I love the singing on Teenage Wildlife, might push it above Heroes for me, but I tend to like "ugly" vocals
― na (NA), Wednesday, 21 November 2018 22:02 (five years ago) link
voted lodger.but …currently listening to SM (ryko edition) on headphones and already regretting my choice.these two albums are way too close to make a definitive choice.I love them both more than the rest of bowies catalogue.and yes, the singing on TW is the whole point of the song.
― mark e, Friday, 23 November 2018 00:57 (five years ago) link
Scary Monsters is all-time classic
― PaulTMA, Friday, 23 November 2018 01:17 (five years ago) link
Both are magnificent but if I have to choose it's Lodger for me.
― Valentijn, Friday, 23 November 2018 07:23 (five years ago) link
it’s lodger
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Saturday, 24 November 2018 07:41 (five years ago) link
Lodger because Bowie comes across as being sympathetic whereas on Scary Monsters he's being (or at least pretending to be) a dick.
― Chequers Plays Pop (snoball), Saturday, 24 November 2018 10:25 (five years ago) link
(at least half of the time)
― Chequers Plays Pop (snoball), Saturday, 24 November 2018 10:26 (five years ago) link
I might go out today and buy a shiny new remastered CD edition of Lodger to complement my bashed up old second hand vinyl copy
― Duke, Saturday, 24 November 2018 12:24 (five years ago) link
I should really listen to Scary Monsters again, people here seem to rate it.
― Monica Kindle (Tom D.), Saturday, 24 November 2018 12:30 (five years ago) link
I'm not going to go as far as saying that side 2 is shit, but it's definitely a front loaded album. Also the knowledge that 'Teenage Wildlife' is at least partly Bowie ripping on Gary Numan does spoil proceedings.
― Chequers Plays Pop (snoball), Saturday, 24 November 2018 14:50 (five years ago) link
I mean if you really want to hear a song that's 'established artist A ripping on up and coming artist B' then listen to Lou Reed's 'NY Stars', which is far superior.
― Chequers Plays Pop (snoball), Saturday, 24 November 2018 14:53 (five years ago) link
didn't know that about Teenage Wildlife, that's a pity. I never loved Lodger as much as ILM seems to, I think Fantastic Voyage is a top 5 Bowie track easy but I'm not wild about the album as a whole. Scary Monsters OTOH is terrific. Sure it's front-loaded - so is everything except Hunky Dory though. Lodger has always felt kind too in thrall to the Eno project, and pretty unfocused, except in its "most of these will be a bit weird" -- to me it's the letdown of the trilogy, but that's just me I know.
"Monsters" is indeed a mean and angry album but a more effective record for me.
― she carries a torch. two torches, actually (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Saturday, 24 November 2018 15:10 (five years ago) link
i have much less peter gabriel listening experience so this take might be complete bullshit, but i feel like his early albums make interesting counterpoints to Scary Monsters. they both use similar sound palettes, same broad category of "art rock"
Also, Robert Fripp plays on Scary Monsters as well as the first three Gabriel albums. Roy Bittan, who plays on Scary Monsters is on the second PG. I don't think it's bullshit at all.
― Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream (Sund4r), Saturday, 24 November 2018 15:26 (five years ago) link
it would seem elementary that what PG and DB were up to from 1976 to surely 1980 —and possibly 1983— are very very similar. PG had to look up to DB initially, but he left DB in the dust in the mid 80s.
To me, the song that no one ever talks about from this period that is MEAN as fuck is "SKUH-REEEM LAHK UH BAYY-BUHH"…
― veronica moser, Sunday, 25 November 2018 01:04 (five years ago) link
yessss i love that song.
― Karl Malone, Sunday, 25 November 2018 01:07 (five years ago) link
Only one of these albums includes "Look Back In Anger," so that obviously tips the scales. Lodger is always underrated.
Scary Monsters has always left me kinda cold. Great singles, though.
― lingereffect (Kent Burt), Sunday, 25 November 2018 04:56 (five years ago) link
Lodger was Bowie’s best record since Scary Monsters.
