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Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Jan 3, 2017 17:37:01 GMT -5
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Dellarigg
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Post by Dellarigg on Jan 3, 2017 17:40:12 GMT -5
He does sing on Fame, so you were half right.
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Post by Meth Lab Shenanigans on Jan 3, 2017 18:31:35 GMT -5
"Young Americans" This sounds like a 1970s Elton John song albeit with more shitty saxophone squealing. The verses are kind of forgettable but the chorus is decent and memorable enough that the first time it hit I was like, "Oh this song. I've heard this before." I agree that the album as a whole is a bit disposable, but the title track is one of Bowie's defining accomplishments for me, especially lyrically - sometimes I forget there's an album named after it because it feels like a whole album in itself. There are lifetimes and worlds in "Young Americans." Edit: Though if you didn't like the general sound of YA, you're in luck, because Station to Station (in my opinion his best album) sounds nothing like it.
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Post by Albert Fish Taco on Jan 3, 2017 18:53:38 GMT -5
As for the uneveness of this album, I think that's probably my biggest gripe. Hearing about how great this album or seeing 10/10 BEST REISSUE! reviews on Pitchfork I expected something like, I dunno, Sgt. Peppers or Nevermind or Thriller where pretty much ever single goddamn song is perfect and you don't care how many times you've heard them, you're willing to listen to them again if they are on the radio or if they show up on a shuffle mode. If people had been like, "Yeah Ziggy Stardust has about an EP's worth of really great songs and then a bunch of B- to D- filler tracks," I'd have nodded and been like, "Yes, that is more or less a fair assessment," since I thought roughly half the album was honestly really good ("Starman" plus the last four tracks were great). (Fair warning, you probably won't like Low the first time you hear it. Most people don't. It's a grower, that one.) Maybe it's because I hadn't listened to it until I was well into my 30's rather than growing up (I don't think there's a single song on it that you'd hear on your local Classic (Dad) Rock station), but I took to Low instantly in a way I usually don't to most albums. The run of Speed of Life through to A New Career In a New Town is insane.
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Post by Albert Fish Taco on Jan 3, 2017 18:56:49 GMT -5
"Suffragette City" is greatly improved if you mishear it as "Chocolate Chip City" like that one friend of mine did The ghost of Jim Henson is probably kicking himself that he never asked Bowie to perform on Sesame Street it with those lyrics with the Cookie Monster as a special guest.
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Post by Meth Lab Shenanigans on Jan 3, 2017 19:29:47 GMT -5
(Fair warning, you probably won't like Low the first time you hear it. Most people don't. It's a grower, that one.) Maybe it's because I hadn't listened to it until I was well into my 30's rather than growing up (I don't think there's a single song on it that you'd hear on your local Classic (Dad) Rock station), but I took to Low instantly in a way I usually don't to most albums. The run of Speed of Life through to A New Career In a New Town is insane. For me the hype sort of made it baffling to me when I first heard it. With the exception of "Breaking Glass" and "Always Crashing in the Same Car," it felt incomplete and dull, yet everyone was praising it as his masterpiece. Once I really got into Bowie's discography, it started making a lot more sense, and the oddness and personality of each song has grown on me with time. I didn't like "Warszawa" at all for ages and now it's one of my favorites. I think I still prefer Station to Station, but Low gets better every time I hear it. There's nothing quite like it.
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Trurl
Shoutbox Elitist
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Post by Trurl on Jan 3, 2017 20:36:46 GMT -5
Young Americans was really Bowie's love letter to soul music, which is probably why 1/ it has so much saxophone and 2/ it isn't my favourite Bowie album, not by a long stretch. Diamond Dogs was apparently Bowie wanting to do a opera or musical based on 1984 but was stymied by Orwell's estate - man, I wish I had their letterhead, I'd totally write DMCA takedown notices to the NSA and GCHQ.
