Well, to paraphrase Captain Beefheart, "Iggy was hungry but he sure weren't weird." I noticed in a couple of previous reviews that this is "bizarre" or "weird" music. Yes, it is experimental to a degree, but it's always in service to the emotion that Iggy is trying to get across.

For example, the slow-building, droning guitar/keyboard loop that slowly grows on Life Of Work implies exactly that - a droning, rhythmic life of work. "The people stare with blinking eyes, the workforce stands in readiness." The lyrical imagery is amazing on every track. I think of this as "thinking man's grunge" - because it's raw and personal but loud and rhythmic too. I'd bet anything that one Kurt Cobain spun this on his turntable a few times in his formative years!

Almost every song has a unique aural setting that fits it's message perfectly. Producer/guitar player Chris Stein (of Blondie!!) really goes wild in conjuring "jungle-like" sounds with strange metallic textures. This was one of his first projects after Blondie crashed and burned, and he was really eager to go in a new artistic direction. His imprint is all over this effort.

The drumming is also quite prominent throughout the album, with bongos (!) among other unusual percussion instruments (for his genre) that further the tribal aspect of the music.

Iggy really let's 'er rip with the tribal aspect of human nature in both his lyrics and vocal performance. It was a personally dark time for him. I saw him in late 1982, with about 49 other people, in Eugene, Oregon. At about 2:30 a.m., after looking generally [angry] and crazed (and flipping his mike stand hard into the audience a couple of times) he fired his soundman near the end of the show. Kicked him right off the stage! I think you can hear that anger, that exasperation, in this album.

When this first came out, it hit me on a very personal level. I had never heard music of such an intensely personal nature before. The closest anything has come since is probably mid-late 90's Radiohead. And people go crazy for them! Why not Iggy? Well, Radiohead is definitely more "mainstream" in several ways - sound, looks, actions - and I guess Iggy's just too much to take for most people. His singing isn't anywhere near pitch perfect, but again, it's calculated to be that way. He isn't doing anything by accident here, but the whole album has a really spontaneous feel that keeps it fresh over two decades later.

It's ironic that many Iggy fans put this near the bottom of their list but it's my #1 Pop favorite. If you haven't heard it, give it a try - but do it with an open mind (and preferably listen to it in a darkened room late at night for best effect).

Enjoy!

I always liked Zombie Birdhouse. With it's flying saucer guitar on The Horse song and the LMAO lyrics of bulldozer it is just representative of what I like about Iggy. Off the wall and fun, with more than a tiny bit of darkness to it (street crazies, the villagers, etc). I would splurge and get this edition because you get a live concert cd recorded in Toronto in 1983. The negative of this is Iggy must have had a cold because his throat sounds messed up, the quality of the recording is rather bootleggish, but still after a few listens you get used to the negatives and get into it. So I would definitely count the additional cd as a pretty cool bonus.

This is a great album. Iggy Pop at his most primal. It grows on you. These songs will invade your subconscious mind. ("Life of Work").

Actually, the first time I saw Iggy Pop was on the David Letterman show. He came on and did "Run Like a Villain" (off of this album), and so impressed me that I went out and got this album. Later, I bought the rest of his albums. :-)

Before I'd heard this, I only knew the biggies like Lust For Life, Idiot etc. along with The Stooges stuff.

Zombie Birdhouse is a great little slice of Iggy that anyone with a liking for the music of Detroits misunderstood son should invest in. Theres always lots of talk about how Iggy was too experimental in the 80's, but if you don't like experimental, what the hell are you doing buying Iggy Pop's music??? Many of the tracks are pretty straight forward rockers with nice n'quirky lyrics, But theres also some good off the wall stuff like 'Watching the News' and 'Pain and Suffering'. On first listening, don't give up on this album. Its a must......for any fan of the man!

Regarding the track 'The Ballad Of Cookie McBride': Who says this guy doesn't have a sense of humour!

After the fairly bland-sounding "Party" with its failed attempt at a big dance hit ("Bang Bang"), Iggy and Arista Records went their seperate ways. Retooling with members of Blondie, Pop turned in a solid album that is occasionally very catchy and funky, but also suffers at times from really awful singing. Nobody expects Iggy Pop to sing like Pavarotti, but even so he could have made a bit more effort to stay on pitch ...

Having said that there are some good rockers here, like the opening track "Run Like A Villain," and some softer tunes like "Ordinary Bummer" which rank among Iggy's prettiest. The bonus track, "Pain & Suffering," is just plain weird.

The bonus disc is a warts-and-all live recording of a Toronto show from the tour of this album. Virtually the entire "Zombie Birdhouse" track list is represented, along with a handful of older solo/Stooges tunes. Sound quality is so-so at best ... It sounds like a sound-board recording. But it's still a neat audio snapshot from this period of his career. I just wish we could get a live disc of the "Soldier" tour.

Not the best Iggy solo album - That would be either "Soldier" or "The Idiot" in my opinion - but one of his better efforts.