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. [The album was reissued in 2020 as part of the Bowie Years box set and also on its own with the addition of a second disc, the 1977 album TV Eye Live.] ~ Mark Deming