David Bowie Outside released

Outside David Bowie

Released: September 25, 1995 Peak: 21 US, 8 UK, -- CN, 55 AU Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.2 UK, 1.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: glam rock/classic rock veteran

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Leon Takes Us Outside [1:25] Outside (Armstrong/Bowie) [4:04] The Heart’s Filthy Lesson [4:57] (9/16/95, 92 US, 20 MR, 35 UK) A Small Plot of Land [6:34] Segue – Baby Grace (A Horrid Cassette) [1:39] Hallo Spaceboy (Bowie/Eno) [5:14] (3/2/96, 12 UK, 36 AU) The Hotel (Bowie) [6:50] I Have Not Been to Oxford Town (Bowie/Eno) [3:49] No Control (Bowie/Eno) [4:33] Segue –Alberta Touchshriek [2:03] The Voyeur of Utter Destruction (As Beauty) (Bowie/Eno/Gabrels) [4:21] Segue – Ramona A. Stone/I Am with Name [4:01] Wishful Beginnings (Bowie/Eno) [5:08] We Prick You (Bowie/Eno) [4:35] Segue – Nathan Adler, Pt. 1 [1:00] I’m Deranged (Bowie/Eno) [4:31] Thru These Architects’ Eyes (Bowie/Gabrels) [4:22] Segue – Nathan Adler, Pt. 2 [0:28] Strangers When We Meet (Bowie) [5:07] (12/2/95, 39 UK) Songs written by Bowie/Campbell/Eno/Gabrels/Garson/Kizilcay unless indicated otherwise. Total Running Time: 74:36 The Players: David Bowie (vocals, saxophone, guitar, keyboards) Brian Eno (synthesizers) Reeves Gabrels (guitar) Carlos Alomar (rhythm guitar) Erdal Kızılçay (bass, keyboards) Mike Garson (grand piano) Sterling Campbell, Joey Baron (drums) Yossi Fine (bass)

Rating: 3.537 out of 5.00 (average of 22 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “David Bowie seemed like an artist without direction ever since the success of Let's Dance, switching styles and genres with a speed that made him appear nervous, not innovative. Recorded with his former collaborator Brian Eno, Outside was intended to return some luster to his rapidly tarnishing reputation. Instead of faux soul or mainstream pop — or even dissonant hard rock, for that matter — Bowie concentrates on the atmospheric, disturbing electronic soundscapes of his late-'70s ‘Berlin’ trilogy (Low, Heroes, and Lodger), adding slight, but detectable, elements of industrial, grunge, and ambient techno.” AMG “Bowie also raised the stakes by making Outside the first in a series of concept albums about mystery, murder, art, and cyberspace. Everything that would have made Outside a triumphant comeback seemed to be in place, but the album is severely flawed. Not only is the story poorly developed and confusing, but the album is simply too long. Throughout the record, good ideas bubble to the surface, yet are never fully explored, and the sheer bulk of the album means that the good songs — Hallo Spaceboy, Strangers When We Meet, The Hearts Filthy Lesson — are buried underneath the weight of the mediocre material.” AMG “Furthermore, nothing on the album is a departure from Bowie's late-‘70s records; when he does experiment with newer musical forms or write about futuristic technology, he seems unsure of himself. That said, Outside is Bowie's most satisfying and adventurous album since Let's Dance. It’s clear that he’s trying once again, and when he does hit his mark, he remains a brilliant artist.” AMG Notes: ”Strangers When We Meet” was originally on 1993’s The Buddha of Suburbia. Also, an Australian import release features another version of “Hallo Spaceboy.” In 2004, Columbia Records reissued the album with B-side “Get Real” tacked on to the original album.

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for David Bowie AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine WK Wikipedia Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 2/20/2008; last updated 8/3/2021.

 

