After "Lust For Life" and "The Idiot", both of them produced by someone named Bowie, this is the best record by Iggy. He is free, somewhat matured, and enjoys himself.
This is a rock'n'roll album. It sounds very low budget and it's exciting. It's direct and it hurts. "New values" is about the important things in life: boredom, the sea and girls.
And if anyone has a "political" problem about African Man, she/he might just want to think back to times where we were actually allowed to say the things as we thought them.
This is one refreshing record by a guy who went straight against the normal-type rules. Iggy, in "New Values" establishes himself as the Henry Miller of rock: Wild, but tasteful; horny, but self-conscious; eager, but earnest.
Everyone with some degree of honesty regarding the disillusions of life should play this album at least once a month.
Highly recommended.

I just bought this CD yesterday after being overjoyed to discover that Buddha Records had released a remastered, pumped-up edition of Iggy's New Values, and boy am I glad I did. If you buy this CD, and also track down Soldier, The Idiot, Lust for Life and Kill City (recorded in 1975 but unreleased till 1977), you've got the best of Iggy's post-Stooges albums, and New Values is easily the greatest of that bunch. Besides the fact that this is one of Iggy's greatest and funniest albums, we also now get two strong unreleased bonus tracks, "Chains" and "Pretty Flamingo," both of which are strong enough that they could have made the original album. New Values has been one of my favorite records for the past ten years--now I can retire my faded tape copy and play this lovely shimmering CD version. The sound is even better than before, hardly any hiss that I can detect at the high end, amazing for a recording released in 1979 and recorded on analog equipment--Iggy jumps out of the speakers at you, as well he should! Do something a 5'1" man can do and go buy this CD...

Here are some reasons why people often bash IGGY POP-"New Values" (1979):
1) They have never ACTUALLY LISTENED to it.
2) They cannot accept that there is more to Iggy's career than just the STOOGES, a great band of Iggy's youth.
3) They cannot accept production values which are not necessarily drooled on by David Bowie.
4) They are simply, idiots.
Now for some comments from someone who tries hard not to be too much of an idiot. I admit that after my first time listening to "New Values", I was disappointed. But this was mainly because I didn't have a good enough buzz and because the mastering on the original Arista CD version of "New Values" was so abysmal(thankfully this new version is a little better). I think the moment I realized that "New Values" was easily as good as "The Idiot" or "Lust For Life" was during the song "Don't Look Down". The opiates were doing wonders and the song floored me. "New Values" blends spacey, almost post-punk tunes with punkified songs and great pop numbers. Every song is top-notch, if you give it a chance. Even if you're a staunch STOOGES supporter, you will find much to offer on "New Values". Hell, James Williamson plays guitar on it, and he played on IGGY and the STOOGES-"Raw Power" LP back in 1973. Williamson is also responsible for the simple, but often lush and nuanced production on "New Values". So just ignore all the idiots who claim that "New Values" sucks. More than likely, they've never even listened to it. So sit back, get drugged, and enjoy some of the best rock of all-time. On "New Values" Iggy was definetly doin' the things a five-foot-one man can do....

I bought this on LP as a new release when I was something like 14 years old. What the heck did I know? My older sister's girlfriend's weird boyfriend was into Bowie, Lou Reed and Eno. So these were my primordial rock and roll experiences.

And "New Values" has to be Iggy's all-around best recording. You could see it as the third salvo in a trilogy with "Lust For Life" (1977) and "The Idiot" (1978) -- at the time RCA released the live album "TV Eye" to finish off Iggy's contract ... or you can look at it as the opening statement of Iggy's punk oeurve along with "Soldier" (1980) and the terribly disappointing "Party" (1981).

In this context, "New Values" sits at the pivot of Iggy's earlier Bowie-rock releases and the later Pop-Punk direction (or mis-direction) he took in the 80s. Of course, his good friend Bowie's career took a bizarre turn toward commercial dissolution during the 80s as well.

If I could keep only one Iggy Pop record it would be this one. I'd rather keep three or four. But if somebody held a gun to my head ... I'd keep this one.

A great album, Iggy's best and one of the best rock records ever. Grossly overlooked. There is something about the recording of New Values that puts you right in the studio, something you can touch. Iggy's vocal nuances are in peak, beautiful form. And all of it is rocking and deep. It takes me back to those early New Wave days, Elvis Costello, Devo, Boomtown Rats, and how Iggy's voice and sound so clearly stood apart from anything else, and still does. He's a complete original and you can hear him here raw, slick and bratty. Long live James Osterberg, Ypsilanti's one and only.