Customer Reviews

Brick By Brick

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I think most will agree that Iggy is at his best when being himself and not trying to conform to popular music and become successful in the commercial sense. I think deep down though, despite being revered for being the opposite, I think he wanted to be popular in the MTV scene (ie "the mainstream"). "Party" & "Blah Blah Blah" are probably the other obvious ones, but this was Iggy's last attempt to put out an album that will make him more commercially popular, though a kind of belated attempt. All the stops were pulled out, the big guest stars, etc. In the end it is pretty good, but as usual Iggy doesn't get the credit he deserves from the mainstream. "Candy" was (and is) so popular that the people who he was trying to win over now laugh him off as a one-hit wonder. After this one, I think the next album was American Caesar, which was just, as i see it anyway, him realising that being successful isn't always about financial success. Actually in track 2 here, he says "You and I are not huge mainstream stars/But unlike them we're really what we are". Iggy is no fake. His struggle to try and understand what the point of all this is, is the same as a lot of us. This isn't the wild Iggy that tore up the music world and left it in shreds with The Stooges, this is a grown up Iggy. Both are great Iggy's though.

This album isn't as cheesy as Blah Blah Blah, and it's much more honest. It gets a bit harder & looser as it goes and the climax is definitely track 12 and 13 (My Baby Wants... featuring Slash on guitar and then Brick by Brick). The subject (of the album) is basically just commenting how messed up society is, and dealing with it. He leaves us with hope though, with the 2nd last track (Brick by Brick). I think it was appropriate that the album was named after that one.

It's also much more consistent, approaching the consistency of The Idiot or Lust for Life. Other albums, even the great ones like New Values, have a few turkeys, but this has none, which is surprising considering there are a lot of tracks compared to his other albums. It's very well written, it flows very well and the social commentary is sharp and on the money (and still relevent).

This is very good. I think with Iggy there's always more going on than meets the eye. Maybe I am way off the mark in my review, but this is just what I got out of the album.

Some people might bash this cd due to it's calmer nature and such but I personally enjoyed this album. While this is by no means Raw Power or Fun house, this is still a pretty good album. Iggy shows of his talents as a song writer here as evidenced by such songs as mainstreet eyes and home and a few others. While this is by no means his best stuff it is enjoyable and has a few classic Iggy songs like Candy and Home, also my baby likes to rock and roll is a nice song that is similar to Iggy's roots. Featuring guest apperances by Kate peirson and slash this is a very enjoyable album that I would suggest getting AFTER you have explored some of Iggy's other stuff don't just get this after listening to The stooges or you will be dissapointed. All in all a good album and reccomended.

Hey, this works. If you are very young and not very smart you might not like it or even hate it. As if Iggy cares... He still is better than almost all of the top 40 put together, has more brain too.

Iggy Pop is a pretty (street) smart cookie and he's got the spirit of rock n' roll in him. On the cd pamphlet it says that Iggy played some guitar on this album, yet I wonder how often he was handling any of the instruments. It's almost like I hope he wasn't playing guitar too much because with the lyrics he writes and the way he sings, I have an easy and enjoyable time viewing him as an interesting and thinking performing singer. And the instruments could be getting in the way of his singing and performing.

Plus, I've seen pictures of him from when he was a young performer and he's got his back twisted to be almost parallel with his legs and his head is practically touching the ground. It's a very animalistic, free spirited stance and any concern about which strings to pick on a guitar could damage his interests in such bizarre, intriguing ways of staging his act.

And his act I would desperately love to see, and a lot of listens to Brick by Brick whips that opinion into concrete shape.

This cd may be too cleanly produced, a bit too slick, for die-hard fans of the Stooges. You can hear all the instruments very succintly without having to strain your ears, which is about opposite of the almost too raw sound of Raw Power (which is really good, but strong chances are that if you're listening to Brick by Brick then you've heard Raw Power before).

Iggy's singing comes across in a way in which it's no wonder the guy who's singing goes by a name like 'Iggy,' kind of unusual but very interesting and impressive.

Brick by Brick includes some really funny stuff. The most overt example is track 11, a funny tune about girls in which the heavy metal and comicly dark sound goes perfectly well with the subject he's going over. It's like, whoever wrote a song like this, with these types of lyrics going with this type of instrumentation, has got to know what's going on in the world.

Iggy's knowing-ness keeps up when he sings about having it all as like being in jail in Undefeated. Later, somewhere else, he mentions the only ones truly alive on earth are kids. There are numerous other insights that are sung in such fun ways that you don't feel like someone is hitting you over the head with important social messages but is instead inspiring you to think in the midst of having such a good time listening to such spirited, fun music.