David Bowie Never Let Me Down album released

Never Let Me Down David Bowie

Released: April 27, 1987 Peak: 34 US, 6 UK, 6 CN, 19 AU Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, 0.1 UK, 2.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Day-In Day-Out [5:36] (4/4/87, 21 US, 3 AR, 3 CO, 17 UK, 33 AU) Time Will Crawl [4:18] (5/2/87, 7 AR, 10 CO, 33 UK) Beat of Your Drum [5:03] Never Let Me Down (Alomar/Bowie) [4:05] (8/8/87, 27 US, 15 AR, 4 CO, 34 UK, 63 AU) Zeroes [5:44] Glass Spider [5:30] Shining Star (Makin’ My Love) [5:04] New York’s in Love [4:31] ’87 and Cry [4:18] Too Dizzy (Bowie/Kizilcay) [4:30] Bang Bang (Pop) [4:28] (5/23/87, 38 AR, 31 CO) Songs written by David Bowie unless indicated otherwise. Total Running Time: 49:12 The Players: David Bowie (vocals) Carlos Alomar (guitar) Carmine Rojas (bass) Erdal Kızılçay (keyboards, drums, bass, trumpet, violins, backing vocals) Peter Frampton (guitar, sitar) Philippe Saisse (piano) Stan Harrison (alto saxophone) Steve Elson (baritone saxphone) Lenny Pickett (tenor saxophone) Earl Gardner (flugelhorn) Laurie Frink (trumpet) Errol “Crusher” Bennett (percussion) Sid McGinnis (guitar on “Day-In Day-Out,” “Time Will Crawl,” and “Bang Bang”) Mickey Rourke (rap on “Shining Star”) Robin Clark, Lani Groves, Diva Gray, Gordon Grody (backing vocals)

Rating: 2.444 out of 5.00 (average of 25 ratings)

About the Album: David Bowie stayed busy after 1984’s Tonight with soundtrack work, recording music for Absolute Beginners, The Falcon and the Snowman, When the Wind Blows, and Labrynth, in which he starred. His cover of “Dancing in the Street” with Mick Jagger was also a top-10 hit. Once he was back in the studio, Bowie focused on what he considered a return to rock and roll music WK after two albums of more dance-oriented mainstream pop. To that end, he assembled a small rock group like he’d had early in his career that included guitarist Peter Frampton. Bowie himself said it was an effort to “reestablish what I used to do, which was a guitar-oriented album.” WK He also played instruments again after focusing exclusively on vocals on the previous two albums. The result was “a jumbled mix of loud guitar rockers and art rock experiments like the failed Glass Spider,” AMG a mythological story Bowie based on a documentary he saw about black widows lay the skeletons of their prey on their webs. WK Bowie wrote the opening song and first single, Day-In Day-Out, about his concerns about how the homeless were treated in the United States. Time Will Crawl was inspired by the Chernobyl disaster and Bowie said the vocals were inspired by Neil Young. The title track was about Coco Schwab, Bowie’s long-time personal assistant. He attributed his vocal performance to John Lennon. It has been called “one of his most underrated songs.” AMG Bowie called Beat of Your Drum a Lolita song because it was a “reflection on young girls” being viewed as sexual entities. WK Rolling Stone called Zeroes “the most heartening and successful track on the album.” WK Bowie described Shining Star (Makin’ My Love) as a song about people “trying to get together in the race of…disasters and catastrophes…never knowing if they’re going to survive it.” WK He sang it in a high voice, which he compared to Smokey Robinson, because it was what the song needed. WK New York’s in Love was “a sarcastic song about the vanity of big cities.” WK ’87 and Cry was about then-UK Prim Minister Margaret Thatcher and the “distinction between the authoritarian government and the citizens.” WK Too Dizzy was written as an homage to the 1950s. Bowie called the song a “throwaway” and deleted it from reissues of the album. The final song on the album was a cover of Iggy Pop’s Bang Bang. Bowie said, “Iggy’s done so many good songs that people never get to hear…I think it’s one of his best songs.” WK The subsequent Glass Spider tour was “the biggest, most theatrical and elaborate tour he had undertaken in his career,” WK but, like the album, it “was commercially successful but critically panned.” WK Bowie himself was critical of the album, even expressing a desire to remake it. After his death, a remixed version of the album was released on the Loving the Alien box set. “While it’s not as consistent as Tonight, it’s far more interesting.” AMG Spin said it was “an inspired and brilliantly crafted work” WK while Rolling Stone called it “the noisiest, sloppiest Bowie album ever.” WK Creem’s Roy Tarkin said it represented a creative low point for Bowie WK while Billboard stated it was “arguably the year’s most underrated release.” WK Notes: B-sides “Julie” and “Girls”, along with the title track from the soundtrack of When the Wind Blows, were added to the Virgin Records CD reissue. In 2018, a remixed version of the album was released on the Loving the Alien box set.

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for David Bowie AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine WK Wikipedia First posted 2/20/2008; last updated 8/2/2021.

