Despite its status being Iggy Pop’s best selling album, the 1986 David Bowie produced Blah-Blah-Blah has not fared near as well in terms of posterity. Critically speaking, anyway. Big on sleek 80’s era production, Pop has largely distanced himself from the work in subsequent years. And while some of the criticism of the now dated production is not without merit, there are some gems to be had in this largely forgotten album. Tracks such as “Isolation” and “Baby, It Can’t Fall” benefit tremendously from Bowie’s backing vocal arrangements (despite Wikipedia’s incorrect assertion that Bowie does not sing on the album. Ahem).
Another highlight from the album is “Fire Girl”. Propped up by an arrangement clearly nicked from New Order, the track regrettably does not include Bowie’s backing vocal. However, the demo version, with its more stripped down quality, does indeed include Bowie’s vox, and prominently. It may well be even better than the album version. Your call. words / z biggs
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