i did have glasses tbf
― Kony Montana: "Say hello to my invisible friend" (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 11 March 2012 15:13 (twelve years ago) link
It just means you brilliant taste over all the simpletons that like Hunky Dory.
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 11 March 2012 15:18 (twelve years ago) link
Dumb joke, i realize i'm about to get shat on for.
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 11 March 2012 15:19 (twelve years ago) link
Hunky Dory used to be my fave i think but this shdn't be a "either/or" proposition, whatever you wanna think about the meaning of liking Low it's pretty obvious that its outness has been diminished by time and influence. like i guess i first heard it in the early to mid 80s and already in the context of what pop music sounded like there was nothing really odd to me at that age. tho i guess i had no handle on what "ambient" was back then.
― Kony Montana: "Say hello to my invisible friend" (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 11 March 2012 15:22 (twelve years ago) link
i guess i do think that Hunky Dory is the "straighter" record - nb just remembered i played "Bewlay Bros" on the jukebox in the pub last night but that only makes it a more honest choice if you really singer-songwriter types and hate whatever kind of thing Low is
― Kony Montana: "Say hello to my invisible friend" (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 11 March 2012 15:24 (twelve years ago) link
really love singer-songwriter types i meant
― Kony Montana: "Say hello to my invisible friend" (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 11 March 2012 15:25 (twelve years ago) link
Who hates Low?
There've been outright "I hate Aladdin Sane" "I hate Young Americans" and it's like, "uh huh, some people do".
I love "Outside" but it's a fringe thing; obv you can't appreciate "Outside" without being acquainting with every character, which songs they sing and whether they own a goat-scrotum purse or a lamb-penis necklace
― an elk hunt (Ówen P.), Sunday, 11 March 2012 15:27 (twelve years ago) link
Nobody hates Low. Of all the Bowie album reviews I've read, pretty much all of them about Low have just fawned over how brilliant it is. Maybe I don't read enough album reviews?
Compared this to say, any of his other albums. They all have tracks that get on people's nerves, weak points, etc. Low just sort of seems untouchable.
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 11 March 2012 15:30 (twelve years ago) link
Personally I love "Low", I even covered a few of those songs in bands over the years. But it does seem a bit idealized by the current generation.
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 11 March 2012 15:31 (twelve years ago) link
is it a surprise if some 30-odd year old albums speak more to the current generation than others?
― Kony Montana: "Say hello to my invisible friend" (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 11 March 2012 15:33 (twelve years ago) link
altho again that discounts a lot of the people who've loved it between 1977 and now
maybe Hunky Dory was big with the antifolk kids or whatever, assuming they really existed
― Kony Montana: "Say hello to my invisible friend" (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 11 March 2012 15:34 (twelve years ago) link
"Be My Wife" gets on my nerves tbh. There are a couple other songs on that album that I like when I hear, but don't really stick with me, unlike "Aladdin Sane" which is one memorable awesome song after another.
― sarahell, Sunday, 11 March 2012 15:55 (twelve years ago) link
You and me both Sarahell--for some reason I can't stand Be My Wife and TVC15, they make my skin crawl!
― Iago Galdston, Sunday, 11 March 2012 15:59 (twelve years ago) link
THanks to EZ here for pursuading me to listen to Stage again
― an elk hunt (Ówen P.), Sunday, 11 March 2012 16:14 (twelve years ago) link
(persuade)
Oh, the antifolk kids once existed, but now they've morphed into the crusties.
Sort of sounds like a Bowie lyric.
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 11 March 2012 16:26 (twelve years ago) link
Low is just placed on such a pedestal of intellectual/avant-garde/genius these days.
This was the case 20+ years ago when I got into Bowie. As an impressionable 18-year-old I was keen to follow the party line but over time I lost interest in it. I don't think there's anything weak or annoying about it, I just find it kinda meh and am surprised at how highly people rate it.
― fit and working again, Sunday, 11 March 2012 16:32 (twelve years ago) link
I vaguely remember a quote from Robert Smith saying how he lost interest in Bowie when Low came out. At the time I thought he was nuts.
― fit and working again, Sunday, 11 March 2012 16:34 (twelve years ago) link
You're welcome Ówen! Hope you have the reissue; the correct ordering and extra songs push it over the top.
― EZ Snappin, Sunday, 11 March 2012 16:46 (twelve years ago) link
I have the Ryko, is that the one you mean? Also, kudos on voting for Outside songs although we voted for the opposite ones
― an elk hunt (Ówen P.), Sunday, 11 March 2012 16:47 (twelve years ago) link
I was gonna vote "Voyeur of utter destruction (as beauty)" cause I love that song but felt embarrassed by the title.
