Iggy Pop was associated with Virgin Records for much of his post-Stooges solo career, except for a brief spell during the late '70s and early '80s he called Arista Records his home. The era saw punk's godfather stray away from the primal style to, largely, experiment with new wave sounds. Certainly not his best recording period, and the 20-track collection Pop Music sticks only to the aforementioned "unfocused" period. From the three albums this collection plucks songs from, the material from 1979's New Values is by far the strongest (as ex-Stooges guitarist James Williamson lent a hand as producer) -- "New Values," "I'm Bored," and "Five Foot One" all wouldn't be out of place on a real Iggy "hits" set, while a track that is rumored to have been a leftover from his Stooges days, "Dog Food," is another keeper. Some newcomers to Iggy will be fooled into believing this set is a true best-of, but with such classics as "I Wanna Be Your Dog," "Search and Destroy," "Lust for Life," and "The Passenger" nowhere to be found, a more fitting title would be The Best of 1979-1981.
© Greg Prato /TiVo