Never Let Me Down

Generally seen by many as the nadir of Bowie's output, Never Let Me Down celebrates its 34th birthday today. Released at the height of 80s excess, this album has some truly baffling moments. The cover being an obvious one, but the biggest of which is probably Mickey Rourke delivering a 'rap' on Shining Star (Makin' My Love) - true story! It sits at an interesting point in Bowie's career; his second album after 1983's smash Let's Dance and his last before forming Tin Machine. The record marks the first time Bowie played an instrument on an album of his since 1980's Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), picking up the guitar and keys again.

It's worth noting that while Bowie had enjoyed massive worldwide success in the wake of the Let's Dance album (and the subsequent Serious Moonlight tour in 1983), he was also appearing on the big screen fairly regularly. From 1983 to 1986, Bowie starred in no less than six movies, including Labyrinth, Absolute Beginners and Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence. This heavy workload could be a factor in the decline of the quality of some of his output in the eighties. 

Amongst Bowie's band are old mate Carlos Alomar on guitar, bassist Carmine Rojas, Phillipe Saisse on piano, percussionist Errol "Crusher" Bennett and Robin Clark returns on backing vocals alongside Diva Gray, Lani Groves and Gordon Grody. Clark did contribute to Bowie's previous effort Tonight, but up until that point she had not been on a recording of his since 1975's Young Americans. Multi-instrumentalist Erdal Kızılçay makes his first appearance on a Bowie album here as well, playing keyboards, drums, violin, trumpet as well as doing a bit of bass work and backing vocals. Renowned session muso Sid McGinnis plays lead guitar on three tracks, and Peter Frampton(!) also adds some guitar and sitar to the proceedings. 

I haven't spent a lot of time with this record over the years. I think I have only ever listened to it in full once or twice. So, it's been an interesting one to revisit. The first two tracks, Day-In Day-Out and Time Will Crawl are fairly enjoyable, and catchy enough to sing along to. Both songs were released as singles with the former managing to break the Top 20 in the UK, and the Top 5 in Sweden and Finland though. Depending on which chart you look at, Day-In Day-Out cracked the Top 5 in the US as well. Deeply entrenched in the eighties production styles of the era, both these songs are arguably the album's highlights. Even the next track following those two, Beat of Your Drum is fairly listenable, although its main hook is very reminiscent of Springsteen's Glory Days and the lyrics are less than subtle: "I'd like to beat on your drum/I'll like to blow on your horn". 

The title track, co-written with Alomar, was also released as a single, and is a pleasant enough track. Featuring some harmonica lines from Bowie himself, the vocal take was apparently influenced by John Lennon, with the song an expression of gratitude to Bowie's PA Coco Schwab. As with most of the album, a subtler approach to the track's production could have brought its nuances to the fore, rather than bury them with noise. Rather than simply being a nice listen, it could have really been something. The single would be the last original solo Bowie release until 1992. 

Bowie's penchant for the theatrical gets an airing with Glass Spider, another cluttered track with an opening monologue. The song would give its name to the next tour he would embark on. That's about as memorable as it gets. The rest of the album is a mishmash of overproduced eighties pop that buries much of its potential by eating itself. 

It's certainly a product of the era it appeared in. While it isn't a brilliant offering from Bowie, it's not all bad. Unfortunately, the bad outweighs the good. I give this 2/5. May not listen again.

NEXT UP: Lodger - May 18th *

EPILOGUE: Apparently Bowie was dissatisfied with how this album came out and wanted to re-record it with Reeves Gabrels shortly after they went 1987. This notion was flirted with a lot over the years, and while it never eventuated in his lifetime. In 2008, Mario J. McNulty remixed Time Will Crawl for an iSelect compilation, and Bowie is said to have remarked that he should do the whole Never Let Me Down album while was at it. So it came to pass that a new remixed and re-recorded version of the record was released in October 2018, some 31 years after the fact. The sessions were produced by McNulty with musicians including Gabrels, Sterling Campbell, David Torn, Nico Muhly, Tim Lefebvre and Laurie Anderson. Bowie's original vocals were kept intact, as well as other minor musical elements. Never Let Me Down 2018 was released as a separate album, and was also part of the Loving the Alien (1983-1988) box set. As yet, I have not released to it.

* I was bedridden with a back injury, and missed the 18th May release date. Got there in the end!