Review Thread: The Chameleon: David Bowie Reviewed
 

While in the other thread we call dibs and post our thoughts on the idea. Here is where we will post our reviews. And thoughts on all the wonderful and various albums of David Bowie!

With the exception of his voice, there is very little in this release that alludes to the coming career of the chameleon of rock. It’s fitting that a man known for changing styles to keep with the times has a completely unique debut in relation to his later works. The songs are simple, quick tunes and the song writing works well in the context.

There’s a lot of things here that defines it from a simple pop album however. You’ll hear nice little quirks like the tuba on Rubber Band. There’s a lot more depth to this album than first seems present. So in certain aspects it seems very ambitious for a debut, especially for a 1967 solo artist. It is however easy to see why this was a commercial failure at the time.


You’ll notice, the further you go into it, the less remarkable it is. For a vocal heavy pop album, there are very few hooks or catchy melodies. It does however make for a very relaxing journey through the pastoral landscapes. The problem here is; there’s nothing to really make you want to go back to it. It’s hard to envisage having any of the songs stuck in your heard unless you become very familiar with them.

Of course, all of these factors lead to one thing: Cult status. Cult status is a wonderful thing. I can almost guarantee you that a lot of people loved this. Played it constantly on repeat and learned every word. The problem is; the public are not like that. They need something that is quick, simple and memorable. This only ticks two boxes. As such it really is just another mediocre 1960’s release. Apart from a few, easily overlooked, quirks there is nothing that separates this from all the other pop albums of the time.


So while there’s technically nothing wrong with the album, there is a massive room for improvement. There is nothing for the listener to connect to immediately, which is incredibly important for a pop album. Bowie’s voice shows a lot of promise and so do all the nice little effects and instrumentations. All I can say is; we’re very lucky this is a man that changes with the times, and does so masterfully. Because no one would remember David Bowie now had he kept doing this.

5/10

Top review there. Couldn't agree more with that last paragraph. I don't really regard this album highly at all - Come and Buy My Toys is an excellent song, but that's virtually the only reason I listen to the album at all. It's all a bit twee and uninteresting for me.

I'll get my review up in the day or so btw.

Also, for those who don't know their 60s Bowie, you haven't lived 'til you've heard this song :D

i actually have never had the balls to listen to this record all the way through. i got about thirty seconds into the second song and buggered off after that. like you said, not how fans want to remember Bowie at all.

looking forward to the next review. :)

I've just realised I was far, far too lenient on the score. The album is middle of the road, and as such really doesn't deserve more than 5/10.

Maybe Urban should do Low, if he decides to participate.

I agree with Comus' review, it is certainly missing a little bit of punch. I find Love You Till Tuesday to be the best song on the album, tis marvellous.

Saying that, my favourite Bowie song from the sixties wasnt on this debut, I Dig Everything its called, proper moddy! Have a look around.

I love the title track and I have to disagree with you, I prefer the original to the stripped down version.

The lavish production and acoustics really suit the outer space theme and I think that's lost in the stripped down version.

You could have waited until I set the thread up properly FFS.

That's why your a mod, fix it. My review will be posted tomorrow afternoon, have to run now.

The Man Who Sold The World
 

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David Bowie
The Man Who Sold the World (1970)
Mercury Records

Side one

1. "The Width of a Circle" – 8:05
2. "All the Madmen" – 5:38
3. "Black Country Rock" – 3:32
4. "After All" – 3:51

Side two

1. "Running Gun Blues" – 3:11
2. "Saviour Machine" – 4:25
3. "She Shook Me Cold" – 4:13
4. "The Man Who Sold the World" – 3:55
5. "The Supermen" – 3:38




The epic two-part opener, “The Width of a Circle”, makes a clear and conscious declaration of a new, more comfortable and confident artist. That is the story of the album really; an every evolving artist, Bowie had made the first perfect mutation of his career with heavy metal foray “The Man Who Sold the World”. Its uncertain what made Bowie make this or any of the other transitions of his career and why this one worked so well. Perhaps it’s more then coincidence this progression coincided with the addition of guitarist and right hand man Mick Ronson. The key piece of Bowie’s Spiders from Mars band, along with Ronson Bowie would release several albums and the duo even produced a number of albums for other artists including Lou Reed’s “Transformer” a few years later.



