Scary Monsters (And Tremendous Creeps) (1980)
David Bowie’s first album of the Nineteen Eighties was a milestone document for a lot of causes. It was his final to be co-produced with collaborator Tony Visconti for greater than 20 years, his swansong for RCA and for a lot of acolytes,
the ultimate time that the star could possibly be hailed as a real musical visionary.
Launched only a yr after wrapping up the Berlin trilogy that had seen him drift additional in the direction of the avant-garde, Scary Monsters (And Tremendous Creeps) introduced Bowie again to the mainstream, topping the UK charts and spawning solely his second ever No.1 single.
With its self-mythologising nods to Area Oddity’s Main Tom, Ashes To Ashes definitely owes a thematic debt to his first hit single. However sonically it sounded poles aside, its chunky funk basslines and springy synths primarily shaping the sound of the last decade forward.
In the meantime, its surrealist video – on the time the most costly ever made – was equally pioneering, an look from Visage’s Steve Unusual giving the burgeoning New Romantic scene, (and the Bowie-worshipping Blitz membership) one almighty seal of approval.
Additionally proving that Bowie nonetheless had his finger firmly on the heartbeat, the title monitor’s account of a girl descending into insanity evoked the claustrophobic post-punk of Pleasure Division.
Kingdom Come, his first cowl since Station To Station, helped to convey the artwork rock of Tv frontman Tom Verlaine’s solo profession to the plenty.
Elsewhere, Trend, each a celebration and mockery of society’s must sustain with sartorial traits, channelled the mechanical new wave of Speaking Heads.
Teenage Wildlife, the closest Bowie got here to a “Heroes” sequel, suggests he wasn’t completely enamoured with each newcomer nipping at his heels, with the final interpretation being that it’s a riposte to his imitators, together with man of the then-moment Gary Numan (“Usual factor in model new drag comes sweeping into view/ As ugly as a teenage millionaire pretending it’s a whizz child world”). Bowie additionally threw issues again to the classic rock’n’roll of Bo Diddley on Up The Hill Backwards whereas providing a uncommon perception into his break-up with first spouse Angie. And the entire opus is bookended by songs titled It’s No Recreation, the primary an abrasive mix of Japanese spoken phrase and intense guitars courtesy of Robert Fripp, the second a extra sombre affair through which the narrator seems resigned to their destiny.
As famous by Nicholas Pegg in The Full David Bowie, Visconti claimed: “We type of felt that we’d lastly achieved our Sgt. Pepper” – a daring assertion, however one which in the end rang true.
Let’s Dance (1983)
“I actually need you to make hits.” That’s what Bowie instructed Rolling Stone journal he requested from producer Nile Rodgers for his first album with EMI. With Let’s Dance spawning a No.1 7″ plus a duo of No.2 singles, selecting up his first and solely Album of the 12 months Grammy nod and shifting greater than 10 million copies to change into his all-time largest vendor, it’s honest to say the Stylish founder fulfilled the transient.
Certainly, Rodgers’ fingerprints are all around the chart tour-de-force, from the Little Richard-inspired call-and-response of Fashionable Love to the title monitor, one of many Nineteen Eighties’ best No.1s which initially pays homage to The Beatles’ Twist And Shout earlier than striding on to the dancefloor with some chic New York funk.
Rodgers even manages to imbue the unrequited love story of Iggy Pop’s China Woman, written and produced by Bowie for The Fool, in fact, with a playful disco-adjacent sheen.
Nicholas Pegg relays in The Full David Bowie how Bowie would say, “It’s extra Nile’s album than mine.”
Whereas Let’s Dance is Bowie’s industrial peak, it does characterize the beginning of his artistic decline. The truth that three of its eight tunes are reworkings means that Bowie had but to rediscover his musical mojo: he’d spent a lot of the final three years dwelling as a recluse over fears of a John Lennon-style assassination, solely sometimes resurfacing to pursue his performing profession.
Bowie did, nevertheless, add at the very least one bona fide traditional throughout this comparatively fallow interval: the Giorgio Moroder-produced theme to erotic horror Cat Individuals. Unwisely, nevertheless, he tinkered with the unique just a little an excessive amount of right here, turning what was a creeping little bit of gothic rock into AOR.
Nonetheless, Bowie, who for the primary time in his profession determined towards taking part in any devices to focus solely on his vocals, is all the time in wonderful type, whether or not it’s taking part in the crooner on the nostalgic pop of With out You or delivering simply the correct quantity of swagger on the extra experimental Ricochet.