 

David Bowie Tonight album released

Tonight David Bowie

Released: September 24, 1984 Peak: 11 US, 11 UK, 4 CN, 4 AU Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.1 UK, 3.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Loving the Alien [7:10] (6/8/85, 10 CO, 19 UK, 65 AU) Don’t Look Down (Pop/Williamson) [4:10] God Only Knows (Asher/Wilson) [3:07] Tonight (with Tina Turner) [3:45] (12/1/84, 53 US, 51 CB, 32 AR, 6 CO, 53 UK, 21 CN, 70 AU) Neighborhood Threat (Bowie/Pop) [3:13] (10/13/84, 40 AR, 32 CO) Blue Jean [3:12] (9/15/84, 8 US, 5 CB, 10 RR, 2 AR, 2 CO, 6 UK, 12 AU) Tumble and Twirl (Bowie/Pop) [4:59] I Keep Forgetting (Leiber/Stoller) [2:36] Dancing with the Big Boys (with Iggy Pop)(Alomar/Bowie/Pop) [3:34] Songs written by David Bowie unless indicated otherwise. Total Running Time: 35:32 The Players: David Bowie (vocals) Derek Bramble (guitar, bass, synthesizers, backing vocals,) Carlos Alomar (guitar) Carmine Rojas (bass) Omar Hakim (drums) Sammy Figueroa (percussion) Rob Yale (Fairlight CMI) Guy St. Onge (marimba) Arif Mardin (string arrangements, synthesizers) Mark Pender (flugel horn, trumpet) Robin Clark, George Simms, Curtis King (backing vocals) Mark King (bass on “Tumble and Twirl”) Tina Turner (guest vocals on “Tonight”) Iggy Pop (guest vocals on “Dancing with the Big Boys”)

Rating: 2.577 out of 5.00 (average of 24 ratings)

About the Album: After achieving the best-selling album of his career with 1983’s Let’s Dance, David Bowie followed up with an album in much the same formula with dance-oriented pop inflected with blue-eyed soul. Unfortunately, the album was missing a few of the key players that made Let’s Dance so successful, namely Chic’s Nile Rodgers as producer and Stevie Ray Vaughan on guitar. Blue Jean, the lead single, is generally viewed as the best song on the album, which isn’t surprising since it followed the same formula as the hits from Let’s Dance. Other than that song, “none of the material equals the songs on Let's Dance, but that doesn’t stop Tonight from becoming another platinum success.” AMG The Serious Moonlight tour in support of Let’s Dance brought a new audience which Bowie didn’t even recognize. He was uninspired to record a new album, but was pressured by the record label to come up with a quick follow-up. As on the previous album, Bowie didn’t play any instruments, focusing exclusively on vocals. He didn’t even provide much direction to the other musicians in the studio. WK He also stepped back on the writing, covering the Beach Boys’ God Only Knows and Chuck Jackson’s I Keep Forgetting, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Biographers Nicholas Pegg and Chris O’Leary have both called Bowie’s version of “God Only Knows” “the worst recording he ever made.” WK Author David Buckley called “I Keep Forgetting” “unmemorable.” WK Bowie originally wrote Neighborhood Threat and the title cut with Iggy Pop for Pop’s 1977 Lust for Life album. Don’t Look Down was written by Pop for his 1979 New Values album. The pair also wrote the new songs Tumble and Twirl and Dancing with the Big Boys. Pop duets with Bowie on the latter. In addition to “Blue Jean,” the song Loving the Alien was released as a single, but it didn’t even scratch the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. Bowie felt the song didn’t fit with the rest of the album because of its darker nature. WK The “reggae-influenced” WK “Tonight,” featuring Tina Turner, reached #53 in the U.S. They sang the song face-to-face in the studio together. WK Almost immediately upon the album’s release, Bowie seemed almost apologetic in interviews. WK Critics weren’t too kind in judging the album. All Music Guide’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine said, “The record stands as one of the weakest albums Bowie ever recorded.” AMG Rolling Stone said “this album is a throwaway, and David Bowie knows it.” WK Stylus magazine did, however, say “It’s a much better album than you think it is” and that even though it isn’t a great album, it is a good one. WK The New Statesmen’s Yo Zushi said, “no album that begins with the seven-minute masterpiece ‘Loving the Alien’ and contains the rocking ‘Blue Jean’ should have received the drubbing it got.” WK Notes: “As the World Falls Down,” from the Labyrinth soundtrack, and singles “This Is Not America” (with Pat Metheny – from the soundtrack for The Falcon & the Snowman) and “Absolute Beginners” (from the soundtrack of the same name) were added to the Virgin Records CD reissue.