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Post by Albert Fish Taco on Jan 3, 2017 22:08:55 GMT -5
Maybe it's because I hadn't listened to it until I was well into my 30's rather than growing up (I don't think there's a single song on it that you'd hear on your local Classic (Dad) Rock station), but I took to Low instantly in a way I usually don't to most albums. The run of Speed of Life through to A New Career In a New Town is insane. For me the hype sort of made it baffling to me when I first heard it. With the exception of "Breaking Glass" and "Always Crashing in the Same Car," it felt incomplete and dull, yet everyone was praising it as his masterpiece. Once I really got into Bowie's discography, it started making a lot more sense, and the oddness and personality of each song has grown on me with time. I didn't like "Warszawa" at all for ages and now it's one of my favorites. I think I still prefer Station to Station, but Low gets better every time I hear it. There's nothing quite like it. Oddly enough I really didn't care for Heroes (even though i do like the title song, it's still not in the upper tier of Bowie jams). Maybe I'll give it another go at some point.
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Jan 3, 2017 22:31:39 GMT -5
For me the hype sort of made it baffling to me when I first heard it. With the exception of "Breaking Glass" and "Always Crashing in the Same Car," it felt incomplete and dull, yet everyone was praising it as his masterpiece. Once I really got into Bowie's discography, it started making a lot more sense, and the oddness and personality of each song has grown on me with time. I didn't like "Warszawa" at all for ages and now it's one of my favorites. I think I still prefer Station to Station, but Low gets better every time I hear it. There's nothing quite like it. Oddly enough I really didn't care for Heroes (even though i do like the title song, it's still not in the upper tier of Bowie jams). Maybe I'll give it another go at some point. It's the weakest of the Berlin Trilogy, and overrated solely because the title track was a mega-hit unlike any other song from those three albums. Still a very good album, though.
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Post by Meth Lab Shenanigans on Jan 3, 2017 22:50:20 GMT -5
For me the hype sort of made it baffling to me when I first heard it. With the exception of "Breaking Glass" and "Always Crashing in the Same Car," it felt incomplete and dull, yet everyone was praising it as his masterpiece. Once I really got into Bowie's discography, it started making a lot more sense, and the oddness and personality of each song has grown on me with time. I didn't like "Warszawa" at all for ages and now it's one of my favorites. I think I still prefer Station to Station, but Low gets better every time I hear it. There's nothing quite like it. Oddly enough I really didn't care for Heroes (even though i do like the title song, it's still not in the upper tier of Bowie jams). Maybe I'll give it another go at some point. Heroes is definitely the weakest of the Berlin trilogy, though I think the title track is the single best song off all three albums.
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Post by Prole Hole on Jan 4, 2017 3:10:50 GMT -5
Urgh, Young Americans. I got into Bowie in the early 90s, when his albums were being being reissued one by one in order, and YA very nearly derailed my interest in Bowie altogether (thankfully back then I missed Pin-Ups). It's just so... well I hate to use "meh" but you know. Meh. Even the title track, beloved though it is, just doesn't do it for me, and the cover of "Across The Universe" is fucking terrible (but it's one of my very least favourite Beatles songs as well, though - just rubbish). I'm in agreement that "Fame" is probably the best song on the album, but that's not a high bar to clear, and nothing else comes close to it. Sax is smeared across this record like so much dogshit on the pavement, and it just becomes cheesy, and inescapable, and drags the whole record down. Also, while I get this is Bowie's soul tribute album, White Guy Does Black Music Less Well Than Black People never really tends to end well, and thus is remains here. Thank Rassilon Station To Station will be along shortly!
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Dellarigg
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Post by Dellarigg on Jan 4, 2017 8:42:03 GMT -5
The '80s are going to be fucking amazing, aren't they?
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Post by Nudeviking on Jan 4, 2017 9:21:35 GMT -5
The '80s are going to be fucking amazing, aren't they? If it all sounds like the "Modern Love" single I have for some inexplicable reason they will.
