It was reportedly written, recorded, and mixed within a fast and furious eight-day period sessions took place at Hansa Studio by the Wall in Berlin, and musicians included the returning Carlos Alomar, Ricky Gardiner, and brothers Hunt and Tony Sales. (He would also rework "Sister Midnight" as "Red Money" for 1979's Lodger, the concluding album of his Berlin Trilogy.)įollowing a concert tour in support of The Idiot, Bowie and Pop regrouped to record the album that would become Lust for Life. The Idiot was released in March 1977, yielding the instant classics "Sister Midnight," "Nightclubbing," "Funtime," and "China Girl" - the latter of which Bowie would re-record for Let's Dance in 1983. While Bowie is generally understood to have written the music and Pop the lyrics to the album, there were exceptions to that unspoken rule. Bowie's frequent collaborators Carlos Alomar, George Murray, and Dennis Davis were among the musicians enlisted.
They continued at Munich's Musicland Studios (the same studios where Donna Summer recorded many of her classic hits), and overdubs plus a final mix by Tony Visconti took place at Hansa Studio 1 in Berlin. Sessions began in France at Château d'Hérouville in France, the same studio where Bowie had recorded Pin-Ups and much of Low. Iggy Pop described The Idiot (its title inspired by Dostoyevsky) as a cross between Kraftwerk and James Brown.
Due on May 29, The Bowie Years brings together remastered versions of The Idiot, its even more successful follow-up Lust for Life, and the TV Eye Live concert album plus a disc of demos and singles, and three discs of live performances. Now, Universal Music is collecting the entirety of Pop's German period of Bowie collaborations in a new 7-CD box set.
The LP was a departure from Pop's primitive-styled proto-punk with The Stooges, embracing a steely and electronic yet funky sound. While David Bowie's "Berlin Trilogy" officially kicked off with the January 1977 release of Low, the international superstar had actually been working in Germany a bit earlier with Stooges frontman Iggy Pop on his solo debut, The Idiot.