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for David Bowie AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine WK Wikipedia First posted 2/20/2008; last updated 8/2/2021.

 

David Bowie Scary Monsters album released

Scary Monsters David Bowie

Released: September 12, 1980 Peak: 12 US, 12 UK, 9 CN, 15 AU Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.3 UK, 4.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. It’s No Game, Pt. 1 [4:20] Up the Hill Backwards [3:15] (3/28/81, 39 CL, 13 CO, 32 UK) Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) [5:12] (1/2/81, 34 CL, 9 CO, 20 UK) Ashes to Ashes [4:25] (8/1/80, 79 CB, 4 CL, 2 CO, 1 UK, 3 AU) Fashion [4:49] (10/24/80, 70 US, 79 CB, 79 HR, 12 CL, 5 CO, 5 UK, 27 AU) Teenage Wildlife [6:56] Scream Like a Baby [3:35] Kingdome Come (Verlaine) [3:45] Because You’re Young [4:54] It’s No Game, Pt. 2 [4:22] Songs written by David Bowie unless indicated otherwise. The Players: David Bowie (vocals, multiple instruments) Tony Visconti (producer, guitar, backing vocals) Carlos Alomar, Robert Fripp (guitar) George Murray (bass) Dennis Davis (drums) Chuck Hammer (guitar synthesizer) Roy Bittan (piano) Andy Clark (synthesizer) Pete Townshend (guitar on “Because You’re Young”) Lynn Maitland, Chris Porter (backing vocals) Total Running Time: 45:37

Rating: 4.081 out of 5.00 (average of 26 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: After David Bowie’s artistic, but less commercially-driven Berlin Trilogy (1977’s Low and Heroes and 1979’s Lodger), he “returned to relatively conventional rock & roll with Scary Monsters, an album that effectively acts as an encapsulation of all his ‘70s experiments.” AMG Despite the conscious move toward creating more accessible music, Bowie employed many of the same musicians he’d worked with over the last few years. That included his core group of guitarist Carlos Alomar, bassist George Murray, and drummer Dennis Davis who’d been with him since 1976’s Station to Station. Collaborator Brian Eno, who’d had a heavy influence on the ambient sound of the Berlin Trilogy, was out, but Bowie brought back Robert Fripp, the King Crimson guitarist who’d worked on Heroes. Pianist Roy Bittan, who’d played on Station to Station came back into the fold since he was recording Bruce Springsteen’s The River at the same time in the same studio. “Reworking glam rock themes with avant-garde synth flourishes, and reversing the process as well, Bowie creates dense but accessible music throughout Scary Monsters. Though it doesn’t have the vision of his other classic records, it wasn’t designed to break new ground…While the music isn't far removed from the post-punk of the early '80s, it does sound fresh, hip, and contemporary, which is something Bowie lost over the course of the ‘80s.” AMG The album opens with the sinister guitar loops of It’s No Game (No. 1), which also featured screaming vocals reminiscent of John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band. WK It features lyrics read by Japanese actress Michi Horita in a “macho samurai voice” which Bowie insisted on to “break down a particular type of sexist attitude about women.” WK The album ends with It’s No Game (No. 2). It has different lyrics than the album opener and is generally more mellow and meditative. Up the Hill Backwards focuses on the struggle one endures facing crisis. It includes a misquote of the self-help book I’m OK – You’re OK, which has been interpreted as a reference to Bowie’s divorce from his wife Angie. WK “Musically, it features unusual time signatures and a Bo Diddley-inspired beat.” WK The title cut grew out of a 1975 song “Running Scared” which Bowie had played for his friend Iggy Pop. The rhythm section was inspired by Joy Division; Davis’ drumming has been compared to their “She’s Lost Control” song. WK Scream Like a Baby also grew out of an earlier song – “I Am a Laser” from the early to mid-‘70s. The lyrics focused on the instability of political imprisonment while the music was of a contemporary new wave sound. WK The lead single, Ashes to Ashes, revisited the character of Major Tom who Bowie created in his breakthrough single, 1969’s “Space Oddity.” Now ten years older, Tom is described as a junkie – a parallel to Bowie’s struggles with addiction in the 1970s. As Bowie said, “You have to accommodate your pasts within your persona. You have to understand why you went through them. You cannot just ignore them.” WK The song, which hit #1 in the UK, was promoted with what was then the most expensive video ever made. WK Author Nicholas Pegg says the song kickstarted the New Romantic movement. WK Fashion was reminiscent of Bowie’s own “Golden Years” from 1975 because of its mix of reggae and funk. It grew out of Clark spoofing reggae on his synthesizers. Lyrics such as “we are the goon squad” and “turn to the left, turn to the right” provoked elements of fascism. It was the album’s second single and was supported by another well-received video. The refrain-free Teenage Wildlife was the longest song on Scary Monsters. It is structurally similar to “Heroes<” and has backing vocals reminiscent of the Ronettes. The lyrics have been interpreted as an attack on Bowie imitators such as Gary Numan or even a reflection on his younger self. WK Similarly, Bowie reflects on the younger generation and offers them advice in Because You’re Young, a song he dedicated to his son Duncan, then nine years old. The Who’s Pete Townshend served as a guest guitarist on the track. Kingdom Come was a cover of a Tom Verlaine song. He was invited to play with Bowie, but his part wasn’t used. There’s no certainty he was even recorded. Instead, Robert Fripp played the guitar parts. Music journalist Peter Doggett described the song’s arrangement as “an unhappy cross between Motown sound and the sterility of American AOR.” WK From a lyrical standpoint, the song expresses similar themes of “frustration, boredom and repetition” as found on other tracks of the album. WK Pegg described the album as “the triumphant culmination of Bowie’s steely art-rock phase and a crucial doorway into early 1980s British pop.” WK Bowie himself consider the album to be “the epitome of the new wave sound at the time.” WK All Music Guide’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine said it “was created as the culmination of Bowie’s experimental genre-shifting of the ‘70s. As a result, Scary Monsters is Bowie’s last great album.” AMG Notes: The 1992 Rykodisc reissue adds the 1979 recordings of “Space Oddity” and “Panic in Detroit” as well as the singles “Crystal Japan” and “Alabama Song.”

