MB Bowie Classics: "Tonight"

[Trollheart]

I know that, chronologically, the next album up is Ziggy Stardust: the Motion Picture, but I reckon I'll end up doing the live albums later, at the end (if at all), so the next one in his discography is this.

[Psy-Fi]

Bowie continues with his mainstream pop approach but delivers his weakest album since his 1967 debut. This one features five cover songs; three by Iggy Pop ("Don't Look Down", "Tonight" and "Neighborhood Threat") a Beach Boys cover ("God Only Knows") and a cover by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller ("I Keep Forgetting") all of which are bland and forgettable.
Two songs feature Iggy Pop as co-writer ("Tonight" and "Dancing with the Big Boys") and only two songs, "Loving the Alien" and "Blue Jean" (the best two on the album) were written exclusively by Bowie. Of the two songs written by Bowie, the only hit on the album ("Blue Jean") sounds like it was a leftover song from his previous album.
Tina Turner shows up as a guest vocalist on "Tonight" but even with her and Iggy in the studio this album is a flop.

2/5

[Cuthbert]

Should have had Absolute Beginners on it. One of the best tracks he ever did and it wasn't on this. It was on the reissued version as a bonus but that's not good enough.

Blue Jean/Loving the Alien are the only positives on this. Those are also the only two tracks he wrote by himself. Disappointing amount of cover material on here too. Not a great album for me. I have voted 2/5.

Sorry Psy-Fi just posted before me and said some of the stuff I said.

[MicShazam]

Listened to this album a lot today. Somehow, it seemed to grow on me in reverse with each listen. "Loving the Alien" is a great track, but things get really damn shaky after that wonderful introduction to the album. The title track is hot garbage and it's not the only track on the album to scrape the bottom of the Bowie barrel.

Not a lot of the instrumentation on this album is doing a lot for me. There's a fair amount of corny drum beats, dorky riffs, lame hooks and some pretty awfully applied horns. Basically, it's really hard for me to come up with nice things to say about any track after the first. Ouch.

Being a fan of Bowie back when this came out must have been rough. Like what the hell was he even thinking? It would have been like watching a slow motion car crash happening in front of you. Apparently the lead single, Tonight flopped big time, so Bowie must have been thinking that it was time to change gears. Or so you would have thought, but there's one more pop album after this one. Hopefully a better one.

This one is a 1 out of 5 to me.

_Previous ratings:__________________

(Rated on a scale relative to only Bowie's own discography, where 1 means the worst he's done and 5 means the best he's done.)
David Bowie: 1/5
Space Oddity: 2/5
The Man Who Sold The World 4/5
Hunky Dory 3/5
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust 3/5
Aladdin Sane 3/5
PinUps 2/5
Diamond Dogs 2/5
Young Americans 1/5
Station to Station 4/5
Low 5/5
Heroes 4/5
Lodger 3.5/5
Scary Monsters 3/5
Let's Dance 3/5
Tonight 1/5
Never Let Me Down
Black Tie White Noise
1. Outside
Earthling
Hours
Heathen
Reality
The Next Day
Blackstar

[Trollheart]

Originally Posted by MicShazam

Apparently the lead single, Tonight flopped big time, so Bowie must have been thinking that it was time to change gears. Or so you would have thought, but there's one more pop album after this one. Hopefully a better one.

This one is a 1 out of 5 to me.

_Previous ratings:__________________

(Rated on a scale relative to only Bowie's own discography, where 1 means the worst he's done and 5 means the best he's done.)
David Bowie: 1/5
Space Oddity: 2/5
The Man Who Sold The World 4/5
Hunky Dory 3/5
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust 3/5
Aladdin Sane 3/5
PinUps 2/5
Diamond Dogs 2/5
Young Americans 1/5
Station to Station 4/5
Low 5/5
Heroes 4/5
Lodger 3.5/5
Scary Monsters 3/5
Let's Dance 3/5
Tonight 1/5
Never Let Me Down
Black Tie White Noise
1. Outside
Earthling
Hours
Heathen
Reality
The Next Day
Blackstar

Unfortunately, no. NLMD is one of the nadirs of his career, I feel.

[Trollheart]

Oh for god's sake! Kicks off with the sublime "Loving the Alien", which even at seven minutes and change is not too long. Then dives into reggae territory. Bowie has done reggae before, and he's done it much better than this. Plus it's an Iggy song. And not the only one. The ghost of Iggy walks these halls Tonight. Next another cover, a version of "God Only Knows" where he sounds like Neil Hannon (remember the Divine Comedy album you all hated?) and from there it just kind of continues nosediving with cover after cover until we reach "Blue Jean", the only other good track here. Even the title, as others have said, with the help of Ike's former biatch, can't lift this album up out of the mire of mediocrity it's stuck in.

Apparently Bowie said he made this album "to keep his hand in". Well, sorry, but when people are paying for your material that smacks of a very jaded and cynical attitude to the fans: **** it, they'll buy anything. Terrible, and an album he was rightly apologetic about later on in his career. A low 2, and only because of LTA and BJ. Shut up.

[MicShazam]

Loving The Alien is a good song, and not just in contrast to the rest of the album.

[rubber soul]

Damn, Occult. You remind me of that old Life cereal commercial (Let Mikie try it. He eats anything). Anyway, this album is as bad as I expected, sad to say. It's even worse than his 1967 effort. It starts with Loving the Alien which should be classic Bowie, right? Um, not exactly. It's one of Bowie's poppier moments it seems. And it gets worse as the album tends to sound like reggae done like a bad Phil Collins song (with apologies to Phil Collins fans). Only track I can even listen to is Blue Jean. Other than that, ugh!


2/10 (the Word has spoken and now is extremely sick )