VALUE ADDED FACTS

Ian Shirley, esteemed alumnus of the Rare Record Price Guide, answers your questions

- Robert Davis via email

LUST FOR POP

I bought Iggy Pop's The Idiot and Lust For Life when they came out in 1977. I also saw him perform in Manchester though not with Bowie on keyboards - around that time. I always find it strange that a lot of writers focus on Bowie's Low and “Heroes” from the same year but tend to overlook the Iggy albums. Bowie had a big hand in both of them and surely they should be linked more closely. After all, they shared a flat in Berlin! An up-to-date valuation of The Idiot and Lust For Life would be welcome.

To say that 1977 was a busy year for David Bowie is an understatement. The release of Low in January and "Heroes" in October confirmed his pivot towards electronica, which was a critical and commercial success. You are totally correct to say that his other major project in 1977 was helping Iggy Pop launch a solo career with two albums.

Iggy was best known for fronting The Stooges who, like The Velvet Underground, began to exert a huge influence as the 70s progressed, despite minimal record sales. As well as helping to propel former Velvet Lou Reed to international fame via Transformer (RCA LSP 4807, £100) in 1972, Bowie had a hand in The Stooges' 1973 revival LP, Raw Power (CBS 65586, £100). Both were recorded in the UK.

As with Low, the groundwork for The Idiot was laid in 1976. Bowie helped secure Iggy a solo deal with the RCA-Victor label and agreed to produce and arrange his first album. This was recorded at Château d’Hérouville in the south of France, and Berlin, where Low had also been crafted. Bowie's longtime collaborator, Tony Visconti, mixed