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for David Bowie AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine WK Wikipedia First posted 2/20/2008; last updated 8/1/2021.

   

David Bowie Lodger released

Lodger David Bowie

Released: May 18, 1979 Peak: 20 US, 4 UK, 15 CN, 11 AU Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.1 UK, 2.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: experimental rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Fantastic Voyage (Bowie/Eno) [2:54] African Night Flight (Bowie/Eno) [2:55] Move On [3:18] Yassassin (Turkish for: Long Live) [4:11] (6/69, 45 CL, 33 CO) Red Sails (Bowie/Eno) [3:44] D.J. [4:00] (6/29/79, 35 CL, 7 CO, 29 UK, 98 AU) Look Back in Anger [3:06] (8/20/79, 43 CL, 26 CO) Boys Keep Swinging (Bowie/Eno) [3:18] (4/27/79, 32 CL, 8 CO, 7 UK, 85 AU) Repetition [2:59] Red Money [6:59] Songs written by David Bowie unless indicated otherwise. The Players: David Bowie (vocals, multiple instruments) Brian Eno (synthesizers, keyboards, guitar treatments) Tony Visconti (producer, mandolin, guitar, bass, backing vocals) Carlos Alomar (guitar) Dennis Davis (percussion) George Murray (bass) Adrian Belew (guitar, mandolin) Sean Mayes (piano) Simon House (mandolin, violin, backing vocals) Roger Powell (synthesizers) Stan Harrison (saxophone on “Red Sails”) Total Running Time: 45:41

Rating: 3.638 out of 5.00 (average of 23 ratings)