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Post by Prole Hole on Jan 4, 2017 9:31:15 GMT -5
The '80s are going to be fucking amazing, aren't they? If it all sounds like the "Modern Love" single I have for some inexplicable reason they will. They... do not.
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Post by Albert Fish Taco on Jan 4, 2017 13:15:01 GMT -5
Urgh, Young Americans. I got into Bowie in the early 90s, when his albums were being being reissued one by one in order, and YA very nearly derailed my interest in Bowie altogether (thankfully back then I missed Pin-Ups). It's just so... well I hate to use "meh" but you know. Meh. Even the title track, beloved though it is, just doesn't do it for me, and the cover of "Across The Universe" is fucking terrible (but it's one of my very least favourite Beatles songs as well, though - just rubbish). I'm in agreement that "Fame" is probably the best song on the album, but that's not a high bar to clear, and nothing else comes close to it. Sax is smeared across this record like so much dogshit on the pavement, and it just becomes cheesy, and inescapable, and drags the whole record down. Also, while I get this is Bowie's soul tribute album, White Guy Does Black Music Less Well Than Black People never really tends to end well, and thus is remains here. Thank Rassilon Station To Station will be along shortly! While I do quite like the title track on that album, and maybe have a higher tolerance than others for middling 70's sax, I have to admit it's a song that would not be out of place on a supermarket PA system wedged between "Silly Little Love Song" and "Does Anybody Know What Time It Is?" by Chicago (which my brother dubed "The Waldbaums' Song").
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Post by Nudeviking on Jan 4, 2017 20:36:39 GMT -5
Station to Station (1976)"Six songs? That can't be right. Did I download an incomplete version of this album?" I asked myself as I unzipped the file obtained via completely legal methods and examined the contents contained within. A quick Wikipedia search, however, revealed that Station to Station was indeed only six songs long. Several days later when I emerged from the Wikihole my search had caused me to tumble into I wondered to myself if David Bowie had finally decided to put quality over quantity. After the last trash heap of an album I can only hope so. Pre-Existing Prejudices
Back when Marilyn Manson was doing his wholesale ripoff of Ziggy Stardust on that Mechanical Animals album he put out a cover of "Golden Years," as a b-side or on a movie soundtrack or something. I have heard that cover. It was a decent enough song. Other than that I know naught of this record. The title track appears to be like 10 minutes long which has me a bit worried since I'm not usually fond of songs with time lengths that go into the double digits. Songs
"Station to Station" A song about doing cocaine on a train or something. The first part with the organ has a pretty solid groove going on. The first time I listen to this I didn't like the "It's too late!" part but on subsequent listens I thought this chunk was actually the better portion. This song was pretty great and though it was ten minutes long, I never got bored with it and it never really felt overlong. If Bowie goes more in the direction I think we'll be okay, but if this is merely a weird experiment before he goes back to more bullshit soul music with saxophones smeared all over everything like shit on a prison wall I might have to cash it in. "Golden Years" This is a pretty solid 70s funk jam. It's got hand claps and wah bass and people going "wa wa wa." Nine point three thumbs up. "World on a Wing" This could have been just another boring David Bowie piano jam but it's saved by Dave's vocal performance. The part where he's repeating "the scheme of things," is pretty great, topped only perhaps by him screaming "GIVE ME YOUR HANDS!" at the end of "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide," back on the Ziggy Stardust album. "TVC 15" The beginning of this tricked me because it sounded like some lameass Randy Newman song for a few measures before it started to rock out. This song has the first noticeable appearance of a saxophone on the album (if there was sax on any of the three previous songs it was so low in the mix as to be unnoticeable or was otherwise decidedly not-saxophonelike due to studio magic®) but it fits the song and because it's kept to a minimum it doesn't really detract from the song. "Stay" Another pretty solid funk-rock jam but this one doesn't grab me