bit more. I've really enjoyed the Stooges albums on this list, Iggy's album with Josh Homme, and the other bits and pieces I've heard from him over the years.

Iggy had checked into a mental institution to help himself clean up.  He just wanted a second chance, but nobody in the industry wanted to give it to him... until David Bowie (who had produced/remixed the Stooges' "Raw Power") came along and whisked him off to Berlin to record music and lived life to the full.

This is a great collection of songs; Bowie's influence can definitely be heard on the album, in fact it almost feels like he has overridden Iggy's own sound (though he later suggested that Iggy was a willing guinea pig for his experiments), with less of the punkish abrasiveness of Iggy's earlier work and more of a cerebral arty sound in a not dissimilar vein to what Bowie was doing at the time. The album includes the original version of the song "China Girl", which Bowie obviously also released later on the 'Let's dance' album.

The album was named after Dostoyevsky's novel of the same name.

Day 0354 - Arrival

ABBA "Arrival" (1976) - got it

My mum had this album on vinyl when I was growing up and, being an ABBA fan from a young age, I listened to it fairly religiously.  Benny and Bjorn were just such skilled songsmiths.  They could come up with tricky little ideas, but they mostly just favoured strong and simple songs.  It’s not on this album, but I saw an interview with them where they singled out “ the winner takes it all” as one of their stronger compositions exactly because it is a song built more or less around just one repeating melodic motif.

Obviously the ’hits’ from this album are all good.  “Knowing me and Knowing you”, “Money Money Money” “Dancing Queen” and gently anthemic album closer “Fernando” are all memorable earworms that are possibly even popping back into your head just from reading the song titles.  Outside of the hits though, the other tracks are just as enjoyable.  Whether it’s the playful “When I kissed the teacher”, the slightly cheesy “Dum dum diddle” or my personal favourite “Tiger” which switches from poppy glam rock to the subdued, almost childlike melodic bridge sections.

The tracks with Benny and/or Bjorn singing are enjoyable too, but the group really shines when Agnetha and Frida are on the mics, creating the classic ABBA sound.