Brick by Brick

BRICK BY BRICK
 
 
Brick by Brick  is the tenth studio album by American singer Iggy Pop, released in June 1990 by record label Virgin.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
 
 
Iggy Pop’s solo career is uneven by all accounts (even his own).  I remember the Village Voice review of my personal favorite among his solo albums, Brick by Brick (1990) stating that this was “Iggy Pop’s best album since . . . well, since the last time you cared”.  The album features a stellar duet with Kate Pierson of the B-52’s, “Candy” – as Iggy Pop’s only song to hit the Top 40Candy remained on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks charts for 17 weeks, reaching the Top 5.  Both singers have spoken parts during the song, and Pierson’s Georgia twang is a true delight. 
 
The B-52’s hail from the fertile music center of Athens, Georgia whence came R.E.M., Pylon, and other fine bands.  Wikipedia notes that “Athens was home to the first and most famous college music scene in the country, beginning in the 1970’s”.  I had an appraisal job there in the early 1980’s and remember well the wealth of record stores and the local radio station that had a “psychedelic lunch” program around the noon hour. 
 
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Iggy Pop’s album Brick by Brick has several vulgar songs where (for a change) the crude language actually enhances their enjoyment.  They include “Butt Town”, “Pussy Power”, and “I Won’t Crap Out”.  “Starry Night” has verse after verse of putdowns of the Hollywood scenesters and hangers-on that always make me smile when I hear them:  “I don’t care about your city / Or your fat income / I don’t care about your Vanity Fair / Or your f--king sitcom”; “Take your building and your income / And shove it up your ass / Take your building and your income / And stuff it with your cash”; and “Which country is the strongest? / Who plays the best guitar? / Who f--king cares / Under the stars”. 
 
Neon Forest” comes off like a rocking Neil Young number – in fact, that’s who I thought it was for years when the song would come to mind.  The song features the great verse:  “You can get a weird prize for being adored / You can join the in crowd for being a whore / Although you are lonely you wish for a fence / America takes drugs in psychic defense”.  And then there is the defiant “The Undefeated” that has an “uh oh” undercurrent to the chorus:  “We’re the undefeated / We got what they want / We’re so f--king spoiled / Life is just a bag of pot / We’re the undefeated / TV in the shade / Girls at all our parties / We have really got it made”. 
 
Writing for AllmusicMark Deming notes:  “Brick by Brick refined Iggy [Pop]’s gifts without watering them down, adding a polish that focused his talents rather than blurring them.  Working with a mixture of L.A. session heavyweights (Waddy WachtelDavid Lindley) and rock stars paying their respects (Slash and Duff McKagan from Guns N’ RosesKate Pierson from the B-52’s)Brick by Brick leans to tough, guitar-based hard rock, leavened with a few more pop-oriented tunes that still speak of a hard-nosed lyrical approach.  But the triumph here is Iggy’s; he’s rarely sung better on record, finding a middle ground between precision and abandon that honors both and surrenders to neither, and as a lyricist he reached a new level of maturity that proved he could expand his boundaries without losing touch with his roots. . . .  Smart, tough, and impressive on all counts, Brick by Brick was Iggy Pop’s strongest work since Lust for Life, and marked a new high point in his career as a songwriter.” 
 
(March 2017)
 
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Items:    Brick by Brick 
 
Last edited: March 22, 2021