quite the same as "Golden Years" did. This might be the weakest track of the entire album, but even this one isn't a bad song. "Wild is the Wind" This is kind of a bummer of an album closer. I don't mean it's a bad song, it's just kind of a downer like in a "Gloomy Sunday," sort of way. It's melancholy slow jam crooning. The tom fill toward the end of the song is pretty good and I should probably gave D.B. credit for having enough restraint to not put farting saxophone bullshit all over the song. Final ThoughtsWhen all is said and done this was a pretty decent album. Though for an album that's as well regarded as this one is, it wasn't particularly meaty. It seemed to me more like hors d'ouvers than the main course, though I can't say I'm really all the surprised considering the fact that it's only six songs long. The title track was hands down the best thing here, but everything kind of worked and even the slow piano jams had their place. Like I said above I hope I'm done with shitty saxophone-based white guy soul music and into more weird synths and proto-drum machines like the title track. Songs Featuring Saxophone: 1 Songs Ruined By Saxophone: 0
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monodrone
Prolific Poster
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Post by monodrone on Jan 5, 2017 6:47:22 GMT -5
Wasted Years by Iron Maiden always plays in my head when I see a reference to Golden Years by Bowie. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm trying to fix it.
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Post by Prole Hole on Jan 6, 2017 3:19:47 GMT -5
Damn Station To Station is such a great album. It took me weeks, months even, before I completely fell in love with it, but once I did... oh boy. That title track is just amazing, ten minutes of absolute brilliance. There's influences a-plenty all over this and the three subsequent albums (Krautrock, most visibly) if you spot them, yet it never feels derivative or in some way like theft, in the way that Young Americans felt incredibly derivative without ever quite landing on what made the music he was attempting there good in the first place. But equally if you don't spot the influences here then it makes absolutely no difference at all, because it's simply a straight-up great album. "TVC 15" is just an amazing song, one I'm utterly in love with, and though Nudie's right, it does end on a downer, "Wild Is The Wind" still feels like the comedown you'd expect after such an amazing ride. Staggeringly good album.
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Dellarigg
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Post by Dellarigg on Jan 6, 2017 9:25:29 GMT -5
Just a reminder that Roy Bittan from The E Street Band plays the keyboards on this. That dinky intro to TVC-15? That's our man.
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Trurl
Shoutbox Elitist
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Post by Trurl on Jan 6, 2017 12:16:29 GMT -5
Damn Station To Station is such a great album. It took me weeks, months even, before I completely fell in love with it, but once I did... oh boy. That title track is just amazing, ten minutes of absolute brilliant. There's influences a-plenty all over this and the three subsequent albums (Krautrock, most visibly) if you spot them, yet it never feels derivative or in some way like theft, in the way that Young Americans felt incredibly derivative without ever quite landing on what made the music he was attempting there good in the first place. But equally if you don't spot the influences here then it makes absolutely no difference at all, because it's simply a straight-up great album. "TVC 15" is just an amazing song, one I'm utterly in love with, and though Nudie's right, it does end on a downer, "Wild Is The Wind" still feels like the comedown you'd expect after such an amazing ride. Staggeringly good album. I don't think there was any Bowie album that I liked on first listen - I'm pretty sure that in every case I was unmoved by at the couple listens but there would always be something drawing me back, then after some time it would be my *favourite album*. Also I have to say that Wild is the Wind is my favourite cover that Bowie ever did (not a high bar in a list that includes "Alabama Song"). Something reminded me the other day - when you get to 90s Bowie, you might want to look at the PC game "Omikron" which contained tracks that Bowie wrote for the game as well as stuff he was working on for Hours. It's a very French game and unpolished, but I remember enjoying it back in the day.
