Zombie Birdhouse

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
2005 LP pressing of Iggy's classic 1982 album, includes the bonus track 'Pain and Suffering'. Get Back.

Tracks:

Run Like A Villain
The Villagerrs
Angry Hills
Life Of Work
The Ballad Of Cookie McBride
Ordinary Bummer
Eat Or Be Eaten
Bulldozer
Platonic
The Horse Song
Watching The News
Street Crazies
Pain & Suffering

Tracks:

The Villagers (Live In Toronto 28/10/1982)
Fall In Love With Me (Live In Toronto 28/10/1982)
Ordinary Bummer (Live In Toronto 28/10/1982)
The Horse Song (Live In Toronto 28/10/1982)
Angry Hills (Live In Toronto 28/10/1982)
Bulldozer (Live In Toronto 28/10/1982)
The Ballad Of Cookie McBride (Live In Toronto 28/10/1982)
Platonic (Live In Toronto 28/10/1982)
Life Of Work (Live In Toronto 28/10/1982)
Kill City (Live In Toronto 28/10/1982)
Loose (Live In Toronto 28/10/1982)
Search & Destroy (Live In Toronto 28/10/1982)
Run Like A Villain (Live In Toronto 28/10/1982)
Bang Bang (Live In Toronto 28/10/1982)
Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell (Live In Toronto 28/10/1982)
Eat Or Be Eaten (Live In Toronto 28/10/1982)
Sixteen (Live In Toronto 28/10/1982)
Street Crazies (Live In Toronto 28/10/1982)

Album Description

Special edition digitally remastered reissue of the godfather of punk's 1982 album which includes 2 CDs featuring 13 tracks on CD 1, including 1 bonus track, 'Pain & Suffering', and 18 tracks, 'The Villagers', 'Fall In Love With Me', 'Ordinary Bummer', 'The Horse Song', 'Angry Hills, 'Bulldozer', 'The Ballad Of Cookie McBride', 'Platonic', 'Life Of Work', 'Kill City', 'Loose', 'Search & Destroy', 'Run Like A Villain', 'Bang Bang', 'Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell', 'Eat Or Be Eaten', 'Sixteen' & 'Street Crazies', on CD 2, entitled Breaking Point recorded live in Toronto 10/28/82. Produced by Chris Stein, who also plays bass on the album along with co-Blondie-bud Clem Burke on drums. Alchemy. 2003.

Customer Reviews:

Really 3 1/2 stars - bonus for the live disc.......2005-06-04

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.

New Reissue Worth Rebuying!.......2003-09-24

Before "Avenue B", there was "Zombie Birdhouse". Actually, this isn't as much of a departure as "AveB" considering the album that came before it: "Party". There is more of an emphasis on his poetry reading (I've heard that the Doors wanted him to replace Morrison 30 years ago) & concepts rather than attempts at hit songs. The side openers "Run Like a Villain" & "Eat or be Eaten" sure are catchy though & "Bulldozer" is hard enough it sounds like he should have kept it for "Instinct" (which for me is a good thing). He has more to say here. Even though some of the later songs don't work very well, "Villain" especially seems to equate the jogging craze that started in the eighties with running away from responsibility for the greed & corruption of that decade. "Street Crazies" is another favorite, talking about the homeless being those left behind "as we try for the better, for the higher in man... they may as well be apes". The best moment, I think, is at the end of "Watching the News" when he starts to sing "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" as a tribute to Simon & Garfunkel. The album might seem softer, but it's heavier in another way. The live disc turns in heavier versions of most of "Z.B"'s songs, but knowing Iggy, they're also sloppier. They start off strong with an improvement on "The Villagers" which I always thought was a little too dance-y. From there it's the usual Iggy banter (i.e. obscenities) & clumsy versions of Stooges songs. The big surprise is the absence of "Lust For Life" or "The Passenger" which I thought he was required by law to play. The bottom line I guess is that if your a big fan, you're thrilled by anything new that comes along, & if not, it's a pretty good value for the few songs you'll like right away & then "discover" it later in your collection.

Weird but fun.......2003-07-25

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.

Average customer rating:

Best Iggy solo record.
Iggy Pop - 'Zombie Birdhouse' (Capitol)
On my Top 10 all time list - any genre
Iggy's best failure
Classic Iggy, Weird n' Rockin'!!!!

Zombie Birdhouse
Iggy Pop
Manufacturer: Capitol
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Proto Punk | Hardcore & Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Hard Rock | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Soldier
Party
New Values
The Idiot
Beat Em Up

ASIN: B00000DHLD
Release Date: 1991-02-01

Tracks:

Run Like A Villian
The Villagers
Angry Hills
Life Of Work
The Ballad Of Cookie McBride
Ordinary Bummer
Eat Or Be Eaten
Bulldozer
Platonic
The Horse Song
Watching The News
Street Crazies
Pain And Suffering

Customer Reviews:

Best Iggy solo record........2006-07-23

This is the closest he will ever come to the Stooges. Not a good time in his life, but beautiful things come from desperation. Pure tribal punk. If you don't like this album, you are NOT an Iggy fan. His best record period. No top 40 junk here.

Iggy Pop - 'Zombie Birdhouse' (Capitol).......2006-05-31

Originally released in 1982,as this was Iggy Pop's seventh solo effort.Maybe not his best,but perhaps his most distinguished work.Remember seeing him on several late night talk and variety shows around the time this album came out.Tracks I dug the most were "Run Like A Villain","Ordinary Bummer" and "Bulldozer".Is it just me or on "The Ballad Of Cookie McBride",is Iggy attempting to pull off a country song?Hint:it doesn't work with the Igster.The rest of the CD reissue is decent.Certainly nothing outstanding,but decent.Line-up:Iggy-vocals,Rob DuPrey-guitar with two Blondie members,Chris Stein-bass and Clem Burke-drums.Believe this title has been released again,with a live bonus CD from this very tour.I need to check that out.

On my Top 10 all time list - any genre.......2003-09-12

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!

Iggy's best failure.......2003-05-10

Despite "Zombie Birdhouse" is not precisely Iggy's best work, it is one of his most weird, eccentric and curious releases in his solo career. Maybe it's not perfect but it's an album that grows on you and showed that Iggy was an artist with great creativity who shifted easily from one musical style to another. Unfortunately, the album is too confusing and ambitious and becomes a bit monotonous after the first three songs. The lyrics are also slightly uninspired and do not add too much to this particular release. Buy it only if you are an Iggy's die-hard fan, if not, you probably won't find anything of interest in this bizarre experiment.

Classic Iggy, Weird n' Rockin'!!!!.......2003-02-06

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!