As noted there is a noticeable tinge of heavy metal in place of the acoustic sounds of its clumsy precursor “Space Oddity”. The first two songs are perfect hard rock numbers that stand up to the giants of the time like Led Zeppelin and The Who. “All the Madmen” is my favorite track on the album; it’s a slow builder with an eclectic ambiance to draw from and the most notable of several tracks dealing with the albums underlying theme of paranoia, schizophrenia and insanity. The songs “Zane zane zane, open the dog” outro is a fantastic feet of lunacy. There are notes of Blues Rock and the Psychedelic to close out side one and opening side two more akin with what you’d expect from Mick Ronson then Bowie. Ronson’s major influences heavily including Jeff Beck era Yarbirds Rock & Roll. Still Bowie’s penchant for the unusual is irrepressible and evident in the dynamic side two second “Savior Machine”. Ronson’s most “Metal” contribution to the album came in “She Shook Me Cold” which gives early Black Sabbath a run for its money. The descent from sanity resumes with the title track and it’s a simpler traditional melodic rock rhythm. As pleasant a song as any on the album to the virgin ear, it’s a good place to start.



An unquestionably excellent album and as ambitious an effort as anyone could have asked for. This is the album I believe Bowie found the formula on and thus launched him into an epic era that spanned the entire decade and beyond. Drawing inspiration from literature, philosophy, modern musical trends, personal experience, and the deepest darkest recesses of his own mind, Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World” is a prefect example of musical adaptation. Ever changing but never relenting in bringing a new and creative approach to music.

8.5\10

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David Bowie
Hunky Dory (1971)
RCA Records

Side one

1. "Changes" – 3:37
2. "Oh! You Pretty Things" – 3:12
3. "Eight Line Poem" – 2:55
4. "Life on Mars?" – 3:53
5. "Kooks" – 2:53
6. "Quicksand" – 5:08

Side two

1. "Fill Your Heart" (Biff Rose, Paul Williams) – 3:07
2. "Andy Warhol" – 3:56
3. "Song for Bob Dylan" – 4:12
4. "Queen Bitch" – 3:18
5. "The Bewlay Brothers" – 5:22

Possibly the most ambitious songwriting effort of his career thus far, David Bowie’s Hunky Dory is a commanding and impressive canon of the golden years of glam. While not as iconic or recognizable as 1972’s Ziggy Stardust, Hunky Dory is nonetheless a gross genre-bending accomplishment. Employing a dynamic tone and a consistent depth, it traverses the boundaries of pop music with stifling audacity and undeniable charm.

From its commencement, Hunky Dory pursues a direction not traversed by Bowie in any of his prior work. Gone are the bland, derivative songs which make his first few albums so immeasurably difficult to digest and replaced with imaginative bravado. In a sense, the opening track, “Changes,” crafts a mantra for which Bowie’s songwriting was to follow for years to come: “Time may change me / But I can't trace time.” And it doesn’t stop there.

Bowie wastes no time before he ushers forth the well-constructed, dynamic melodies which distinguish the majority of his works. Glorious refrains such as the chimerical “Oh! You Pretty Things” and equally vibrant “Life on Mars?” explore fantastic themes that habitually rise to the surface during his radiant age of glam. As anyone that’s ever listened to his music can attest, David Bowie rarely achieves heights as dizzying as the climax here:



Hunky Dory later eschews the bombastic fanaticism for a more subtle form of songwriting, from his exhibition of helplessness in “Quicksand” to his dense collage of wordplay in the mournful closing ballad “The Bewlay Brothers”. And through it all Bowie’s backing band performs admirably; Wakeman’s piano is present through all of it, while Mick Ronson’s cathartic riff on “Andy Warhol” is just one testament to their skillful attack:



And while Hunky Dory never really attains the far-reaching exposé that culminated during the Berlin era, there’s plenty that can be said of Bowie’s ballad-laden kaleidoscope of pop ballast, none of it bad. It remains today a standing example of glam perfection, a depiction of the young man who took the best of pop music and transcribed it into a formidable and lasting incarnation. Perhaps not the best work of his career, Hunky Dory is nonetheless one of David Bowie’s expansive masterpieces and one of the greatest pop records in music history.

10/10

Love the reviews so far, brilliant idea to have different reviewers do different albums. Makes this a very quick review thread by the forum's standards. I'll hopefully have Ziggy Stardust done before I go to bed this morning.