― an elk hunt (Ówen P.), Sunday, 11 March 2012 16:51 (twelve years ago) link
This is where I say it's a CRIME that (damn good) filler like "A New Career In a New Town" places but Outside gets shut out. On my ballot that was too late, I had "Thru' These Architect's Eyes" in my top ten. Tons of cuts on it were worthy, tho -- "I'm Deranged," "The Motel," "A Small Plot of Land" to name a few. People focus way too much on the (negligible) NIN influences and concept (actually quite wry) and not nearly enough on the quality of songwriting (Bowie's best since the mid-70s), production (nervy and maximalist) and singing (arguably Bowie's best). Easily in my top 5 Bowie records and, at times, my very favorite.
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 11 March 2012 17:29 (twelve years ago) link
Outside has tons of good cuts, so it was nice to see 3/4 of the record represented (if poorly).
The EMI reissue of Stage in 2005 added "Stay" and "Be My Wife", removed the between song fades and corrected the running order to reflect the concerts. Bowie makes me rebuy albums far too often.
― EZ Snappin, Sunday, 11 March 2012 17:30 (twelve years ago) link
"A New Career in a New Town" isn't filler ffs
― Kony Montana: "Say hello to my invisible friend" (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 11 March 2012 17:31 (twelve years ago) link
the number of reissues and repackagings are crazy
― sarahell, Sunday, 11 March 2012 17:32 (twelve years ago) link
The 1990 Low reissue got a savage review in one of the UK monthlies... (ha, it might actually have been Jon Savage) 3/10 or something. "Responsible for Gary Numan and all that crap" was the gist. I recall Steve Sutherland giving Scott Walker's Boychild comp on Fontana a kicking around the same time. Wrong wrong wrongy wrong.
― Michael Jones, Sunday, 11 March 2012 17:36 (twelve years ago) link
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7176/6973345197_a0d07775d0_b.jpghttp://farm8.staticflickr.com/7196/6827233380_64554bb110_b.jpghttp://farm8.staticflickr.com/7069/6973343833_684fd08dfd_b.jpg
― gazelleonstage, Sunday, 11 March 2012 19:06 (twelve years ago) link
You may be right -- but as much as I like it, it's not one of Bowie's 60 best songs either. That says more about his catalog than it does ANCiaNT, tho.
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 11 March 2012 19:07 (twelve years ago) link
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7176/6973345197_a0d07775d0_b.jpgBowie b&w by Tommytinkroom, on Flickr
― gazelleonstage, Sunday, 11 March 2012 19:12 (twelve years ago) link
Ok just sussed out how to upload some pics,this should have been my first post.http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7176/6973345197_a0d07775d0_b.jpgBowie b&w by Tommytinkroom, on Flickrhttp://farm8.staticflickr.com/7176/6973345197_a0d07775d0_b.jpgBowie b&w by Tommytinkroom, on Flickrhttp://farm8.staticflickr.com/7069/6973343833_684fd08dfd_b.jpgBowie topaz denoise by Tommytinkroom, on Flickr
― gazelleonstage, Sunday, 11 March 2012 19:17 (twelve years ago) link
buffandmaxsmom?
― You're welcome child. It was just another day being your God (crüt), Sunday, 11 March 2012 19:19 (twelve years ago) link
Sorry forgot this one.http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7196/6827233380_64554bb110_b.jpgBowie Gold by Tommytinkroom, on Flickr
― gazelleonstage, Sunday, 11 March 2012 19:19 (twelve years ago) link
Bowie's libretto might represent a new low (see what I did there) for unreadable musician prose. I love Outside though. "Thru These Architects' Eyes" and "Strangers When We Meet" made my top twenty. The latter is his best love song.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 11 March 2012 20:08 (twelve years ago) link
Also this doesn't get enough play, AFAIC:
Eno may or may not have written "Warszawa".
The oft told story about Eno writing the music while Bowie was away has never rung true to me.* ** *** The music not only sounds completely different than anything Eno was writing at the time -- it's completely different than anything he's written since. Also, so much of it is on Chamberlain, which was hardly his instrument of choice.
*I'm not thinking of "Art Decade" am I? ** No I'm not. Per Eno in a 1978 interview with Glenn O’Brien:
Then there were two days when David had to go to Paris because he was being sued by someone, so rather than wasting the studio time I decided to start a piece on my own, with the understanding that if he didn’t like it I’d use it myself or something. I just couldn’t face wasting the studio time. So I started working on that piece and in fact all the instrumentation was finished when David got back, and he put the vocals on top. That was “Warszawa.” It was a very clear division of labor.