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Post by Meth Lab Shenanigans on Jan 7, 2017 22:48:12 GMT -5
While I do quite like the title track on that album, and maybe have a higher tolerance than others for middling 70's sax, I have to admit it's a song that would not be out of place on a supermarket PA system wedged between "Silly Little Love Song" and "Does Anybody Know What Time It Is?" by Chicago (which my brother dubed "The Waldbaums' Song"). Those lyrics, though. You don't often get supermarket PA music with lines about sitting on your hands so nobody will see you've been cutting them. Damn Station To Station is such a great album. It took me weeks, months even, before I completely fell in love with it, but once I did... oh boy. That title track is just amazing, ten minutes of absolute brilliant. There's influences a-plenty all over this and the three subsequent albums (Krautrock, most visibly) if you spot them, yet it never feels derivative or in some way like theft, in the way that Young Americans felt incredibly derivative without ever quite landing on what made the music he was attempting there good in the first place. But equally if you don't spot the influences here then it makes absolutely no difference at all, because it's simply a straight-up great album. "TVC 15" is just an amazing song, one I'm utterly in love with, and though Nudie's right, it does end on a downer, "Wild Is The Wind" still feels like the comedown you'd expect after such an amazing ride. Staggeringly good album. It took me ages to get into Station to Station, and then one night I was listening to it while driving alone and "Word on a Wing" just clicked and it was suddenly the most beautiful thing ever. It's a strong contender for the best song he ever wrote, IMO.
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Post by Nudeviking on Jan 9, 2017 7:38:12 GMT -5
Low (1977)At this point, I'm not really sure what to expect from David Bowie. His last album was pretty good, but the one before that was godawful. The one prior to that was great and the one before that one was fucking Pin Ups, so if there's a pattern that he's following, I'm due for another shit album. I hope to god that's not the case. Pre-Existing Prejudices
None to speak of. I don't think I've ever heard any of the songs off this album or if I have, their titles are immediately recognizable. Songs"Speed of Life" This is a goddamn awesome song. The riff's solid and the dying synths are basically what I want from a keyed instrument in rock. There might have even been saxophones in this but they were so low in the mix that they didn't bother me. I might go so far as to say this is one of the finest album openers of all the times in the history of times. "Breaking Glass" Solid rock jam. If this had been on one of his earlier albums I would have probably declared it to be the best song on the album, but here when compared to the rest of this album's overwhelming awesomeness it is pretty much just a song. "What In the World" This music is awesome. It sounds like the soundtrack to some side scrolling Nintendo game with a dude playing rock guitar licks over it. I want all music to sound like this. "Sound and Vision" I like the synths and how processed the drums sound here...and here comes the saxophone! It's actually kept to a minimum so it's not too offensive. "Always Crashing in the Same Car" The guitar part during the chorus sounds vaguely familiar. It's a pretty decent guitar lick. This is a slow jam done right. There are enough guitar heroics that it's not boring like a lot of other slow jams are. "Be My Wife" The lyrics are kind of stupid but musically this song is decent enough. I like the rock organ and disco beat during the chorus and the pounding piano chords that pepper the track. I know I've talked a lot of rubbish about pianos in "rock" music, but here they're pretty good. "A New Career In a New Town" Apparently if you're want to have harmonica in a song and make me not outright hate the song you just need to pair the song with late 70s synths and record an awesome instrumental. "Warszawa" Synth menace! Flutes! String ensemble! This is pretty bad ass. It sounds like something that should be soundtracking a movie with a hero's journey in it. Like the hero goes into some sort of cave to get the McGuffin and this track starts up. The random bellowing in a foreign language kind of detracts from the song but it's relatively short so I'll give it a pass. "Art Decade" More instrumental synth stuff. This is fantastic. There might be some sax on this, but you know what? It doesn't even matter so mighty is the power of the 70s synthesizers. "Weeping Wall" Synths and xylophones. Noise guitar solos. "Wooooah wooooooah," moans. This is boss. "Subterraneans" I wanted to be like, "Fuck this song and it's goddamn saxophones," but I can't. It's an awesome song, the saxophones fit the song's tone. There's nothing to complain about here. Final Thoughts
Sorry Diamond Dogs, your reign as my favorite David Bowie album has come to an end. With Low, David Bowie has done what I wanted him to do since I first heard the opening notes of "Uncle Arthur," and created an album of songs that is impeccable from the first song to the last. I've heard murmurs that this album is the first of a trilogy of sorts. If the remaining two albums are halfway as good as this was I'm in for an auditory treat. Songs Featuring Saxophone: 2 (4?) Songs Ruined By Saxophone: 0
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Dellarigg
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Post by Dellarigg on Jan 9, 2017 7:50:05 GMT -5
Fun Fact I've Mentioned Before: Nick Lowe's 'I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass' refers to the track from this album, and not the sound of actual breaking glass. There's even a Bowie style background 'ommm' in it somewhere.