About the Album: Lodger was the third album in what was known as the Berlin Trilogy. Most of the album was not, in fact, recorded in Berlin but Switzerland. However, the three albums are lumped together because David Bowie collaborated on them with Brian Eno and producer Tony Visconti. Much of the lineup was the same as with the two previous albums, although Adrian Belew – who’d been touring with Frank Zappa – was brought into the fold this time. Interestingly, he stepped into the role former King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp had filled on the last album. Belew would go on to play guitar for King Crimson. Bowie and Eno tried different experiments such as playing old tunes backwards and having musicians trade instruments. Most of the songs were recorded with working titles and Bowie added lyrics later. Regarding the lyrics, the album focuses on two major themes – mostly on travel in the first half and primarily critiques of Western civilization in the second half. WK Author Frank Mastropolo saw Lodger as a concept album about a homeless traveler. WK “On the surface, Lodger is the most accessible of the three Berlin-era records David Bowie made with Brian Eno.” AMG It “lacks the electronic and ambient styles and the song/instrumental split that defined its two predecessors.” WK The album “has an edgier, more minimalistic bent than its two predecessors, which makes it more accessible for rock fans, as well as giving it a more immediate, emotional impact. It might not stretch the boundaries of rock like Low and Heroes, but it arguably utilizes those ideas in a more effective fashion.” AMG There are even “a handful of concise pop songs.” AMG The album is still full of “gnarled and twisted avant pop; what makes it different is how it incorporates such experimental tendencies into genuine songs, something that Low and Heroes purposely avoided. D.J., Look Back in Anger, and Boys Keep Swinging have strong melodic hooks that are subverted and strengthened by the layered, dissonant productions, while the remainder of the record is divided between similarly effective avant pop and ambient instrumentals.” AMG The song “D.J.” took a look at how the disc jockey is viewed simply for what he is on the outside. WK Writer Ian Mathers said it was “a horror story about a human being reduced to nothing more than work.” WK Bowie said, “This is somewhat cynical but it’s my natural response to disco.” WK He imitates Talking Heads’ David Byrne in his vocal delivery. Ultimate Classic Rock’s Bryan Wawzenek described it as a “danceable gem.” WK On “Look Back in Anger,” Bowie encounters an angel of death who has come to claim his soul. WK All Music Guide’s Ned Raggett described it as a “sharp-edged, thrillingly modern rock song.” WK Oasis named their 1996 song “Don’t Look Back in Anger” after Bowie’s song. WK “Boys Keep Swinging” was one of the songs where the players switched instruments. It contained gender-bending lyrics. Bowie said, “I do not feel there is anything remotely glorious about being either male or female. I was merely playing on the idea of the colonization of a gender.” WK Repetition is a chilling tale of a narrator conveying no emotion while beating his wife. WK The song was released as a B-side for third single “Yassassin” and again for fourth single “Look Back in Anger.” The opening cut, Fantastic Voyage, is “surprisingly delicate,” WK signalling what author Peter Doggett said implied a “less intense” record. WK Three different musicians play mandolin and then each part was tripled-tracked. WK Move On was one of the songs that grew out of Eno and Bowie’s experimentation with playing songs backwards – in this case, “All the Young Dudes,” which Bowie wrote for Mott the Hoople. Thematically, the song focuses on wanderlust. The funk-and-reggae infused Yassassin incorporated violin to create the sound of Middle Eastern folk and Turkish music. WK Red Sails was inspired by the German band Neu!, sharing the same drum beat. While previous album Low received fairly universal praise, the assessment of Lodger was more mixed. Melody Maker’s Jon Savage called it “a nice enough pop record, beautifully played, produced and crafted, and slightly faceless.” WK Red Starr of Smash Hits said it sounded like “a ragbag of rejects from previous styles.” WK It was, however, referred to as Bowie’s “most eloquent” record in years in The New York Times. WK Spin magazine’s Jon Dolan said it was “his last great album.” WK It has been cited as a forerunner to the sound of Talking Heads and Spandau Ballet and some of its songs have even been credited with influencing Britpop in the 1990s. Notes: The 1991 Rykodisc reissue included the previously unreleased 1979 song “I Pray Olé” and a new version of “Look Back in Anger” Recorded in 1988.

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for David Bowie AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine WK Wikipedia First posted 2/20/2008; last updated 8/1/2021.

 

David Bowie Heroes album released

Heroes David Bowie

Released: October 14, 1977 Peak: 35 US, 3 UK, 44 CN, 35 AU Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.1 UK, 2.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Beauty and the Beast [3:32] (1/6/78, 39 CL, 14 CO, 39 UK) Joe the Lion [3:05] Heroes (Bowie/Eno) [6:07] (9/23/77, 1 CL, 1 CO, 24 UK, 11 AU) Sons of the Silent Age [3:15] Blackout [3:10] V-2 Schneider [3:10] Sense of Doubt [3:57] Moss Garden (Bowie/Eno) [5:03] Neuköln (Bowie/Eno) [4:34] The Secret Life of Arabia (Alomar/Bowie/Eno) [3:46] Songs written by David Bowie unless indicated otherwise. Total Running Time: 40:18 The Players: David Bowie (vocals, multiple instruments) Brian Eno (synthesizers, keyboards, guitar treatments) Carlos Alomar, Robert Fripp (guitar) Dennis Davis (percussion) George Murray (bass) Tony Visconti (percussion, backing vocals, producer) Antonia Maass (backing vocals)