Finally, Let’s Dance is a superb mid-80s pop document, however solely Bowie one.
Tonight (1984)
Bowie appeared to undergo one thing of an existential disaster throughout 1983’s Severe Moonlight Tour, the ocean of latest faces reeled in by Let’s Dance a perturbing presence for a person who’d beforehand all the time identified his viewers. That maybe explains why he ditched final hitmaker Rodgers for its follow-up Tonight, changing him with the long run producer of Phil Collins’ No Jacket Required.
To be honest, Hugh Padgham had solely stepped in on the final minute following one too many artistic disputes with unique alternative, Derek Bramble. And he later admitted that he’d felt too moist behind the ears to inform a bona fide rock god that his materials wasn’t as much as scratch. The music press, nevertheless, had no such qualms, with most shops seeming to take nice glee in giving a kicking to a person who had beforehand been untouchable.
Bowie himself proved to be simply as dismissive. In response to Nicholas Pegg in The Full David Bowie, the singer later mentioned, “It was only a assortment of songs” that “sounded form of jumbled; it didn’t maintain collectively nicely in any respect.”
Whereas Tonight undoubtedly has its fair proportion of issues – the terrible model of The Seashore Boys’ God Solely Is aware of is a powerful contender for an all-time profession nadir, whereas no fewer than three perfunctory Iggy Pop covers (together with a reggae remodeling of Don’t Look Down) exemplify simply how low the artistic juices had been flowing – it’s not a complete write-off both.
The eerie sophistipop of opener Loving The Alien, one of many few tracks Bowie was completely happy to return to throughout subsequent excursions, is arguably the standout.
Blue Jean is a rollicking throwback to the rock’n’roll of Eddie Cochran, and the rhythmic worldbeat of Tumble And Twirl, written with Iggy about their latest hedonistic escapades in Bali, is best use of his common partner-in-crime’s musical abilities.
However the title monitor collaboration with Tina Turner, is extra consultant of the document’s “it will do” strategy. Certainly, there’s a powerful sense that Tonight is extra of a rush-release to capitalise on Bowie’s industrial rejuvenation than a needed inventive assertion.
By no means Let Me Down (1987)
The maligned Tonight is taken into account a masterpiece in contrast with its much more scorned follow-up, with Bowie arguably its harshest critic: “I actually shouldn’t have even bothered going into the studio to document it,” he later admitted to Rolling Stone journal. In actual fact, the star was so shameful in regards to the 50s throwback Too Dizzy he later deleted it from all future pressings.
Following collaborations with Mick Jagger and the Pat Metheny Group, Bowie continued to widen his circle, inviting his outdated mate Peter Frampton to play lead guitar and, bizarrely, actor Mickey Rourke to rap on the falsetto-led survival story Shining Star (Makin’ My Love).
But Bowie remained closely in thrall to Iggy Pop, tapping up David Richards, the producer who’d simply labored on his Blah-Blah-Blah album, and masking his 1981 hit Bang Bang. The continued over-reliance on drum machines and rudimentary synths means it’s dated simply as badly, too.
It isn’t solely with out benefit. The title monitor is a beautiful Lennon-esque dedication to his private assistant Coco Schwab and can be Bowie’s final US Prime 40 hit for practically 30 years.
Commentaries on Los Angeles’ homelessness drawback (Day-In Day-Out) and Thatcherite Britain (87 And Cry), in the meantime, proved that Bowie nonetheless had a potent method with phrases.
Black Tie White Noise (1993)
Following two unloved onerous rock albums with aspect undertaking Tin Machine, Bowie primarily hit the reset button along with his first solo LP in six years, and arguably his first satisfactory in 10. Impressed by each his marriage to supermodel Iman and the Los Angeles riots that occurred 5 days later, Black Tie White Noise is, unsurprisingly, a document of two halves.
It opens with The Wedding ceremony, a sensuous mix of trip-hop beats, Center Japanese woodwind and church bells that Bowie composed particularly for his nuptials, and closes with a vocal reprise through which he describes his bride as an “angel for all times.”
He additionally performs the romantic on Miracle Goodnight, a crooning rendition of Morrissey’s I Know It’s Gonna Occur Sometime and Don’t Let Me Down & Down, an English-language remodeling of an obscure ballad from Mauritanian singer Tahra Mint Hembara.