Great work so far people. Enjoyable thread.

The year is 1972, concert albums are all the rage, and a chameleon is on the loose. In a year known for some of the greatest albums of all time, this one always gets a mention alongside them. And it really isn’t hard to see why. From the first few minutes you’re already enthralled with the story. Anyone familiar with the album by this point will be singing along enthusiastically. Knowing every word from a multitude of repeated listens.

This is the kind of album you have here, this isn’t an album you get tired of. It only gets better and better the more familiar you get with it. You can even see for yourself thanks to our friends at last.fm, the entire album is fully streamable. The whole album flows very well, if not entirely consistently. You’ll notice a lot of stylistic changes held together well by the plot.

Parts of the album, like Moonage Daydream feel very heavily produced, which adds to the desired futuristic-ish effect. The album even gets a spacey feel from time to time. Mick Ronson, as always is on top form, all of the solos here are efficiently done. I’ve always wanted him to do a bit more on the album, but the restraint here works well. The overt glam rock is just pure heaven; you’ll very quickly find yourself lost in the music.

I’ve always gotten a Beach Boys vibe from Star, the background “oohs” and vocals just add so much to the song. My favourite part of the album is the three songs leading to Ziggy’s stardom, Star, Hang On To Yourself and Ziggy Stardust. Just following the story here is insanely entertaining, and every time Ziggy Stardust comes on I can’t help but smile. Everyone knows the title track, but it really does need to be appreciated in the album context. Mick Ronson excels himself here, the solos, the riffs, everything just works so well.

Following here is the insanely catchy Suffragette City, which has some of the most infectious guitar playing in the history of glam. And, of course, Wham bam thank you ma'am! If you don’t feel any form of emotion at the end of the album, then you’re a heartless, worthless poor excuse for a human and I want nothing more to do with you. Sitting here, swaying side to side, I can only wish it was possible to give more than maximum marks.

The album takes you through a rollercoaster of emotion, musical shifts and vocal hooks. David Bowie really outdoes himself here, this is a must have, regardless of your tastes.

I'll do mine tomorrow.

"The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" was pretty much Bowie's magnum opus and thus many saw it as being nearly impossible to top, not that "Aladdin Sane" managed to do so, but it certainly came very damn close.

This and "Pin Ups" would mark the closure of Bowie's glam rock Ziggy Stardust period. This was the last album to feature the lineup of Bowie, guitarist Mick Ronson, bassist Trevor Bolder and drummer Mick Woodmansy, with pianist Mike Garson filling in Rick Wakeman's shoes this time around.

That may sound like useless trivia, but that lineup was an important part of Bowie's glam rock sound, especially Ronson's chaotic guitar solos. This is a very piano oriented record, and Garson's jazzy, somewhat atonal style makes it a very uniqie record in the Bowie discography, and easly his most ambitious record at the time. A very bizarre yet sophisticated art rock album.

The bulk of the album was written during his 72 US tour. Each song was written in a certain city and reflects the various musical moods and impressions Bowie felt at the time.

Watch That Man starts with a rocking Keith Richards esque riff from Ronson and boogie piano from Garson, a lot of people call this song an imitation of Exile era Stones, but even so, I think it comes to show how talented Bowie was when he could imitate someone else's sound and improve on it in every way. Every Ziggy era Bowie album has at least one great track where Bowie just lets it all hang loose, for "Ziggy Stardust" it was Suffragette City and for "Hunky Dorey" it was Queen Bitch. But instead of being the closer, Bowie wisely made this the opener.

Because then the album goes into a completely different direction, starting with the title track. Aladdin Sane opens with a gorgeous classical piano melody, and is later joined by spacey sounding saxophone. Garson eventually kicks things off with an over the top solo that recalls freeform jazz, yet admist the avant garde influences, it's still a very hypnotic, sophisticated pop song. This is my favorite song on the album, it's certainly the weirdest.

Drive in Saturday brings things back to more "Ziggy Stardust" esque territory, this song could best be described as "Sci Fi doo wop", with doo wop background vocals, cosmic sounding synths and soulful saxophone. The story is just hilarious, it's set in a post appoclyptic Earth where people have forgotten how to reproduce, so they must watch old porn films to learn how. Isn't that great? Bowie really is the master of sci fi rock.

