While We're Blogging on Bowie...

After finishing up that last blog post I moved on to the "Heroes" album, which is the second of the Berlin trilogy. Despite its iconic black and white cover and an absolutely fantastic title track, I find it lacking compared to Low. Sure, the same Eno influences are there, and if anything, the crazy keyboard stuff is even amped up a notch. 

Rather than opening with an instrumental, we are given a fairly frenetic track in Beauty And The Beast, which isn't a bad song; it's just not as immediate as some of his other work. Similarly, Joe The Lion is energetic but a little aimless. When the third song in, "Heroes", starts up all is temporarily forgiven when Robert Fripp's guitar riff sweeps through your speakers or headphones. It is arguably Bowie's best song, if not one of. I love the album version too, because it runs over the six minute mark.

Sons Of The Silent Age is probably the second best track with vocals on the album. No idea what the song is about, but the mood, production and melody are great. Once we get into the flipside, and the instrumentals, things dip a bit. I quite dig V-2 Schneider, but the other three are all about ambiance and the hooks just aren't there. 

I'm sure that "Heroes" has been just as influential and successful as Low, but it just pales in comparison to me. I also find Lodger a little hit and miss, and I'm interested what I'll think of that when I give it another re-listen. I think that "Heroes" is the weakest of the Berlin Trilogy, but hey, it's still Bowie. And that ain't bad.