Rating: 4.131 out of 5.00 (average of 22 ratings) Quotable: -- Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: 1977 was a busy year for David Bowie. Iggy Pop released his first solo album The Idiot, which was written and recorded with Bowie. He toured with Pop as his keyboardist and they went back into the studio to record Pop’s second solo album, Lust for Life. Bowie also released his own album, Low, at the onset of the year. Much of the same lineup returned for Heroes, including collaborator Brian Eno and producer Tony Visconti. For this album, Robert Fripp of King Crimson was added on guitar. He provided “a muscular foundation for the electronics, especially on the relatively conventional rock songs.” AMG Pitchfork’s Ryan Dombal praised Fripp as the standout on the record. WK Low, Heroes, and the next album, Lodger, are referred to as the Berlin Trilogy, but this was the only one of the three albums recorded entirely in Berlin. The studio, a former concert hall used as a ballroom by Gestapo officers during World War II, was located about 500 yards from the Berlin Wall. WK Essentially, the difference between Low and Heroes lies in the details, but the record is equally challenging and groundbreaking.” AMG It continued to expand on the experimental music such as art rock, electronica, and ambient music explored on Low. “Heroes develops and strengthens the sonic innovations David Bowie and Brian Eno explored on their first collaboration. The vocal songs are fuller, boasting harder rhythms and deeper layers of sound.” AMG “The instrumentals…are more detailed, this time showing a more explicit debt to German synth pop and European experimental rock.” AMG Heroes largely followed “the formula of Low's half-vocal/half-instrumental structure.” AMG On the previous album, Bowie penned more autobiographical lyrics; this time they were more oblique and evasive. WK Bowie improvised lyrics in the studio, a technique he’d seen Iggy Pop employ when they worked together. On the title cut, Bowie’s vocal ranges from “calm and playful to a near-scream.” WK “Fripp’s guitar feedback dominates throughout, while the bass pulsates and Eno sythesizers blends in the background.” WK Bowie said the song was about facing reality and acknowledging that the future didn’t belong to him, but everyone. WK Joe the Lion was a tribute to American artist Chris Burden, known for outlandish publicity stunts. WK V-2 Schneider was inspired and named after Florian Schneider of Kraftwerk, one of the band’s who’d been significantly influential in the Berlin Trilogy. Blackout referred to the 1977 blackout in New York City. Sons of the Silent Age was influenced by the works of Jacques Brel. WK The Secret Life of Arabia signalled what was to come with Lodger. WK The “dark and gloomy” WK instrumentals included Sense of Doubt, which repeated “a four-note piano motif against a set of synthesizers to paint an image of a barren landscape.” WK Moss Garden, which featured Bowie playing the Japanese instrument koto, “evoke[d] a sound resembling aeroplanes flying overhead.” WK Neuköln was named after a district in Berlin and “uses sound to capture the feeling of despair and desperation that the Turkish immigrants who lived there experienced.” WK Heroes was named Album of the Year by NME and Melody Maker. Zig Zag’s Kris Needs said it was “a strange, cold, sometimes impenetrable album, but Bowie makes all these unlikely ingredients work.” WK In Hit Parader, musician Patti Smith called it “a cryptic product of a higher order of intelligence.” WK Robert Christgau of The Village Voice considered the instrumentals to be little more than “interesting background.” WK Notes: The 1991 Rykodisc reissue includes the German version of “Heroes” and the song “Abdulmajid.”

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for David Bowie AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine WK Wikipedia First posted 2/20/2008; last updated 8/3/2021.

 

David Bowie Low released

Low David Bowie

Released: January 14, 1977 Peak: 11 US, 2 UK, 56 CN, 10 AU Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.1 UK, 2.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Speed of Life [2:46] Breaking Glass (Bowie/David/Murray) [1:51] (11/17/78, 41 CL, 15 CO, 54 UK) What in the World [2:23] Sound and Vision [3:03] (2/11/77, 69 US, 88 CB, 18 CL, 5 CO, 3 UK, 74 AU) Always Crashing in the Same Car [3:29] Be My Wife [2:55] (6/17/77, 29 CL, 20 CO) A New Career in a New Town [2:51] Warszawa (Bowie/Eno) [6:20] Art Decade (Bowie/Eno) [3:43] Weeping Wall [3:26] Subterraneans [5:39] Songs written by David Bowie unless indicated otherwise. Total Running Time: 34:34 The Players: David Bowie (vocals, multiple instruments) Brian Eno (keyboards, etc.) Carlos Alomar, Ricky Gardiner (guitar) Dennis Davis (percussion) George Murray (bass) Roy Young (pianos, organ)

