1. Outside

Bowie's nineteenth studio album reunited him with Brian Eno, but this isn't a continuation of their work together during the late 1970s; it is indeed a separate beast. Subtitled The Nathan Adler Diaries: A Hyper-cycle, the album tells the story of a group of characters on the eve of the year 2000, some five years away at the time of release. The record marks its twenty sixth anniversary today, and helped Bowie reach the singles chart in the US for the first time since 1987. 

This is not a casual listen, by any means. You couldn't load this into part of a playlist and hit shuffle, for instance. There are monologues from different characters, sub-plots and a loose narrative throughout. While 1. Outside (or just Outside, I guess) isn't one of my favourite Bowie albums, there are some great moments, and the scope and attempt at storytelling is to be applauded. 

After the scene-setting opening tracks depicting the character of Leon Blank going, you guessed it, outside, the detective Nathan Adler arrives. Cue album highlight The Heart's Filthy Lesson, which would go on to be used to startling effect in the movie Seven. There are numerous remixes and extended version of this song out there, but the album track is pretty damn good. The track was the first single released from the record, followed by Strangers When We Meet, another great song. This was originally written and recorded for Bowie's 1993 'soundtrack' for Buddha of Suburbia, and it's the only track that was written before Outside sessions commenced. So, the version that appears here is a new recording, and a bit more 'lush' than the 1993 one, according to the man himself. Coming at the end of the album, it feels like a breath of fresh air. As this is Bowie's longest studio offering, you've been subjected to almost seventy minutes of story and atmosphere before this arrives to cleanse your earholes. It is one of the few songs here that holds up nicely on its own, along with THFL. 

The third single, Hallo Spaceboy, was actually rerecorded and remixed in early 1996, and featured the Pet Shop Boys. I have vague memories of seeing the video clip on Rage at the time. I think it may have been the first time I saw a new Bowie video since the eighties. I remember liking it, and thinking it was quite poppy. I thought it was cool that Major Tom was being referred to again. The version on the album is quite different. There are no Pet Shop Boys. The melody remains, but instead of a radio-friendly pop production, it borders on an industrial thudding assault. It is more inline with the rest of the record, than the single release, and works really well among the other tracks. Stands nicely on its own though. If you see any live performances of the song, you'll have flashing lights accompanying the constant thud. Kinda cool though.

There are a few other highlights on the album for me. The Motel got a guernsey on the A Reality Tour on some nights, which is an interesting choice. Without the context of the album, it exists as an eerie character piece. I really like the repeated adage of "there's no hell like an old hell" though. Big on atmosphere and mood, it's not a tune you can easily sing along to, and it's certainly not a stadium anthem either. So, I don't know how well received those live performances were, he he he. I also quite like I'm Deranged, but that's probably due to its usage in David Lynch's eccentric but brilliant Lost Highway. 

As I mentioned earlier, Strangers When We Meet is the only song that had been written before Bowie and Eno began recording. Joining them were guitarists Reeves Gabrels and Carlos Alomar, bassist Erdal Kızılçay, pianist Mike Garson and drummer Sterling Campbell. Additional contributions were made by jazz drummer Joey Baron and Israeli bassist Yossi Fine. 

In addition to his duties as a co-producer and instrumentalist, Eno is also credited with providing strategies, using flash cards and word randomisers with Bowie to help create characters and songs that didn't rely on clichés. This is a dense, long listen. There is a short essay in the liner notes that help scope out the loose plot of a murdered baby and the people that come in and out of the story. Some of the characters are portrayed by Bowie putting on accents or having his voice manipulated with various effects. As you would probably guess, with it being fully titled 1. Outside - The Nathan Adler Diaries: A Hyper-cycle there was a plan to release another album in the same vein. Ideas from Bowie included putting out an album each year until 2000 and have the music line up with the present, or releasing a trilogy. None of those concept came to fruition. 

So, there is some good, and some bad, the length being the biggest obstacle. One wonders if the bits of narration were removed along with the mood-setting pieces, there would remain a tighter album with some strong songs. Imagine an album that kicks off with The Heart's Filthy Lesson...  It would be a shame to lose those characters and that created world though. 

Bowie's longest studio album is not one I'll probably pull out again anytime soon. I give it 2.5/5.

NEXT UP: Hours... - 4th Oct

Reality

David Bowie's 23rd studio album turns 18 today, and the tour of this album is when I got to see him live! Rhones and I made the jaunt to sunny Melbourne in February 2004, along with some of our friends, to catch him at Rod Laver Arena on the 26th! I wouldn't have thought that that concert would be the only time I'd see him perform. It was in Germany the following year, that Bowie would suffer a heart attack onstage while at Hurricane festival. He pretty much disappeared from the public eye for ten years.

