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LIVE IN NYC
Iggy Pop
(King Biscuit Flower Hour)
Here's a sober slice from the Godfather of Punk: Clean yourself up and a better sound will follow, right?
Well ... one slight problem with that reasoning: Punk isn't supposed to sound 'clean.' Far as I can tell, punk is better associated with sloppiness, rough-hewn and just downright nasty words and music.
The best representation of the real Iggy Pop on this King Biscuit Flower Hour recording lies in the bonus track. I Wanna Be You Dog, which didn't even come from the Big Apple (it's actually culled from a Boston concert 12 years ago), sounds as if the Igg-meister's gone through buckets of sweat and spit as he climaxes with an edgy club show-closer.
The remainder of this disc, taped one November 1986 eve at the no-longer-there Ritz in New York City, operates as if Pop is desperately seeking a tight, clean sound to go with his newly cleansed image.
See, in the early 1980s, Pop's tide rolled out with an '82 flop, Zombie Birdhouse, and years of booze and drug abuse finally catching up to him. By the time of his '86 "comeback" album, Blah Blah Blah, a clean-and-sober Pop began to garner some decent sales numbers. So he put together a band -- guitarist Andy McCoy (Hanoi Rocks), keyboardist Seamus Beaghen (Madness), bassist Alvin Gibbs (UK Subs) and drummer Paul Garristo (Psychedelic Furs) -- and on the road they went.
In short, The Stooges they ain't. I Got A Right suffers from being too 'on'; that is, the heavy-on-the-treble guitar solos play by the book, with Pop's slight vocal waverings the only punk thing about Five Foot One and Down In the Street. The near-perfection reduces Lust For Life and Real Wild Child to nothing more than lifeless hard-rock numbers, at a time when energy could be better invested. Gimme Danger and Fire Girl are rehashes of the Iggy Pop-David Bowie tune China Girl (which, frankly, Bowie does better).
The only other thing punk about Live in NYC? The sloppy edits. Otherwise, the title track from Iggy's aforementioned '86 album is explanation enough.
Track Listing
1.I Got A Right
02.Gimme Danger
03.Some Weird Sin
04.Real Wild Child
05.Sister Midnight
06.Blah, Blah, Blah
07.Baby, It Can't Fall
08.China Girl
09.Hide Away
10.Winner And Losers
11.Lust For Life
12.Nightclubbing
13.Fire Girl
14.Five Foot One
15.Shades
16.Down On The Street
17.I Wanna Be Your Dog