Amongst all of the unabashed expressions of affection, nevertheless, Bowie additionally addresses a lot darker points. The title monitor, an unlikely duet with new jack swing favorite Al B. Positive!, holds a mirror as much as each white privilege (“Getting my information from a Benetton advert”) and the beating of Rodney King.
In the meantime, he additionally tackles the tragic suicide of his schizophrenic half-brother Terry Burns on the paranoid funk of Bounce They Say, his first Prime 10 hit since Absolute Newbies seven years earlier.
Additionally that includes covers of Cream’s I Really feel Free and The Walker Brothers’ Nite Flights – the previous boasting outdated cohort Mick Ronson – a Tin Machine outtake (You’ve Been Round) in addition to a jazz instrumental (Trying For Lester) which allowed Bowie to point out off his sax expertise, Black Tie… kickstarted an experimental interval through which the star’s important fame steadily recovered.
Though consciously rallying towards the concept of constructing Let’s Dance Half II, Bowie’s reunion with Nile Rodgers sparked an identical renaissance. Certainly, not solely did Bowie begin rubbing shoulders with Brett Anderson on the entrance cowl of the NME, he additionally coincidentally changed Suede’s self-titled debut on the high spot of the UK Albums Chart, too.
However whereas the 10-track affair is much from top-tier David, there are nonetheless a number of lesser-known gems. Intercourse And The Church is a pulsating electro-funk quantity which harnessed the thrill of the vocoder a number of years earlier than Cher. Strangers When We Meet is much superior to the remodeling that later appeared on Outdoors, whereas Bleed Like A Craze, Dad, a collaboration with little-known trio 3D Echo, is a slinky throwback to the white boy funk of Fame.
Ambient instrumental Ian Fish, U.Ok. Inheritor – an anagram of Kureishi’s identify, in case you had been questioning – spends greater than six minutes aimlessly wandering searching for a melody, and Lenny Kravitz fails to make his presence heard on an alternate reduce of the eponymous opener.
Extra intriguing stopgap than an underappreciated hidden treasure.
Outdoors (1995)
By no means one for following the group, Bowie determined the obvious plan of motion in the course of the peak of Cool Britannia was to launch an industrial rock idea album in regards to the homicide of a teenage woman which sat someplace between 9 Inch Nails and Twin Peaks. In actual fact, David Lynch’s cult traditional seems positively easy in comparison with the non-linear narrative that stretches throughout a extremely difficult 75 minutes.
Certainly, good luck making any sense of the story set between 1977 and 1999 within the fictional New Jersey setting of Oxford City, one populated by characters together with a hardened detective, 70-something loner and shadowy entity named the Minotaur. Even the a number of spoken phrase interludes and CD booklet’s diary entries fail to make issues a lot clearer. “There’s an excessive amount of on it,” Bowie acknowledged to Los Angeles journalist Mark Brown in 1997, referring to a document that additionally spawned a comic book ebook collection and a three-hour bootleg.
Reuniting with Brian Eno for the primary time for the reason that Berlin trilogy, Outdoors’s sound isn’t any much less unorthodox, whether or not the squalling cabaret jazz leanings of A Small Plot Of Land, the avant-garde minimalism of Wishful Beginnings or the pummelling sci-fi rock of Hallo Spaceboy, nearly unrecognisable from the Pet Store Boys-assisted remix that made the UK Prime 20 the next yr.
Whereas most of Outdoors wilfully defies the idea of a simple hear, it does include at the very least one speedy gem within the form of The Hearts Filthy Lesson, a muscular slab of cyber-rock that appeared ultimately credit of David Fincher’s 1995 movie Seven and whose grotesque MTV-banned video proved that Bowie nonetheless possessed the ability to shock. In the meantime, We Prick You and I’m Deranged, the latter of which neatly introduced issues full circle because the bookending theme to Lynch’s headscratcher Misplaced Freeway, cleverly teased the drum ’n’ bass path that might outline its successor.
Outdoors is unlikely to high any Bowie fan’s all-time record but it surely stays an admirably audacious, if self-indulgent, affair.
Earthling (1997)
“I believed that what we must always do was develop our vocabulary of dance types, however incorporate rock,” Bowie defined to Stay journal about what turned identified, typically in a derogatory method, as his drum ’n’ bass album. Earthling might have been launched a couple of years too late to be thought of pioneering however contemplating Roni Measurement’s New Varieties received the Mercury Prize a couple of months later, it’s hardly the out-of-step affair a few of its critics purported.
