MB Bowie Classics: "Outside"
 

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Into the final week we go, back to "normal" Bowie albums (ie not soundtracks and not Tin Machine) and welcome back Mister Eno.

Grindy is a fan of this one.

Bowie reunites with Brian Eno, ditches the pop, goes for a darker vibe with a storytelling format and the result is his best album since "Scary Monsters."
No hits or covers on this one, which, for the most part, sounds like a film soundtrack in search of a film. Not party or driving music, this is the type of album you put on when you have time to sit back and soak it all in.
This is, perhaps, his most interesting studio album.

3/5

It seems like a step in the right direction conceptually but the songs aren’t any good. Maybe it’s a grower not a shower but how much patience does one need?

What happened to 5/5 for every album regardless, huh? ;)

This is quite a long album (his longest, I'm told) but I pretty much like everything on it. Favourites would be "The Motel", "No Control", "The Voyeur of Utter Destruction (as Beauty)", "Wishful Beginnings", to name only a few. I like the spoken parts, the "segues" and overall, the return of Brian Eno sets this album on a different plane to just about anything since "Low". Pity he abandoned the project after all he had said he was going to do with it, but that's life I guess. 5/5.

I'll tell you one thing though: **** the "special expanded edition"! FIVE versions of "The Heart's Filthy Lesson", FOUR of "Hello Spaceboy", a few more mixes of tracks already on the album and two bonus new tracks? F to the U to the C to the K to the MAX! Bastards.

Some of the better tracks save this one for me - but it's a bit bloated and I'm not always on board with Bowie's vocal performances.

This album arguably sounds a bit more inspired than Bowie has for a while, but I'm also reminded why he is not and never will be one of my favorite artists.

Pretty good for a Bowie album. I kinda wish he'd finished his Fin de Siecle trilogy (this was supposed to be the first of five albums leading up to the end of the millennium), because the last 90's albums he did make were... well... there's a couple other threads for that.

A somewhat reluctant 4/5.

Gee, Trolls, you're picking up the slack since Hawk isn't giving out fives anymore :laughing:


Needless to say, I didn't give this one a five. Eno being back doesn't automatically make for a classic album. This is not Low or even Heroes. For me, it was more of an electronic borefest, very choppy tbh. Favorite tracks, for what it's worth, is Hallo Spaceboy and The Motel. I don't think the album is a total bomb and practically anything beats the dance pop drivel he was doing in the Eighties. But it isn't very good either.

4/10 (The Word has spoken)


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