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 11 March 2012 20:20 (twelve years ago) link
Bowie's libretto might represent a new low (see what I did there) for unreadable musician prose.
See, this is what kills me. The guy spends 25 years burying characters he writes about in Burroughs cut-up techniques, stories that have no resolution and references that are intentionally oblique -- and when he adds intentionally tongue-in-cheek monologues to the brew, suddenly it's a bridge too far far, far far far, far far far away.
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 11 March 2012 20:43 (twelve years ago) link
To add to the "Bowie on classic rock radio" discussion way upthread, here's how he placed in the 1987 WNEW-FM New York Top 1027 Songs of All Time Listener's Poll:
-- #62 - SUFFRAGETTE CITY-- #132 - REBEL REBEL-- #165 - YOUNG AMERICANS-- #179 - MODERN LOVE-- #251 - SPACE ODDITY-- #259 - HEROES-- #322 - PANIC IN DETROIT-- #467 - CHANGES-- #477 - LET'S DANCE-- #499 - GOLDEN YEARS-- #550 - FAME-- #602 - ZIGGY STARDUST-- #834 - UNDER PRESSURE-- #842 - LET'S SPEND THE NIGHT TOGETHER-- #860 - FASHION-- #982 - ASHES TO ASHES
― Hideous Lump, Monday, 12 March 2012 00:26 (twelve years ago) link
xpostWarsawa is the only Low track for which Eno gets a songwriting credit, so I'm inclined to believe his story on that one.
As for New Career, it's anything but filler, in fact it's the track that gets to the heart of what Bowie was doing in Low.
I think Low's reputation as "best bowie album" has something to do with the fact that it's a sort of ur-text for the post-punk/art rock continuum. It may not have "invented the eighties" as the cliche goes but it certainly invented the bits that have been most revived in the past decade and a half or so. Personally I think Station To Station is now the stranger and therefore fresher-sounding album these days, partly because it didn't have the same level of influence.
― hugo_w, Monday, 12 March 2012 00:33 (twelve years ago) link
The consensus will change as the generations change.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 12 March 2012 00:37 (twelve years ago) link
Indeed.
― hugo_w, Monday, 12 March 2012 00:39 (twelve years ago) link
Of course, a decade ago, StS was the consensus pick...
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 12 March 2012 01:06 (twelve years ago) link
Was it though? The late nineties/early noughties marked the beginning of the Low ascendancy I'd have thought. Bowie was performing it live in its entirety, Radiohead had taken a Low-like turn towards electronica, Pitchfork placed Low no. 1 in its list of top 100 albums in the 70s...
― hugo_w, Monday, 12 March 2012 01:52 (twelve years ago) link
^This
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Monday, 12 March 2012 02:42 (twelve years ago) link
and prior to that, ziggy stardust and hunky dory duked it out for supremacy. tbh, i think that ziggy still takes the crown among casual fans of all ages and predilections.
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Monday, 12 March 2012 03:09 (twelve years ago) link
xxp in 1985 the NME Top 100 albums of all time listed Low at #15, Young Americans (!) at #36, Heroes at #64 and Station at #66.
― fit and working again, Monday, 12 March 2012 03:12 (twelve years ago) link
no other Bowie albums made the 100
― fit and working again, Monday, 12 March 2012 03:13 (twelve years ago) link
Did Bowie release Low in time for it to be included on the Voyager missions?
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 12 March 2012 03:13 (twelve years ago) link
good point, hugo.
― an elk hunt (Ówen P.), Monday, 12 March 2012 03:23 (twelve years ago) link
So glad "The Man Who Sold the World" placed high. What an effing amazing song. Cobain had great taste.
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Monday, 12 March 2012 03:37 (twelve years ago) link
xpostI think those NME all time top 100 charts tell the story. I guess in 1985, "normal" Bowie was still a new phenomenon and his role as a postpunk forerunner still meant something. But by the 1988 chart, the highest Bowie entry is Ziggy at 33 (I guess post Never Let Me Down his stock had sunk low) and Low only clocks in at 71. The 1993 list finds Bowie still relatively unpopular (highest entry is Hunky Dory at 38, Low is at 67). Then by 2003, Bowie's stock has risen somewhat, and his highest placing album is Low at 26.
― hugo_w, Monday, 12 March 2012 04:07 (twelve years ago) link