Panic in Detroit is built around a salsa rendition of the Bo Diddley beat and it indeed sounds very Detroit, it has a Martha and the Vendettas meets Iggy Pop vibe to it, punk with soul. It's such a chaotic but groovy song, the screeching guitars and the rather dissonant background vocals gives it a very dirty sound, another high point.

With Cracked Actor Bowie goes back to hard rock, Ronson really caries this song with a monster rock riff, this is the kinda thing New York Dolls were doing that same year, but Bowie does it even better. This one was written in LA and boy does it sound like it. Ronson really lets it rip with his solo on this one, it kinda reminds me of London Calling for some reason.

Time represents New Orleans, and characteristically opens with a ragtime style piano melody, but the song takes many twists and turns from there, Bowie goes all out vocally on this one. And Ronson once again has some tricks up his sleeve, his vibrato heavy guitar solos have to be heard to be believed.

Prettiest Star is a remake of a song Bowie had released earlier as a single. This is a song Bowie wrote to perform to his girlfriend as a wedding preposal. It has a music hall kinda feel and a great guitar riff, which in the original was played by Marc Bolan, Ronson recreates it almost note for note. It kinda sounds like something from a Queen song, and I mean that in a positive way. I really love Bowie's soft vocals on this song, and the saxes that come in. That's the great thing about Bowie, the little details he thinks of adding to a song that no one else would.

The next track has Bowie going back to Stones territory, this time doing an actual cover. This version of Let's Spend the Night Together is IMO better than the original. Bowie throws in some synths, it's faster and rauncier, Bowie once again beats The Stones at their own game.

Jean Genie is one of Bowie's most popular songs, however I think this is probably the worst song on the album, but that's not too much of a criticism considering the company it's in, it's a very bluesy song, Bowie really sings through his nose with this one, kinda reminds me of Lou Reed, this song represents New York, so that's what he was going for I guess. This one just dosen't jump out for me like the rest. But still a pretty good song, with some great licks from Ronson.

Lady Grinning Soul is a bit similar to the title track, Garson really puts his classical roots to work here with some gorgeous interplay with Bowie's smooth vocals, as well as some flamenco guitar and Sax, and a Gilmour-ish guitar outro from Ronson. A really beautiful song and you couldn't have asked for a better closer.

If you've heard "Hunky Dorey" and "Ziggy Stardust" but not this album then you're really missing out, this is a great companion for those albums and makes for one of the greatest trilogies in rock n roll history. Though it shows Bowie going into an even artier, dare I say pompier direction, of course that's why it's one of my favorites.

Bowie always knows when to quit before things get stale, and when it's time to do something different. This is pretty much his swan song for the Ziggy Stardust character, and you couldn't ask for a better one.

He would continue to reinvent himself, everything from the blue eyed soul of "Young Americans" to the proto new wave of his "Berlin" trilogy. He has so many styles, you're bound to like one of them, but this album is essential no matter who you are.

10\10

These reviews are fantastic and accurate, I keep coming back to re-read them. You guys have pretty much hit the nail on the head every time.

This album proves, if nothing else, that in 1973 Bowie had one hell of a taste in music, and that Mick Ronson is a pretty damn versatile guitarist. There are however quite a few drawbacks to having a full cover album. You’re always going to disappoint some fans and slaughter some already very good songs. The album starts with Rosalyn by the Pretty Things. While Bowie might not be able to pull of the vocals of the original, the whole fuzzy guitar sound is maintained brilliantly by Ronson.

I’d like to take a moment to comment on the actual flow on the album, this has been done surprisingly well. There has been some form of effort here with the track listing and transitions to keep the album coherent. Here Comes the Night by Them always feels like it could have been done a lot better. You’ll quickly forget this though, as the brilliantly done I Wish You Would Yardbirds cover redeems the start of the album.

An interesting point here is of course that I Wish You Would was actually a Billy Boy Arnold Song, so it’s a cover of a cover. Again Ronson seems to outshine Bowie on the recording. This transitions into a very good yet very bad cover of Pink Floyd’s See Emily Play. The chorus has been murdered, but Bowie’s performance on the verse is very good. In the end the song not only runs to long, but simply becomes annoying, a disappointment as you’d think Bowie covering Floyd would be quite awesome.