Solely a handful of tracks absolutely decide to the breakneck velocity style. Single Little Marvel is essentially the most convincing, combining weird stream-of-consciousness lyrics impressed by the Seven Dwarves (“Dopey morning Doc, grumpy gnomes”) with thrilling stop-start beats and shrieking guitars. However Telling Lies, which as the primary official download-only single additional bolstered Bowie’s fame as a technological soothsayer, additionally subscribe to the “jungle is huge” ethos with aplomb.
Likewise, Battle For Britain (The Letter) through which the star questions his identification (“And a loser I might be for I’ve by no means been a winner in my life”) earlier than being interrupted by a piano solo impressed by Stravinsky.
Elsewhere, Seven Years In Tibet picks up the place the economic rock of Outdoors left off. Having cited The Prodigy’s Music For The Jilted Era as an all-time pet sound, Bowie echoes its thunderous techno-rock on Useless Man Strolling (initially a tribute to Susan Sarandon would you consider?).
Persevering with the unlikely origin tales, I’m Afraid Of People started life as a Showgirls soundtrack reduce named Dummy earlier than being repurposed right into a crunching and ever-timely critique of Uncle Sam. Time has definitely been a lot kinder to its full-throttle sound, definitely in comparison with the dying days of the Britpop scene.
Though he sported an Alexander McQueen-designed Union Jack swimsuit jacket for its cowl artwork, the forward-thinking Earthling – as with its predecessor – as soon as once more proved that Bowie had little or no curiosity in fetishising the previous.
Hours (1999)
Whereas his earlier 90s information seemed to be dripping in pre-millennial pressure, Bowie’s ultimate album earlier than the dreaded Y2K was a much more meditative affair, the place the one angst on present involved the inevitability of ageing.
Opening lead single Thursday’s Little one is a fantastically melancholic declaration of affection, completely set the tone forward. Certainly, the tempo solely actually picks up on Stooges-esque glam of The Fairly Issues Are Going To Hell and the tempo-shifting nearer, The Dreamers, which centres on a traveller questioning whether or not his finest days are behind him.
If I’m Dreaming My Life is a seven-minute sleepwalk by means of the breakdown of a relationship, and the eerie rocker What’s Actually Taking place, co-penned by a BowieNet songwriting competitors winner, chugs alongside searching for a solution.
Sensible Journey is a koto-led instrumental which sounds extra suited to a day spa than the wild trip promised by its title.
Intriguingly, Hours, which was launched on-line a number of weeks earlier than hitting cabinets, was initially devised as a soundtrack to Omikron: The Nomad Soul, a online game combining the supernatural with a murder-mystery. It’s an odd match for a document which, though tasteful and timeless, gives few thrills or surprises.
Heathen (2002)
“The circumstances, the atmosphere, the whole lot about it was simply excellent for us to search out out if we nonetheless had a chemistry that was actually efficient,” Bowie remarked to Richard Buskin (Sound On Sound), when reflecting on working with Tony Visconti for the primary time since 1980. It was a reunion which additionally birthed arguably the star’s most well-received album since they ended their fruitful partnership.
Launched by means of his personal ISO Information label, Heathen noticed Bowie bag nominations on the Mercury Prize and Grammy Awards (the latter for Sluggish Burn that includes Pete Townshend) whereas additionally attaining his highest charting place within the States for 18 years.
Clearly, after twenty years of experimenting with various levels of success, the broader world had been ready for the musical chameleon to get comparatively again to fundamentals.
Certainly, solely the skittering drum ’n’ bass of I Would Be Your Slave and pulsing techno-rock of The Legendary Stardust Cowboy’s I Took A Journey On A Gemini Spaceship, the sci-fi story Bowie freely admits he pilfered for his Ziggy Stardust days, actually locations the document within the modern-day. The person himself seems to acknowledge the time warp issue, singing “Down in house, it’s all the time 1982” on Slip Away, a Area Oddity-esque ballad bizarrely impressed by the puppetry of youngsters cult favorite The Uncle Floyd Present.
There are additional nods to his traditional again catalogue on lead single Everybody Says ‘Hello’, a jaunty tribute to departed guitarist Reeves Gabrels which may have simply slotted onto Hunky Dory, the Berlin-era new wave of Afraid and I’ve Been Ready For You, the Neil Younger cowl which was a staple of Tin Machine’s early 90s setlists.
Having change into a brand new dad at 53 and having not too long ago misplaced his mom, Margaret, Bowie is in a much more reflective mode on Heathen. A Higher Future pleads with the next energy to make the world a lot much less of a hellfire (“Give my youngsters sunny smiles/ Give them moon and cloudless skies”).