And, because this album is Lowe without the 'e', Lowe released an EP called 'Bowi'. 70s cocaine was really great.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2017 18:54:46 GMT -5
Final Thoughts
Sorry Diamond Dogs, your reign as my favorite David Bowie album has come to an end. With Low, David Bowie has done what I wanted him to do since I first heard the opening notes of "Uncle Arthur," and created an album of songs that is impeccable from the first song to the last. I've heard murmurs that this album is the first of a trilogy of sorts. If the remaining two albums are halfway as good as this was I'm in for an auditory treat. W H E W Low is my favorite Bowie album, and one of my favorite albums in general. Heroes and Lodger are good but they don't reach Low levels of excellence. Glad you enjoyed it!
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Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Jan 10, 2017 0:43:35 GMT -5
Last night, Henry Rollins was playing all Bowie songs on his NPR weekend show, and he seems to really like Berlin-era Bowie. Turns out, so do I! "Station to Station" is an amazing song, part actually-good prob rock epic intro, part proto-Franz Ferdinand deep cut (and I'll fight anyone who says FF's singles were their best). And I don't know what the rest of you were talking about with Heroes being mediocre; all the songs he played from it were great, too. He also played a lot from Heathen, but I suppose you'll have to wait a while for that one.
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Post by Prole Hole on Jan 10, 2017 3:33:50 GMT -5
Ah yes, Low. Is it even necessary to say what a great album it is any more? I don't really have anything to add here beyond a general agreement that this album is just amazing. Builds on the strengths of Station To Station and gets rid of all the bits over the two or three albums prior to that which weren't quite working. My Kraftwerk love means it's impossible for me not to love 70s synths in general, and my guitar love means I have to enjoy every single lick here. Put them together and what have you got? Just a straightforwardly brilliant album.
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Jan 10, 2017 13:26:43 GMT -5
Last night, Henry Rollins was playing all Bowie songs on his NPR weekend show, and he seems to really like Berlin-era Bowie. Turns out, so do I! "Station to Station" is an amazing song, part actually-good prob rock epic intro, part proto-Franz Ferdinand deep cut (and I'll fight anyone who says FF's singles were their best). And I don't know what the rest of you were talking about with Heroes being mediocre; all the songs he played from it were great, too. He also played a lot from Heathen, but I suppose you'll have to wait a while for that one. Glad to see you enjoy late 70s Bowie; his stretch of albums from Station to Station to Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) is his most consistently excellent period as an artist, imo. I would note that "Station to Station" is not technically a Berlin-era song, as it's titular album immediately preceded Low, the first album in the Berlin Trilogy (the other Berlin Trilogy albums being "Heroes" and Lodger), in Bowie's discography. As for "Heroes" being mediocre, I can only speak for myself, but I don't think it's mediocre at all, merely that it's the weakest album in a group of three fantastic albums, but still a great album.
