AMG Review of Greatest Hits Live

Lindsay Planer
All Music Guide

Almost three years in the making, Iggy Pop's Blah Blah Blah (1986) was a blatant attempt to bring the artist to a mainstream mid-'80s audience. During the tour to support the album, the nationally syndicated weekly radio program the King Biscuit Flower Hour (KBFH) caught up with Pop on November 14, 1986, at the ~Ritz in N.Y.C. -- a venue known to modern concertgoers as ~Webster Hall. Reputedly clean and sober for the first time in decades, the performance is both inimitably Pop and yet remarkably cohesive. The set is heavy on new songs, presenting over two-thirds of Blah Blah Blah intermixed with a vigorous sampling of the Stooges', as well as solo sides. When returned to their sonic essence, newer tracks -- such as "Fire Girl" or the X-Generation anthem "Real Wild Child" -- provide a continuity to classics such as "Lust for Life," "I Got a Right," and "Five Foot One." For the uninitiated, Pop's reading of "China Doll," co-composed with David Bowie, might seem a bit unnerving or otherwise too real. This is a good example of Pop systematically stripping away the tinsel while delving into darker musical recesses. The material on this disc has also been issued under a number of monikers ranging from Live at the Ritz NYC (1986) (1995), Live in NYC (2000), and simply Live (2000). Regardless of which you choose, this is among the best out there circa his mid-'80s renaissance. The bonus track "I Wanna Be Your Dog" is from a July 1988 set at the ~Channel in Boston, MA. It is likewise taken from a KBFH show, which is available in a considerably more complete form on Pop's King Biscuit Flower Hour (1997) single CD release.