But, this is a pretty good album, full of energy and boasting an excellent stable of musicians. Headed by legendary guitarist and MD Gerry Leonard, this record features previous band members Earl Slick on guitar and Mike Garson on piano. Tony Visconti is also here as a co-producer again, adding a bit of keyboard and guitar along the way. Drummer Sterling Campbell joins Mike Plati on the bass in the rhythm section, although it would be bassist Gail Ann Dorsey taking up that role on the tour. She also contributes background vocals along with renowned jazz singer Catherine Russell. Filling out the core band is guitarist David Torn as well.

I can remember seeing the film clip for the album's first single New Killer Star on the TV, possibly when we still had Foxtel, so it must have been the now defunct Max channel. There was only fifteen months in between the release of this album and Bowie's previous studio effort Heathen, so I remember being quite surprised to see a new song from him. I also remember liking it instantly. It's a great track, great way to kick off the album. I'm still very fond of it. Always thought it should have more of a ripple through the music charts at the time.

Sonically similar to Heathen (you could treat them as siblings), but still with its own sense of purpose in Bowie's catalog, this a very enjoyable album. Some of my favourite songs of this century's Bowie are here. Never Get Old has taken on new meaning since his passing, but it remains quite a fun track, and the reflective Days is a nice ballad about looking back. While I don't get what the song is about, I also quite like the vibe and production of Fall Dog Bombs the Moon.

On the cover front, Bowie tackles The Modern Lovers and George Harrison, who had passed away in late 2001. The former is a track called Pablo Picasso, and is something of a novelty tune. Not heard the original, although I like some of their stuff, but this doesn't do much for me. I really like the Harrison number though, Try Some, Buy Some, from his 1973 album Living In The Material World. Fun fact: the song was first put out as a single by Ronnie Spector in 1971.

There are a couple of tracks that I don't really dig, one being The Loneliest Guy. Nice premise, nice spooky arrangement, but I think it misses the mark and doesn't quite land for me. The title song is a bizarre monster too, starting with a big punch, production wise. The band sound great, but the song doesn't seem to go anywhere. It's a weird choice to have as the penultimate track too, because it would end up being in the first few songs for most of the concerts on the A Reality Tour. She'll Drive the Big Car plods on a little too.

The album's final offering, Bring Me the Disco King, is a huge favourite of mine. I love that it closes the record too. Sparsely produced, the track only features Garson on piano, Bowie's vocal and session drummer Matt Chamberlain. It's quite different from anything else on this record, and the rest of the Bowie canon at the time. It's a huge standout for me, and I got a wonderful surprise at the A Bowie Celebration show at the Perth Concert Hall a coupla years back. They started the show with BMtDK, sung by Bernard Fowler! Very cool. Never saw Bowie sing it live, but I can watch him do it on the A Reality Tour DVD. 

So, yes, much to like about this album. I give it 3.5/5. Listened to it again day.

NEXT UP: 1. Outside - 26th Sep

Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)

Celebrating its 41st birthday today is Bowie's first offering of the 1980s. I'm going to say right away that this is one of my favourite albums of his, and I think it would be in my Top 5 Bowie records. It's also one of a handful of Bowie that I have on vinyl. Again, as I have mentioned on several previous blog posts, I was aware of Bowie growing up, but didn't really become as big a fan as I am now until the early mid nineties. I don't think I listened to this album in full until the early '00s. 

This is the first studio release to come after Bowie's so-called 'Berlin trilogy' and some of the musicians who played on Lodger return. The rhythm section of bassist George Murray and drummer Dennis Davis join old mate Carlos Alomar on guitar with new bandmate Andy Clark on synthesiser. Returning for the first time since 1976's Station to Station is pianist extraordinaire Roy Bittan, although he only plays on three tracks. King Crimson's Robert Fripp also plays guitar on about half of the album, his first appearance on a Bowie album since 1977's "Heroes". Sadly, neither Bittan or Fripp would play on a future Bowie release. Tony Visconti also returns to co-produce the album and contribute some acoustic guitar and background vocals. 

I remember seeing the video for Ashes to Ashes on Countdown (an old music show on the ABC, for those too young to remember). The image of Bowie as a Pierrot clown is very possibly my earliest memory of him. The song was a pretty bit hit in its day, hitting No.1 on the singles charts in the UK and Australia. Rightly so, I mean, it's a corker. Partly a sequel to Space Oddity and some kind of eighties nursery rhyme, the distinctive synth riff make this one of Bowie's most recognisable tunes. You can thank synth guitarist Chuck Hammer for that. I think I remember hearing the album title Scary Monsters around the time this video was doing the rounds. Back then it was the most expensive film clip ever made for a song, costing over a quarter of a million pounds, reportedly.