With all that said, there are some songs on here that fans of the Stooges may find as a bit wimpy, but that notion should be set aside anytime you have Iggy singing to them. His voice, style and the overall way he comes across, even if he was singing a song to the soundtrack of the Little Mermaid, is always far from wimpy.

Also, there really aren't any songs on this cd that stand out tremendously as potential hit-makers, and that could be one reason why it's easy to think of all these tunes compiling so well together to make a great overall album. The songs, each distinctive, compliment each other really well and the production is really strong, and as implied earlier, perhaps too strong for fans of the performing singer who brought such raucous, silly, sloppy and unforgettable determination to the studio earlier in his career.

Next to "Lust For Life" and "The Idiot," I rate this, obviously, the 3rd Iggy masterpiece. Of course, art is highly subjective, but this recording kicks booty. The songs are well written, raw, melodious, and the guitars RIP on almost every track. If you appreciate GREAT rock, you must do yourself a favor and get this cd! If your an Iggy fan and have not heard it, or a new Ig junkie, what are you waiting for?

If you don't like his profanity-laced ranting, then this album isn't for you. However, if you like honest, butt-kicking rock 'n roll this is your album. Candy is a great tune (Always like Kate Pierson's voice). Home, Buttown, and My Baby likes to Rock and Roll are classic.

Yeah, I might be dating myself by saying that, but what the hell. Fifteen years old and just starting to explore what the musical gods put down on the earth for me, I picked up this LP if for nothing else than the raves Iggy drew in eons past, and besides which, it was (...).

In retrospect, it was a step in the right direction to sobriety for Iggy; his "Instinct" album had the feel, but not the heart. Ergo, Don Was. The production is not my cup of tea, and half of the songs sound more like novelty than substance. But it's chock full of guest stars like Slash (a big deal back then) and Duff from GNR, as well as Kate Pierson (B-52's), who add much more to the mix than just tokenism. "Candy" was a substantial video hit for Iggy, and "Home" also got a lot more airplay than expected.

It was a decent rock album for the time, and the singles still hold up, but overall, just a work in progress.

After a period of quiet, Iggy Pop returned to harass mainstream rock and roll will more of his energy and original lyrics to both ridicule and laud America's youth as well as the corporate mentality of older Americans. Make no mistake, this is Iggy to the core.

Opening with the rousing "Home," Iggy gets your heart pumping and the blood flowing with such a tightly orchestrated song that the guitar licks nearly slice through you. If this opener doesn't get you jumping right off the bat, then you've overdosed.

And Who but Iggy could sing a love song of devotion with a refrain proclaiming his sincerity and loyalty with the words "I Won't Crap Out."

The anthem "The Undefeated" is both a reference to the Hollywood group of actors from the late 50s and early 60s as well as a comment on the drug addled youth of upper income America lolling around in eternal ennui.

But the song "Something Wild" is a truly chilling rant on the wonderfulness of hedonism, a reminder of our base animal insticts that while many of us sober up from our wild past, the animal is merely sleeping -- it has not been eradicated.

And of course, there has to be that song that has Iggy just going berserk, and that one is "My Baby Wants to Rock and Roll" which has a decent appearance on guitar with Slash (you know, that Guns and Roses dude). It's quintesssential Iggy.

Oh yeah, there are other songs on the CD, and they're all great too. If you're not exhausted after listening to them, like I said, you've OD'd.

Iggy Pop / Brick By Brick: This is The best album from Iggy's long historic career. This one rocks magnificently. A Great album. Five Stars.

If you're already a big Iggy fan, you'll probably enjoy Brick By Brick. If you are relatively new to Iggy's music and are looking for his best material, this is not the album that you should start with. I would recommend his earlier work-- albums like Fun House and Raw Power (when he was with The Stooges) as well as his initial solo albums (The Idiot, Lust For Life, New Values) are much more representative of Iggy's importance in rock history. The people who are giving this album a 5-star rating are obviously blinded by their love for Iggy. I love Iggy too, but I know great music when I hear it and this album only has a few tracks that approach anything that can be called greatness, like "Candy," "Brick By Brick," and maybe "My Baby Wants To Rock & Roll" (although that's probably a stretch). Nowadays, when I listen to this album (which isn't very often), I find myself skipping over most of the songs on it. In the final analysis, Brick By Brick is the sixth or seventh best album that Iggy has ever done. I'm not saying it's a horrible album, just that the hardcore Iggy fans are the ones who will truly enjoy it.