Lodger - 1979

Ol’ D.B. spent 1978 touring ‘Low’ & (shudder) “Heroes” before going back to the studios with Messers Eno & Visconti to work on ‘Lodger’. The album is considered the 3rd part of the ‘Berlin Trilogy’, which is daft as it was produced in New York City and Switzerland. This time around there are no instrumentals and things are a bit more pop orientated. At times the album has a playful tone. Production anecdotes abound of band members swapping instruments and songs being contracted out of the shared chord sequences. ‘Lodger’ is one of the more forgotten Bowie’s albums. It’s easy enough to get hold of the CD re-issue, but it’s not an album that gets talked about much. Unlike Hunky Dory and “Heroes” which are both rubbish, as regular readers know well ;-)

What’s Good?
‘Red Sails’ romps along like it really does have the wind behind it. Weirdly the instrumental synth section sounds just like the music in the bar in Superman 2.
‘Boys keep swinging’ is sing-a-long light hearted fun about the wonders of masculinity. ‘Look back in Anger’ is flippin nuts, one of the best Bowie songs I’ve ever heard. Apparently the NME described it as the “low point of the album” which is proof that they don’t know nothing.

What’s Bad?
“Heroes” ended with some pretty bad world music, and ‘Lodger’ picks it up and stretches it out a bit with ‘African Night Flight’ and ‘Yassassin (Turkish for Long Live)’. Hands up who wanted a David Bowie reggae song? (Please leave the internet if your hand is raised).
‘Red Money’ is a bore and a disappointing closer to an otherwise pretty good album.

How many good songs?
6 out of 10? Not bad

Bowie-o-meter: 70 Ziggys.

Lodger is a fairly average album with it’s share of stand out moments that make it worth a listen, but you’re just as well down T’other day Rueben described this and ‘Heroes’ as ‘Bowie in the studio cranking out albums when he should have been taking some time to figure out his next move.” The man has a point!

“Heroes” - 1977

“Heroes”

See those speech marks? Apparently they’re ironic. Hmmmmm.

Following on from the triumphant experimentation of ‘Low’, “Heroes” was released just 10 months later. The album is the only one of the ‘Berlin trilogy’ that lives up to it’s name as it was recorded and fiddled with in West Berlin, a mere stones throw from the dreaded Wall. The same wall David Hasselhoff would one day tear down with his bare teeth during his frantic search for freedom.
“Heroes” followed the previous albums format with one side devoted to songs and the other to heavily Eno influenced instrumentals. The title track is one of the best loved Bowie singles and was named his best song ever last April by Mojo magazine.
It was the NME album of the year back in ’77 and has 5 stars on the American ‘Allmusic’ guide.
I flippin loved ‘Low’ so I came to this with my tongue hanging out, eagerly expecting to lap up more of the same.

What’s bad about it?
First track ‘Beauty and the Beast’ gets things off to a very under whelming start, featuring dire lyrics and a terrible (and terribly loud) female backing singer. Closing track ‘The Secret Life of Arabia’ is equally naff, a piece of cod-world music with more nonsense lyrics. Any album book ended by these two duffers would have a hard time. The rest of “Heroes” is an even split between decent stuff, some of it very good, and dull filler. Ultimately it’s the filler tracks that are the biggest problem with the album, making “Heroes” a highly forgettable album.

What’s Good?
Who doesn’t love the title track? The production job is a land mark in rock history and the song itself isn’t too bad either.
‘Joe the Lion’ is a crackin’ song, as desolate as “Heroes” (the song) but with out the star crossed lovers. Apparently it’s a tribute to an artist who had himself nailed to his VW Beetle in 1974.
‘V2 Schneider’ is a fun instrumental dedicated to the Kraftwerk co-founder and ‘Moss Garden’ is among the best of the Eno-Bowie instrumentals.
But 4 good tracks is a pretty poor showing.

How many good tracks?
4 out of 10

Bowie-o-meter: 45 Ziggys.

Before I knew a single Bowie album track I knew the legend of “Heroes” and it’s status as a ‘classic album’. It beats me how such a bland collection of material ever made a dent in popular culture. For me this is one of Bowie’s weakest albums yet. I can’t even think of anything pithy to say about it, it’s that forgettable.

Low - 1977

Poor David Bowie. Years of the cocaine fuelled excesses of mid 70’s rock stardom nearly wiped him out. How else do you explain ‘Young Americans’ (pause for laughter). After touring ‘Station to Station’ and finishing the publicity rounds for his first big acting job (‘The Man who fell to earth’) it seems Dave-oh wanted to keep a low profile. In interviews of the time he talks about being so reliant on his ‘people’ that he didn’t even know who to book a plane ticket. I guess he figured it out some how as ‘Low’ was recorded in Paris with all twiddly bits done Berlin in 1976. This was the start of his ‘Berlin trilogy’; three albums synonymous with synthesizers, experimentation, and former Roxy Music member come ambient daddy Brian Eno.

‘Low’ is nothing like any previous Bowie album. There are no big characters, no sweeping narratives and few songs. Half of the album is given to instrumental pieces whilst the songs that do make it are short and sketchy.

30+ years after it’s release in January ‘77 Low still regularly makes music critic lists of all time greatest albums. Stroof, Pitchfork have it as the greatest album of the 1970’s. But is it any good?

What’s good?
There’s only so much Bowie the average person can take. As much as I liked ‘Station to Station’ as this fortnight started I needed a Bowie break. I begrudgingly pressed play on track 1 I was knocked out. ‘Speed of Life’ was a revelation, all catchey hooks and synth’ cool.
‘Breaking Glass’ and ‘What in the World’ are good enough little songs in their own right, with the latter sounding like a Mario Bros remix years before the Nintendo revolution.
‘Sound and Vision’, ‘Always Crashing in the same car’ and ‘Be my Wife’ are three of the best Bowie songs ever. Each one is more infectious and atmospheric then the last. Then ‘A New Career’ breaks the tension with what sounds like Bowie making a guest appearance in The Red Hand Gang or The Kids from Degrassi Street. That’s side one. Side two is more relaxed but no less compelling.

What’s Bad?
You must have got the idea by now, this album don’t do ‘bad’.

How many good tracks?
11 out of 11. SCORE!

For my money ‘Low’ is easily Bowie’s most compelling and inventive album since Ziggy. Best of all, for every track that’s experimental or atmospheric there is a killer “choon” to balance it out. ‘Low’ is pop reinvention at it’s best.

Bowie-o-meter: 99 Ziggys, all trying to keep a low profile amongst teh freaky teens in late 70's Berlin.