Any other experience I had with this album came in dribs and drabs. It was the Changesbowie compilation cassette I bought as a teenager that first introduced me the to song Fashion. I previously heard a snippet of the outro on the aforementioned album's TV commercial. It must have been around 1990, and I dug that part of the track instantly. Upon a full listen, I was somewhat disappointed to learn that the 'fa-fa-fa-fa-fashion' bit only happened at the end, he he he. I soon grew to love it, and it remains a big fave of mine, of not just this album, but Bowie in general.

The title track appeared on Bowie's The Singles Collection 2, which I must have acquired on CD in the mid nineties. I remember being fairly nonplussed on first hearing it, but I quite enjoy the song now. I particularly like hearing live versions of Bowie performing it with Nine Inch Nails. It's quite aggressive in tone, an approach which was similarly mined for the title track of Reality in 2003. Both songs come out swinging, as it were. Up the Hill Backwards was also issued as a single in early 1981, which is not a bad track, but for mine, easily the weakest of the four. I do really like the line "I'm okay/You're so-so" which takes a gentle swing at the self help movement that began burgeoning in the late sixties. 

What's left of the album is also very strong, for the most part. Kicking off with the manic It's No Game (Part 1), you are almost kicked in the head by Fripp's abrasive guitar and Bowie's unhinged vocal delivery. One of my friends remarked after hearing this that "shouty, out-of-key Bowie is my favourite". He hehe. There's also some dialogue recited in Japanese courtesy of Michi Hirota. Yeah, not your average Bowie track, which is possibly why I like it so much. What I also really like is that the record is bookended by this and It's No Game (Part 2), which is basically a calmer take of the first version. Slightly different lyrics too, but the arrangement is gentler and Bowie's vocal is an octave lower. Works brilliantly! The former begins with the sound of a film projector starting up, and the latter has that flapping noise of the tape once the film ends. Nice touch.

The first song of the second side, Teenage Wildlife, is another big favourite of mine. Benefiting from some way-out riffing from Fripp again, and Bittan on the keys, it features one of my favourite Bowie vocals. Almost all of his little tricks from his toolbox are used here, and it's one of my quintessential Bowie songs. I also love how the drums go into double time around the two minute mark, and just stay there! The whole song seems to shift up a gear, but all that has changed is the drums! Awesome stuff. I also quite like the cover of (Television frontman) Tom Verlaine's Kingdom Come, which is the only song on this album not wholly written by Bowie.

Pete Townshend plays guitar on Because You're Young, which unfortunately is one of the weaker tracks on offer here. Townshend would also play guitar on Slow Burn for the Heathen album in 2002. Scream Like a Baby has some nice moments, particularly parts of the drum and synth work. Bowie's vocal distortions in the bridge are quite fun as well. But again, I think these two songs are the least impressive ones.

On the whole, there is much to enjoy here. Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) is a very cohesive and consistent record, and I like it a lot. I give this 4/5, and at the type of typing these words, I'm listening to it!

NEXT UP: Reality - Sep 16th

Tonight

Whoops! I spaced on the date again. This album celebrated its 37th anniversary on the 1st of September, one of a handful of maligned releases Bowie issued in the eighties. But, is it really all that bad? Let's take a look. It's been a while...

The follow-up to Bowie's hugely successful Let's Dance features the return of bassist Carmine Rojas and drummer Omar Hakim, who both played on that record. Gone are Stevie Ray Vaughan and Niles Rogers unfortunately; but old friends Carlos Alomar and Robin Clark are back on guitar and backing vocals respectively. Another big presence is multi-instrumentalist, and the album's co-producer Derek Bramble. Hugh Padgham also earns a production credit, also acting as the record's engineer and mixer.

I did get this on CD in the leadup to seeing Bowie live in Melbourne in February 2004, but I don't think I've listened to it from start to finish since then. Now seems like a good time to rectify that. Let's go track by track, yeah?

1. LOVING THE ALIEN
For me, this is the album's absolute highlight. I think I was aware of this song before I ever heard it in full, which must have been around the early '00s, but my first impression was 'Ooooh, that's the bit from the Red Dwarf feem toon!'. It's a great track, and I think I became a little more enamoured with it when Bowie and Gerry Leonard stripped the arrangement back to basics on the A Reality Tour DVD. The full album version breaches the seven minute mark, which is basically the outgoing guitar solo, courtesy of Alomar. The single edit certainly works for brevity, but it's nice to hear the whole thing. One of only two songs wholly written by Bowie on this album. The themes of alienation and isolation that was present in a lot of his early work returns here, with the hope that the rest of the record will follow suit. 

