Word: idiotically
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Abortion, of course, is a painful issue that has given rise to few ennobling ideas. Anyone who comes to an easy decision on the subject is probably a moral idiot. Four years ago, the Supreme Court declared it legal to terminate a pregnancy in the first three months, or up to six months in some circumstances. About a million legal abortions are now performed every year in the U.S.-a third of them paid for with Medicaid funds. But last month the Supreme Court decided, by a vote of 6 to 3, that the states and localities are free...
...after four years without a record release, Iggy has turned toward greater musical sophistication and less emphasis on his once-anarchistic style. Collaborating with David Bowie (a close friend whom he accompanied on Bowie's 1975 American tour), Iggy has produced The Idiot, an album that blends the monotonic deadpan style of punk rock with electronic innovation. The same persona haunts this recording--an alienated soul tormented by nightmares and melancholy, ears buzzing with the constant drone of sameness--but the addition of Bowie as the chief composer gives this desolate voice a richer resonance...
This theme of estrangement, from self and from others, is central to The Idiot. In some songs, the schism is complete. The vision is desolate, but Iggy sings with a knowing irony that rescues the lyrics from irrelevance. "Nightclubbing" manages to be ironic and sincere at once; the vacuous lyrics and monotonous melody, over an intriguing background of piano and synthesizer that creates a suitable cabaret mood, suggest self-ridicule and sorrow...
...scenario of The Idiot is bleak. As Iggy sings in "Baby," "We're walking down the/Street of chance/Where the chance is always/Slim or none/And the intentions unjust." Iggy seeks escape in the arms of "Tiny Girls," but he cannot find innocence. He is tempted by death and unredeemed by love, entangled by illusions which prove to be not just one mirror of his desires, but a veritable Versailles of them, gleaming and arching to infinity. The peace of death lies only at the end of the passage...
MUSICALLY, THE IDIOT is irregular in quality. Some cuts, like "Sister Midnight," "Funtime," and "Tiny Girls" offer little melodic variety and feature complaisant, braying vocals. Though the use of dissonance departs from the usual rock modes, the novelty isn't enough to carry the songs. The device of monotony, appropriate to many of the lyrics, succeeds only when it is mated with variation in texture...