Everything’s Alright by The Mojos features one of Bowie’s best vocal performances on the album. And always makes for a refreshing change in the album. The Cover of I Can’t Explain by the Who is an awesome slab of glam helped along massively once along by Ronson. The whole song is done in such a cheesy fashion you can’t help but smile. Also done well is Friday On My Mind, which is far more in Bowie’s style, which I feel is the type of cover he does much better.

Sorrow surprisingly got Bowie a charting single from the album, reaching number 3 on the UK singles chart. Having been a relatively popular song by the Merseys, it’s not a bad song, it just doesn’t seem to make much of an impression. Don’t Bring Me Down marks the second Pretty Things song that is done very well by Bowie on the album. The riff is infections and Bowie manages to do the song justice.

The second Yardbirds cover, Shapes of things (Incidentally my favourite Yardbirds song) is done incredibly well, with some nice innovations. Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere is a great Who cover which really does translate a lot of the same energy of the original. The original album ends with a rather lacklustre version of the Kinks’ Where Have All The Good Times Gone.

However the re-issue includes two brilliant covers far more suited to Bowie’s style in Growin’ Up and Amsterdam. Both of which increase the whole appeal of the album, and as such I will consider them in the rating. The whiole album is good, but dissapointing, some of the choices aren't that appropriate for Bowie. But a very large part of the album is saved by Mick Ronson's guitar

This isn't rock 'n' roll, this is genocide!

Diamond Dogs is one of the many albums finding Bowie in a transitional period, this time torn between the glam rock of Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane and the soul influences which were present with Young Americans. Perhaps coming only a year after Aladdin Sane affects it because the album isn't nearly the classic that Sane is. It is clearly unfocused, despite the concept (living in a Orwellian Big Brother society and the turmoils that come from it) being strong throughout.

The album starts off strong enough, the title track is a slow burning glam rock number harking back to his earlier albums just as much as Ziggy and Sane, recalling that classic strut with Bowie's distinctive saxophone. This classic sound is soon taken over with the low tempo ballad Sweet Thing, a gorgeous piano/acoustic driven number punctuated by some beautiful echoey guitar effects. Definitely downbeat but a highlight nonetheless.
The song drifts into Candidate, a song that certainly has its own groove but i feel is far too short to create a lasting appeal, the song builds and seems as if its going to blast into another Bowie glam classic but instead retreats back into a reprise of Sweet Thing. Perhaps if it had decided to stick around the song would be better, I can't help but feel Bowie had a few too many ideas here, shown by the messy guitar breakdown at the end of the reprise.

I'm sure i don't have to say anything about Rebel Rebel, the obvious album highight and evidence that Mick Ronson's presence isn't completely missed. One of Bowie's finest singles overall, i pity anyone who rejects this song as being anything less than superb.

I have to admit i have a huge soft spot for the enormously cheesy Rock 'n' Roll With Me. It's completely horrific with that bloody organ and overblown chorus but i can't help but like it. The perfect drunken singalong for a world gone mad!

With a bit more polish We Are The Dead would be a superb song, with a fine refrain harking back to his best glam moments. That said the guitar plays around aimlessly and much in the same way as Candidate nothing really kicks off, the entire thing sounds a little half baked. 1984 follows and is certainly the black sheep of the album, introducing the soul and disco infused style that Bowie would dabble with more in later albums. It's catchy no doubt and props to him for having the balls to do it but i can't help but feel it's out of place here. I'm sure i'd accept it on a later album but i feel he's punching above his weight here.

Big Brother is more like it, what starts as a desolate song in the vein of the soundscapes to come on albums like Low bursts into a fine chorus. The synths fit the hopeless subject matter well without compromising Bowie's traditional glam feel. One of my personal highlights. The song slides into Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family which serves as a pleasant enough but miles from classic ending, should have really been tacked onto the end of Big Brother as a short refrain at the end (The Bewlay Brothers style) and for god sakes get rid of that stupid skipping thing at the end.




Diamond Dogs is far from a terrible album. Spare some terrific highlights though the album feels lacklustre, perhaps even unfinished, especially after a run of such fantastic albums. Whether this can be blamed on the lack of the creative force of Mick Ronson or simply the chameleon being caught between colours and punching above his weight is open to debate, but throughout it feels like pieces are missing. Any Bowie fan should definitely have it in their collections but sadly Diamond Dogs is a slip up after a run of some blinding albums.

