Is THE LODGER David Bowie's best record?

Another vote for Station to Station through Scary Monsters as a group.

Scary Monsters artwork even references the 3 that proceed it. It's sort of the denouement, a summation in a more "mature" but accessible format hinting at the hits to come (for better or worse).

Station to Station is the transition.

wow totally disagree, what's "stupid" about it, though?

― brimstead, Saturday, September 30, 2017 6:47 PM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Those three albums are of a piece

The two that bookend them don't fit as well

Totally stupid

― brimstead, Saturday, September 30, 2017 6:48 PM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Turrican you need to get better weed, dude

― brimstead, Saturday, September 30, 2017 6:49 PM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Low was made in France and Los Angeles, and Lodger was made in Switzerland and New York, and yes the two either side do bookend them very well. If I'd included Let's Dance, you'd have a point.

Scary Monsters artwork even references the 3 that proceed it. It's sort of the denouement, a summation in a more "mature" but accessible format hinting at the hits to come (for better or worse).

Station to Station is the transition.

― dan selzer, Saturday, September 30, 2017 6:53 PM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yup, absolutely!

Feel mixed on the Berlin Triology title. I mean Bowie moved there in 1976 to escape drugs, so he was in a transitional period himself and it's a "state of mind". Going back to New York in 1980 lines up with the release of Scary Monsters...

It's weird how Lodger was underrated, for when I discovered rockcrit in the early '90s the Rolling Stone/Christgau claque preferred it to Low and "Heroes".

Smash Hits gave it a negative review at the time. This was before the magazine became more pop oriented post-Tennant (you'd think it would have been the other way around) ...

The Low and "The Heroes" you mean? (xp)

The correct.

It was around the time of Lodger (1979) that Bowie began framing his previous two albums as the beginning of a Berlin-centered trilogy concluding with Lodger, largely as a marketing technique to support the unusual new album.[33]

the station to the station

I've always thought the Iggy Pop album, "Idiot", is part of this sequence of albums.

Yeah, The Idiot could be considered part of the run as well, either that or a companion piece to "Heroes".

Why do I bother?

That's a very good question.

The The Idiot

I prefer Soul Mining.

i like how hard ppl are working here to make the thread title not the worst bit of the thread

certainly did my part

Bowie Berlin Trilogy vs. Fripp AOR Trilogy vs. ELP Trilogy vs. Donna Summer A Love Trilogy vs. Mahavishnu Orchestra "Trilogy" vs. Kool G Rap & DJ Polo "Trilogy of Terror" vs. Special Forces "Trilogy" vs. Trilogy "Love Me Forever or Love Me Not (The Dub of Doom Mix)" vs. Tarkus: FITE

Young Americans is the start, it's the bold change in direction that makes the later albums possible

See, I knew it wouldn't be long before someone said that and... I don't agree! While it does represent something of a clean break from what went before, and Station to Station retained one or two of its elements, stylistically I've always seen Young Americans as very much its own thing. It's much harder to make a case for Young Americans being an influence on post-punk/new wave/new romantic, and it doesn't have anywhere near the same feel as the five LP's that followed.

I hear its influence on those British soul boys of the eighties (Paul Young, Mick Hucknall).

even Orange Juice.

It is its own thing, though, I agree.

"the lodger" is a much better album title than "lodger," bowie should have thanked mark s

I don't trust Visconti's mixing/engineering ear in 2016/17 however the mix on Lodger always sounded p weird to me on vinyl anyway. admittedly none of us had decent stereos when we were staying up late listening to "red money" so I'm not sure, but...skeptical of this effort.

everyone should thank me, all the time

Lodger is a weird and somewhat frustrating sounding record (I downloaded all the hoffmann-y west German mastering etc trying to find one that sounded good to me) so I'm a bit curious about the remix but yeah mostly skeptical

Interesting point about the influence on Hucknall. He was a huge fan of Eno-era Talking Heads; best exemplified by the Great Curve rip-off on the first album which amounts to a cover (Belew histrionics and all) in all but name

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr9x0lTTUi8

The new box set is enough of a shambles that its spawned a 200+ page Steve Hoffman Forum thread. I read it all. In the end, I guess I like my shitty pirate FLACs taken from pristine original vinyl.

agreed, lol

I've almost never been interested in a remaster even when it's objectively "better" or "truer to the original intent" or even "fixed a clearly fucked up original release" of anything that I've grown up with.

Yeah, I'm pretty much the same, although there have been exceptions. Not that remixes/remasters can't be revelatory, but generally an album as originally released is "the original" for me.

There are remasters that I have thanked the stars above for and ones I've abhorred. With Bowie, I have to say I'm glad i dug around the Hoffman board on that subject because for the most part I like the original wave of cd masterings better than the ryko and WAY better than the emi remasters. Have not sufficiently listened to the recent box set series

I bought the ‘ANCIANT’ box, volume drop on “Horoes” aside i’ve not noticed anything that was problematic for me. Like the sound of the new master of ‘Low’ and the new mix of ‘Lodger’, but these are not albums I have long held relationships with/ impressions of, plus I’ve not been doing a/b comparisons on every note.

Hoffmann-y Post Of The Day: The German RCA versions of The Berlin Trilogy are beeeeeyooootiful. Nothing's boosted or lowered, sound clear and powerful when they need to.

is that vinyl or CD?

CD

Re: The Lodger, I do like it when '60s musicians call Cream "The Cream."

Xpost yes those are the ones I'm referring to. All you have to do is turn up the volume level and they blaze to life.

lodger is a much better title than "the lodger", the former is more mysterious.. more jamais vu

i have about zero interest in people going back and remixing old stuff, unless it was never released or properly mixed in the first place... even then it depends.

some of the best bowie back up vocals on this song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfvn-jzJiAA

very quick first impression on a very quick cursory listen comparing both the lodgers on apple music...some cases the newfound bass (allowance for bass) makes things seem muddier, but when it works it makes it sound fresh and powerful.

those poor, poor Ryko bonus tracks... nowhere to be found on this new box

absolutely brutal comments regarding sound quality here:

https://www.discogs.com/David-Bowie-A-New-Career-In-A-New-Town-1977-1982/master/1244579

Haha holy shit I literally cannot believe this got soundchecked. There is no WAY someone checked the files and said "yes the first re-release of these albums in decades and this is how I want it to sound"

they cut ordinary 96/24 overcompressed files on vinyl and call it original master tapes, funny guys.

Yeah was reading about it here http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/parlophone-hold-its-hands-up-to-bowie-box-heroes-issue-and-takes-action/ Fair play to Parlophone for agreeing to replace the discs, but how nobody thought that the 'volume drop' was acceptable on Bowie's signature song on a prestige box set is astonishing.

https://open.spotify.com/track/5dodh7Bi4YhWxs9LxwjnYO about 2'48

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_jx5sVQ32s about 0'37

Record companies kinda need to stop using mastering engineers that have been listening to loud music in rooms since 1970

Having heard the new Lodger mix, I think I'll just stick woth the original - Visconti did a great job on Blackstar, but the original mix of Lodger suits the record.

Having raved about Shearwater's song-by-song cover of this album upthread, I just wanted to give a heads up that they are playing the whole Berlin trilogy live over three nights in NYC next month, with special guest Carlos Alomar!

lol i misread that as bongwater for a moment

No but “African Night Flight” is the best track of the Berlin Trilogy.