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Post by rimjobflashmob on Jan 10, 2017 16:24:03 GMT -5
Final Thoughts
Sorry Diamond Dogs, your reign as my favorite David Bowie album has come to an end. With Low, David Bowie has done what I wanted him to do since I first heard the opening notes of "Uncle Arthur," and created an album of songs that is impeccable from the first song to the last. I've heard murmurs that this album is the first of a trilogy of sorts. If the remaining two albums are halfway as good as this was I'm in for an auditory treat. W H E W Low is my favorite Bowie album, and one of my favorite albums in general. Heroes and Lodger are good but they don't reach Low levels of excellence. Glad you enjoyed it! It's unequivocally the best Bowie album from front to back. You can absolutely argue that he put out better individual songs (and he did) but Low is unimpeachable.
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Post by Nudeviking on Jan 10, 2017 19:48:55 GMT -5
'Heroes' (1977)We're back for the second album in David Bowie's "Berlin Trilogy." Like Low, this was release in 1977 and features Brian Eno. Low was fantastic, so let's strap in and see how 'Heroes' stacks up! Pre-Existing Prejudices
I know "'Heroes'" the song. I've heard the Bowie version before but am probably more familiar with the Bob Dylan's Son version from the Godzilla '98 Soundtrack, which frankly sucks ass. That is to say the song sucks ass, not the soundtrack. The soundtrack is more or less a fine soundtrack in the tradition of 90s soundtracks that are vastly superior to the film that spawned them. Songs"Beauty and the Beast" This is kind of funky with a disco beat. It's seems to share some of its DNA with Young Americans and is a lot more accessible than anything that was on Low but it's still got decaying synths farting all over the place, so it's not awful. "Joe the Lion" The guitar riff in this one is pretty rad but the lyrics are pretty random and don't really seem to go with music at all. It seems like a pretty inconsequential song. "'Heroes'" This is a pretty grand song and seems like the most radio friendly song he's done since maybe "Fame." "Sons of the Silent Age" Random saxophone and crooning. This sounds like a throwback to an earlier era of Bowie. I do not care for this one. "Blackout" The synths in this are awesome and the random David Bowie spoken word freak outs are fantastic. The meedly meedly guitar work that happens during the outro is also top shelf. Seventeen thumbs up! "V-2 Schneider" The intro part of this is great but then shitty saxophones come in and take a dump all over everything for awhile before Davy B. sings the title of the song a couple times and the song fades out. Dud. "Sense of Doubt" So menacing like an evil overlord is marching around in his iron tower preparing to partake in some vile black magick ritual. "Moss Garden" Synths, bird sounds, and a what sounds like a gayakeum (or perhaps some other East-Asian stringed instrument). I like this as a companion to the preceding track. Where "Sense of Doubt" seemed all gloomy and shit this is calming and sort of hopeful sounding. "Neuköln" More melancholy synths and saxophone wailing all over the Goddamn place. When it's playing a three note thing in the background, the sax isn't terrible, but when it's screaming free jazz solos that sound like a duck getting the life choked out of it it's terrible. "The Secret Life of Arabia" Is synth funk a genre? If it is this is the best synth funk song I've ever heard. The conga/bongo drums in the beginning reminds me of "Panic in Detroit," a little bit but this is a lot funkier and synthier than that song was. This is a pretty solid way to close out the album. Final ThoughtsWhile nowhere near as great as Low, this was still a pretty solid album. "'Heroes'" (the song) was probably individually better than any single track on Low, but this one also had more misses than that album did. Overall I'd still put it near the top if I were to rank all the David Bowie records I'd listened to thus far. Songs Featuring Saxophone: 3 Songs Ruined By Saxophone: 3
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Post by Meth Lab Shenanigans on Jan 10, 2017 22:43:58 GMT -5
Happy to hear you're enjoying Bowie's Berlin work! Low is a great album, I wasn't sure whether you'd like it at first or not but I'm glad you did. Heroes is definitely the weakest of the trilogy - Lodger gets overlooked a lot, but it's one of my favorites.
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