Highlights: Diamond Dogs, Rebel Rebel, Big Brother

6/10

Oh yeah, it's me next isn't it? I'll get Young Americans done tomorrow.

Interesting review of Diamond Dogs there. It's actually in my top tier of Bowie albums, but I can see why it might not be so popular with some. It does seem in some places that the guy was taking a bit too much on, especially considering virtually every instrument on the album was recorded by him alone.

That's my favourite part of the album :(

There's actually a mega-rare demo called Zion which is where that guitar breakdown comes from. It's about 5 minutes long, has Bowie la-la-ing where he'd put the lyrics (which I don't think he actually did do), and you can hear a lot of snippets of musical ideas he'd use throughout the album. I've got it on CD somewhere, but it'd be one of those needle-in-a-haystack scenarios to actually try and find it.

I still think you should ante up and do one eventually Urban, when time permits.

fantastic review and i agree through and through.

one of the things you have to consider are the circumstances at the time. while funk had already seen its heyday, it was still very much a monumental era for soul that pervaded throughout American culture. it wasn't so much a change in genre but a re-awakening of African-American pride and independence (much akin to the Anglo-African reggae movement across the pond). although you could say that Bowie was capitalizing on the sounds of the times, it's wholly evident that his particular vision of the "Young Americans" he saw was an enduring record which somehow never managed to garner the collective praise that so many of his other works hold claim to.

It's certainly an album that i don't give enough time to as it's consistanty good throughout the album, even the Beatles cover. That and the suits were proper dapper!

It's not the side effects of the cocaine,
I'm thinking that it must be love!


Bill Hicks once said that those against drugs should take a step back and look at their record collections, all that brilliant music was most likely very much made under the influence. One of the finest examples of this might be Bowie, and he was surely at his most coked up here. Funnily enough Station to Station is one of his best albums as well, and bitterly under-represented in the music world as a whole. Pretty impressive since he can't even remember recording it!

The album couldn't kick off better. The title track harks back to Width of a Circle with it's two part design, and manages to exhibit most likely all of the styles that Bowie had tried before now, along with some clear krautrock influences. Whats starts as an eery Kraftwerk influnced crooner, complete with 'darts in lovers eyes' evolves over 10 minutes into a full blown piano driven rocker which never fails to get me moving. A superb opener and without a doubt one of Bowie's finest overall.

Remember how i said i didn't care for 1984? If it had turned out like the dance masterpiece that is Golden Years i'd have been a lot kinder. The album's classic single is an intricate piece of disco infused soul, apart from perhaps Fashion it may well be my favourite of his in that vein.

Ballad time, World on a Wing is the big love song here and the finest soul moment here too. Bowie is fine voice here and it's the first instance of a more passionate delivery after the more lighthearted songs that preceded it. A fine way to end the first half.

Back to more of a groove with TVC15 kicking in, another great single and another highlight of mine. I don't know what i love more, the funky verses or the infectious as hell chorus, complete with the meaty guitar kicking in. One of his more underated singles. Stay continues on with the funky shit, complete with some fine layered disco guitars and great solos. The low point of the album if i had to pick one as it doesn't stand out quite as much as the other tracks, but given the circumstances it's hardly a massive crime.

Wild is the Wind is a fan favourite and rightly so, another beautiful ballad that reminds me of a Smiths song (or i guess vice-versa) so obviously i love it , the way it drifts on but doesn't outstay its welcome at all. The 'don't you know you're life itself' with the music stopping is one of my favourite moments in the album (after the obvious title track transition).





Most people would probably favour the Berlin era albums that followed rather than this album but i'm not sure, as good as Low is Station to Station gives it a run for it's money. At only 6 tracks the album is concise and doesn't waste a moment, with a fine design (2 upbeat songs then a ballad each side) which i think rivals Low's two halved affair. Competing or not, Station to Station is a brilliant album which is testiment to Bowie's performance, if he really was as out of it as is claimed. Easily has a place in my top 5.

Highlights: Station to Station, TVC15, Wild is the Wind

Fantabuleriffic album that. The one thing that prevents me calling it my favourite Bowie album is TVC15, and that's only because the live versions I've heard kick arse (the one on the Stage live album is particularly awesome).