2. DON'T LOOK DOWN
Unfortunately, not. A faux reggae feel permeates this track, and while it's not a terrible song, it feels a little half-baked. It's actually a cover of an Iggy Pop song, which I would not have picked. Bizarrely, it's the first of five tracks here that were co-written by Iggy. Maybe the success of China Girl prompted Bowie to look at some other songs of his..?

3. GOD ONLY KNOWS
Bowie covers The Beach Boys? Yes, indeed. This feels like a big swing and a miss, which is a shame. I don't know if it's the arrangement, which is full of pulsing horns, or a badly picked key to perform it in but it doesn't really land. I guess this is just one of those songs with a 'Cover at Your Own Risk' clause. Missed opportunity, I think.

4. TONIGHT
Enter Tina Turner! And more eighties poppy reggae vibes; complete with key change at the end! This is another Iggy Pop cover, which was co-written by Bowie, and originally featured on the 1977 album Lust For Life, which Bowie also co-produced. Again, I've not heard the source material, but it feels a little lacklustre. Even Tina's vocal is relegated to back-up duties, rather than this becoming a true duet. 

5. NEIGHBOURHOOD THREAT
Again, another Iggy Pop cover, and also taken from Lust For Life. This has a little more punch and presence than the other two though. Some nice quiet menace in Bowie's vocal delivery and the stabby horns are great, particularly at the end, which is the perfect lead-in for...

6. BLUE JEAN
The album's first single, which was issued as part of a 21min short video directed by Julien Temple called Jazzin' for Blue Jean. I first heard this track as the final song on the Changesbowie tape I bought in Bali when I was 14. It took a while to really enjoy the track. It came on after Modern Love, which let's face it, is a much better song, and probably a better way to end the compilation. So, for years Blue Jean felt like an interruption or a final thought better left 'unthunk', for want of a better word. Thankfully, I've garnered more affection for it over the years. I think the turning point might have been seeing Kate Ceberano live and she belted out a ripping cover version. Anyway, it's easily one of the album's few highlights.

7. TUMBLE AND TWIRL
Another song co-written by Bowie and Iggy Pop. This hadn't turned up on either singer's album, and again comes across as a bit of pleasant filler. There are some nice bits of horn, and cool octave harmonies from Bowie. There's some nice slap bass guitar work here courtesy of Mark King (Level 42), who was uncredited for some reason. 

8.  I KEEP FORGETTIN'
Now, here is another cover from the sixties, very much in vogue during the eighties. Not heard the original, which apparently was done by Chuck Jackson, who enjoyed a hit with the Bacharach/David penned Any Day Now. Not an unpleasant listen, but a little tepid. 

9. DANCING WITH THE BIG BOYS
The final song of the album was a lot of eighties bombast, and was co-written by Iggy Pop and Carlos Alomar. Iggy actually appears on the track, although you wouldn't really know it. His vocal is buried behind Bowie and the three background singers. It doesn't take long for this one to lose its charm as well, as the lyrics are quite repetitive. Thankfully, it ends quickly, as does the album. It barely breaks thirty five minutes, which isn't a bad thing, I guess. Wait, that means that Loving the Alien takes up a fifth of the album? Far out.

Yeah, not great, but not terrible. I'd almost give it three stars just for Loving the Alien and Blue Jean. But I won't. 2/5 from me. Can't see me revisiting it for a while, he he he...

NEXT UP: Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) - Sep 12th

Album of the Week - Vol. 22

Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One THE KINKS (1970)
Week: Mon 16th to Sun 22nd August 
Format: vinyl
Producer: Ray Davies
Track listing:
SIDE 1:
1. The Contenders *
2. Strangers *
3. Denmark Street
4. Get Back in Line *
5. Lola
6. Top of the Pops
7. The Moneygoround
SIDE 2:
1. This Time Tomorrow *
2. A Long Way from Home
3. Rats
4. Apeman
5. Powerman *
6. Got to Be Free
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 40:25

This is an album that I largely ignored for a long time. I think possibly because the record included Lola. Through either repeated listening or requests to sing it, I got quite tired of the track. I knew Lola and Apeman from The Kinks compilation The Ultimate Collection, which came out in 1989 and did the rounds while I was at high school. Pretty sure I managed to get a taped copy of it from a friend. 