“I wouldn’t change a word of it,” he declared per The Full David Bowie, a couple of document that proved he was discovering a brand new middle-age groove.
The curiously named anti-war anthem Fall Canine Bombs The Moon serves up a blistering assault on Dick Cheney. And whereas Bowie had refuted claims that Heathen was closely impressed by 9/11, opener New Killer Star seems to obviously reference the tragedy that unfolded a mile from his Massive Apple residence (“See the nice white scar/ Over Battery Park”).
Though its lyrical themes are steeped in melancholy, the returning Visconti’s manufacturing is positively buoyant and the title monitor is the toughest Bowie had rocked since Tin Machine. In the meantime, nearer Deliver Me The Disco King is an eight-minute musical odyssey which delves into his love of New York jazz.
Actuality proved as soon as once more that is David Bowie’s world and we’re all simply dwelling in it.
The Subsequent Day (2013)
Other than the odd visitor look (TV On The Radio, Scarlett Johansson), Bowie’s music profession had lay dormant since a well being scare compelled him to cancel the A Actuality Tour in 2004.
So, his unannounced comeback 9 years later was inevitably met with a mix of shock, awe and uncertainty about whether or not he was set to increase his legacy or tarnish it. Fortunately, it proved to be the previous.
The Subsequent Day primarily picked up the place his Noughties output had left off.
The Stars (Are Out Tonight), a propulsive alt-rock quantity which imagines A-listers as cannibalistic aliens, and the damaged beats of If You Can See Me, for instance, each proved Bowie hadn’t misplaced his capability to remain on development. Nevertheless, nods to former companions in crime Iggy Pop (Soiled Boys) and Lou Reed (Valentine’s Day), the Ziggy Stardust-referencing torch music You Really feel So Lonely You Might Die and The Shadows-interpolating post-war story How Does The Grass Develop? all brilliantly filtered his musical heritage by means of Visconti’s up to date sheen.
A twilight-years traditional which deservedly returned Bowie to the higher reaches of the charts.
Blackstar (2016)
After the discharge of The Subsequent Day, Bowie as soon as once more caught everybody off guard when he launched everything of his twenty sixth album Blackstar with none prior warning. After all, that was nothing in comparison with the stunning information simply two days later of his premature loss of life.
Inevitably, followers rapidly started reassessing its lyrical content material, poring over every line for something which hinted the tip was close to. “Search for right here, I’m in heaven,” from Lazarus, the soporific piece of chamber pop which had simply graced the same-named off-Broadway musical, was an apparent instance.
But Bowie’s studio swansong, which turned his first Billboard chart-topper, has way more to supply than its barely morbid treasure hunt.
Whereas its predecessor was completely happy to depend on the tried and examined, Blackstar was decided to push issues ahead. “Keep away from rock’n’roll” was primarily the mantra of an album which delved deep into the star’s longtime ardour for jazz and explored his love for thought-provoking hip-hop.
This experimental strategy immediately reaps its rewards with the opening title monitor, an audacious fusion of ambient R&B and freeform jazz which at over 10 minutes is second solely to Station To Station as Bowie’s longest. Few different artists may get away with releasing such a intentionally uncommercial jam as a lead single.
’Tis A Pity She Was A Whore and Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime), each derived from 2014 retrospective Nothing Has Modified, are given beefier upgrades. The ominous funk of Woman Loves Me incorporates the queer slang often known as Polari and the Nadsat register devised for A Clockwork Orange alongside the repeated question of “The place the fuck did Monday go?” And nearer I Can’t Give The whole lot Away reveals how he remained splendidly contradictory (“Seeing extra and feeling much less/ Saying no however which means sure”) proper to the tip.
A ultimate wonderful reinvention from essentially the most chameleonic man ever to grace the world of pop.
Eager to salvage the fabric, nevertheless, Bowie later repurposed a number of reworkings for Heathen.
The album was launched in November 2021, within the boxset Sensible Journey (1992-2001), in addition to an expanded 3CD launch titled Toy:Field on the eve of what would have been his seventy fifth birthday.
So was Toy value all the trouble? Effectively, for Bowie’s loyal fanbase, sure. Having been left within the vaults since being dropped from The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust, the resurfacing of Shadow Man is one thing of a holy grail. There’s additionally a curiosity issue to his new takes on You’ve Received A Behavior Of Leaving and Can’t Assist Pondering About Me. However for informal followers, it’s little greater than a sidenote.
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