The cocaine fuelled Station to Station in 1976 was the bridge between Bowie's glam and soul days and his Berlin era, named as such because Bowie moved to West Berlin to escape his drug-addled existence in LA. Bowie became enamoured of the region for its music and art scenes and its roots in expressionism - Berlin was for Bowie a sanctuary from himself, a place where he could bask in anonymity.

Low in 1977 was the first of the Berlin Trilogy featuring Bowie's collaboration with Brian Eno, the godfather of ambient music. Low was the perfect vehicle for Eno to direct his sonic explorations, and for Bowie to channel his anguish from his past life and paint a picture of his world at the time. As such, Low is starkly personal - the album name aptly describes Bowie at that point in life. And as Bowie's moniker of "musical chameleon" implies, he is a trend-setter and Low certainly doesn't deviate from this. Here we see Bowie through his krautrock influences as he embraces synthesizers and ambience amongst other things. Low was produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti. Although Eno is responsible for co-writing only one song, he provided a lot of the direction and inspiration for the second half of the album.

With shimmering synths and rocking energy, the theatrical Speed of Life kicks off the album and provides only a taste of what is to come. Low defies classification – tracks like Breaking Glass and Be My Wife demonstrate that even on an album as eclectic and innovative as Low, the rhythm section of George Murray and Dennis Davis are uncompromising in groove. Tracks like What in the World and the intriguing folk-meets-disco A New Career in a New Town demonstrate that Bowie can seamlessly meld angular guitars, synths and harmonicas. And even through this pastiche of sounds and ideas, Bowie manages to reach the peak of vibrant pop perfection with his single, Sound and Vision. Always Crashing in the Same Car is my favourite track of Side A - quite simply, it describes Bowie's self-destructive and cyclic cocaine addiction. It is a bleak and bitter tirade with an exquisitely melancholic guitar solo.



Whereas Side A is all about Bowie and consists of sub 4 minute songs spanning pop, prog, glam, folk and funk, and in Bowie's words "all the self-pitying crap", Side B takes a complete 180 and features Bowie's "reactions to places" in the form of ambient soundscapes. Warszawa, co-written by Eno, is the first of these. Bowie intended to capture his visit to desolate Warsaw in sound and succeeds to an almost synaesthetic extent with this incredibly powerful and dense track. The rest of Side B is similar in form. Art Decade is an eerie cavernous track, written to portray West Berlin as a dying city. Weeping Wall is a bizarre adaptation of Scarborough Fair with twisted synths and an ‘anti-solo’ reminiscent of Robert Fripp (who would later collaborate with Bowie). Subterraneans is a rather harrowing depiction of the people trapped in East Berlin after the erection of the Berlin Wall.





Fast-forward 32 years and Low is still startlingly fresh and replete with originality. Its dichotomy of avant-pop and ambient music eschews any kind of convention. The influence of Low can easily be detected in a great deal of music released in the decade following, especially in the realms of post-punk and new wave. Bands and musicians citing Low as an influence include Joy Division (originally named Warsaw), Human League, Depeche Mode, Radiohead, NIN and even Phillip Glass. Low was even influential for Tony Visconti’s revolutionary deep-treated drum sound. Low was ahead of its time and near flawless in execution.

Goddamn seltzer! Drop the science!

Hehe I'm planning to submit my review to the campus magazine so I decided to make it less descriptive and more informative (i.e. avoid the track-by-track approach).

sorry to do this but could somebody direct to when we sign up? i'll even do 'Never Let Me Down'!!
Predictably great reviewage all round btw, except PMO's 6/10 score for Diamond Dogs... :bonkhead:

Bump, come on guys let's finish this **** up.

JayJamJah's not around these days, and he's in line for the next review.

Pity as I was quite enjoying this thread. When/if it gets sorted, I'll take care of the Tonight and Buddha Of Suburbia reviews if that's alright.

If anyone wants to take on the next review then you're very welcome to it! I really want this thread to be completed.

I can do Heroes if anyone wants.

Then it's sorted :D

On another note, are we gonna bother with '82's Baal EP? If anyone thinks so and doesn't have it, I'll send a link your way (pretty sure I've still got it in my megaupload files).

Doesn't really seem significant enough to warrant a mention, but if anyone wants to review it, I can't see the harm.