As the years went by, I was happy to leave the album alone. I went through a mini Kinks phase around a decade or more ago where I thrashed the Village Green Preservation Society album (1968), and the subsequent follow-up Arthur (1969). It would have made sense to check this record out then, as it followed the order of releases I'd found myself in. But, no, I abstained. 

Until I watched 2007's The Darjeeling Limited. 

Wes Anderson has made some very interesting films over the years, but TDL was the first one of his that I really liked. I didn't think much of Rushmore (been meaning to rewatch it though), felt that The Life Aquatic... was a missed opportunity with an excellent cast (despite the use of Bowie music), and it took a while for me to warm to The Royal Tenenbaums. Oh, and I missed Bottle Rocket altogether. Still not caught it. However, I've enjoyed most of the films he's released since. In fact, every movie he's put out since TDL I've really liked. Fantastic Mr Fox is just that, Moonrise Kingdom was a lot of fun, The Grand Budapest Hotel is wonderful, and possibly my pick of his films and Isle of Dogs was very good too. Not seen The French Dispatch yet, but who has?

Well, that's enough digression I think. Let's get back to the album at the top of the post, and the movie that inspired me to listen to it.

For those unfamiliar, TDL deals with three brothers grappling with the death of their father. In an effort to bridge the growing divide between them, the eldest brother (I think?) Francis, played by Owen Wilson invites his siblings on a spiritual journey which starts on the titular train in India. The first Kinks songs plays when Adrien Brody, portraying the young brother (I think?) Peter, is running to catch said train as it pulls out of the station. The track is This Time Tomorrow, and when the airplane noise at the song's start plays, the sequence goes into slow motion. 

When I first watched this movie, I knew instantly that this was a Kinks song, but I'd never heard it before. Ray Davies' distinctive lead vocals made the band unmistakable. Mirroring this scene, one of the last moments of the movie has all three brothers running to catch another train, again in slow motion, but with the song Powerman playing. It was the strength of these tunes (and these scenes, let's be honest) that convinced me to check out the entire Kinks album containing these songs. 

The third song from this record used in TDL is Strangers, written and sung by Dave Davies (yes, that's his real name!), Ray's brother. I didn't pick it for a Kinks song on my initial watch, probably due to that fact. It didn't leave as much as a mark on me as the other two either, but it has now become one of my album favourites. Again, the sequence employs the use of slow motion, at around the midpoint of the movie. If you'd like to read more on these songs and their corresponding film scenes, I stumbled upon this. Spoiler alert! If you haven't watched TDL.

Now, after getting my hands on a copy of the album, the next song that had a big impact on me was opening track The Contenders. Beginning with a fairly light and melodic intro of vocal and guitar, the tune kicks into gear with a cool rock riff and some stabs by the band. I would offer up the word 'rollicking' as the piano joins in and the song really gets underway. It became a staple of the playlists I would put together for WGJS gigs. As we packed our gear away, it almost became expected by my bandmates that this song would appear, he he he. Other tracks I really liked were Get Back In Line, Denmark Street and The Moneygoround. 

So that's a brief history of me discovering the album, but my education with it was quite slow. It wasn't until I procured a copy of the 50th anniversary release on vinyl last year that I learned a bit more about it. The first revelation being that this was recorded while The Kinks were briefly a five piece band.

After passing muster in a recording session for Lola, keyboardist John Gosling joined the fold in May 1970. The quintet included Gosling, the Davies brothers, drummer Mick Avory (who had been in the band since 1964) and bassist John Dalton who permanently replaced Pete Quaife in 1969. Dalton had filled in for Quaife on several occasions after he broke his leg in June 1966. 

I'd been a little blind to album's loose concept as well, in that it was quite a scathing attack on the music industry. Both Denmark Street and The Moneygoround display contempt for those who sign bands on the dotted line without liking them, but are happy to take the money they generate. The two singles Lola and Apeman seem separate from this narrative, and in my mind, the whole second side only has a couple of moments tied to the concept. Indeed those two songs are more of a reflection of the time period, and how people are changing. According to Ray Davies, the big undercurrent of the album is the constant struggle of good vs. evil.

There was supposed to be a direct follow-up to this record, hence the 'Part One' in the title. It didn't eventuate unfortunately, with the Kinks' subsequent studio release being 1971's Muswell Hillbillies. One might wonder what would happen if this album ever got a sequel some forty odd years later. 

If nothing else, this album did not deserve to be ignored by me for so long.  I can thank Mr Anderson for pushing me into delving into it, and for that, I remain grateful.