Rating: 4.244 out of 5.00 (average of 27 ratings) Quotable: Low provides “a new direction for the avant-garde in rock & roll.” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: After living in Los Angeles and dealing with drug addiction, Bowie and his friend Iggy Pop moved to France in 1976 to sober up. The pair of them recorded The Idiot, Pop’s debut solo album. They traveled to Hansa Studios in West Berlin to mix the album and Bowie became fascinated with the city. In September 1976, Bowie began work on his own album, Low, the first of three albums which became known as the Berlin Trilogy. Brian Eno, who’d explored ambient music in his work, heavily influenced Bowie during this period. He has been mistakenly attributed as the producer of the Berlin Trilogy albums, but they were actually produced by Tony Visconti, who’d worked with Bowie on previous albums. Eno, however, “functioned as a conduit for Bowie’s ideas, and in turn Bowie made the experimentalism of not only Eno but of the German synth group Kraftwerk and the post-punk group Wire respectable, if not quite mainstream.” AMG “The record is defiantly experimental and dense with detail, providing a new direction for the avant-garde in rock & roll,” AMG including experimental rock such as post-punk, electronic, and ambient music. Side one consisted of “short, direct avant-pop song fragments.” WK “The guitars are jagged and the synthesizers drone with a menacing robotic pulse, while Bowie’s vocals are unnaturally layered and overdubbed.” AMG “Sound and Vision has a shimmering guitar hook” AMG and doesn’t feature Bowie’s vocals until the 1:45 mark. Eno said it was done to “confound listener expectations.” WK The lyrics reflected Bowie’s mental state after his drug addiction. He called it his “ultimate retreat song.” WK Always Crashing in the Same Car referenced an incident during Bowie’s time in Los Angeles when he kept ramming his car into that of a drug dealer’s who was ripping him off. Lyrically, it was a metaphor for repeating mistakes and Bowie’s obsession with travel and constant lifestyle change. WK On Be My Wife, Bowie was lyrically reflecting on his “feelings of loneliness, inability to settle, and plea for human connections.” WK Musically, it “subverts soul structure in a surprisingly catchy fashion.” AMG The second side consists of longer, mostly “atmospheric instrumentals.” AMG “The electronics turn cool, which is a relief after the intensity of the preceding avant pop.” AMG Warszawa was named after the Polish city of Warsaw. Bowie visited it in April 1976 and wanted to capture the desolate landscape in music. The haunting song was mostly composed by Eno. Biographer David Buckley called it the album’s “most startling” piece. WK Art Decade, about West Berlin, was a pun on “art decayed.” It was Bowie’s reflection on “a city cut off from its world, art and culture, dying with no hope of retribution.” WK Weeping Wall was “meant to evoke the pain and misery of the Berlin Wall.” WK It featured Bowie playing all the instruments himself. It was influenced by composer Steve Reich. Bowie described Subterraneans as a portrait of “the people who got caught in East Berlin after the separation.” WK it was originally recorded for the soundtrack for The Man Who Fell to Earth, which starred Bowie. The director, Nicolas Roeg, decided against the music, wanting a folksier sound. WK The album was originally rejected by RCA, who wanted something in a more commercial vein like preceding albums Young Americans and Station to Station. Bowie refused and RCA delayed the album from its intended November 1976 release because they considered it “distinctinly unpalatable” for the Christmas market. WK It was eventually released in January 1977 and received little promotion. Sounds magazine’s Tim Lott called Low “the most difficult piece of music Bowie has ever put his name to.” WK Phonograph Record’s Bud Scoppa said it was “the most intimate and free recording this extraordinary artist has yet made.” WK NME’s Ian MacDonald described the album as “stunningly beautiful…the sound of Sinatra reproduced by Martian computers.” WK The New York Times’ John Rockwell said “the instrumentals are strange and spacey. Nevertheless, the whole thing strikes this listener as remarkably, alluringly beautiful.” WK The Observer’s Ron Hart said “Low is an album that will make you dance, think and weep all in the span of 38 minutes.” WK Notes: The 1991 Rykodisc reissue adds a remixed version of “Sound and Vision” as well as previously unreleased songs “Some Are” and “All Saints.”

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for David Bowie AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine WK Wikipedia First posted 2/20/2008; last updated 7/31/2021.