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 25 November 2018 06:15 (five years ago) link
or at least Some Girls
― I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 25 November 2018 12:41 (five years ago) link
Teenage Wildlife has that irresistible chug like Heroes, but is warmer, less anthemic and I prefer its twin guitar brilliance over the former's Frippery
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Sunday, 25 November 2018 15:18 (five years ago) link
"It's No Game (pt. 1)" is one of my favourite Bowie songs and the best "unhinged" vocal performance I can call to mind
― fgti is for (flamboyant goon tie included), Sunday, 25 November 2018 16:58 (five years ago) link
I remember having a conversation with a Bowie fan who was old enough to experience every album as they were released, and he described the disappointment felt in the Bowie fan community with the arrival of "Let's Dance" as being seismic, and that the subsequent revisionism of that album as being "good" was frustrating. I never really got it until "Modern Love" came on in the coffee shop yesterday morning when I was feeling annoyed and I listened and thought "he's right this is really disappointing"
― fgti is for (flamboyant goon tie included), Sunday, 25 November 2018 17:01 (five years ago) link
"there's no sign of life, it's just the power to charm" indeed.
― Chequers Plays Pop (snoball), Sunday, 25 November 2018 18:15 (five years ago) link
i love the song "modern love" but i have no great affection for the rest of that album.
― Trϵϵship, Sunday, 25 November 2018 18:17 (five years ago) link
The video is soulless and plastic, particularly the bit where hundreds of crescent moon balloons come out of the giant crescent moon.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HivQqTtiHVw(from the 1996 ALan Yentob interview)
― Chequers Plays Pop (snoball), Sunday, 25 November 2018 18:24 (five years ago) link
I remember having a conversation with a Bowie fan who was old enough to experience every album as they were released, and he described the disappointment felt in the Bowie fan community with the arrival of "Let's Dance" as being seismic, and that the subsequent revisionism of that album as being "good" was frustrating.
Huh. I've had similar conversations with the same generation, and they felt no ill will toward Bowie: they thought Let's Dance was a move as unpredicted as Young Americans and, remembering their experience with that album, held their fire. And everyone loved "Modern Love."
It was Tonight that made these people say, "Thanks, mate, for the memories."
― I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 25 November 2018 18:41 (five years ago) link
I’ve heard both sides, almost word for word: that Let’s Dance was a shocking betrayal; and that it was OK but really only good for the singles
― flappy bird, Sunday, 25 November 2018 19:53 (five years ago) link
i have a vague memory of reading (trigger warning) Momus describe Scary Monsters as seeming "anti-modernist" at the time
― Trϵϵship, Sunday, 25 November 2018 19:55 (five years ago) link
Huh. I've had similar conversations with the same generation, and they felt no ill will toward Bowie: they thought Let's Dance was a move as unpredicted as Young Americans and, remembering their experience with that album, held their fire. And everyone loved "Modern Love."It was Tonight that made these people say, "Thanks, mate, for the memories."― I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, November 25, 2018 6:41 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, November 25, 2018 6:41 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Yup, this sounds about right to me.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Sunday, 25 November 2018 20:37 (five years ago) link
I don't know, the blonde hair, the pastel suits, I think quite a few long time Bowie fans were cringing at all that. Plus substandard music.
― Monica Kindle (Tom D.), Sunday, 25 November 2018 20:43 (five years ago) link
As a great man once said though, time flexes like a whore, falls wanking to the floor, and you can’t expect any artist to keep up the same level forever.
― Trϵϵship, Sunday, 25 November 2018 20:58 (five years ago) link
Nothing substandard at all about the title track, 'Modern Love', 'China Girl' etc. His image on that album was very much of its time. You can understand - in hindsight - why he did it... he was trying to wrong-foot everyone who he felt had pinched his act.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Sunday, 25 November 2018 20:59 (five years ago) link
I feel that album represents a drop though. It’s not as interesting as its predecessors.
― Trϵϵship, Sunday, 25 November 2018 21:14 (five years ago) link
Few songs sounded like "Modern Love" in 1983 even in this year of peak New Wave MTV crossover
― I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 25 November 2018 21:15 (five years ago) link
Perhaps not a dip in quality but a huge change in thesis. It feels (songwriting-wise) like cynical pop pastiche-- the "cynicism" being the overly trite lyrical approach rather than, say, the intentional cynicism of genre-precedent-to-"Let's Dance" songs like "Fame" and "Young Americans"
― fgti is for (flamboyant goon tie included), Sunday, 25 November 2018 21:15 (five years ago) link
His image on that album was very much of its time
Exactly.
― Monica Kindle (Tom D.), Sunday, 25 November 2018 21:16 (five years ago) link
Plus his version of "China Girl" blows.
― Monica Kindle (Tom D.), Sunday, 25 November 2018 21:17 (five years ago) link
Fgti otm. The album is a return to the kind of warholoan “pastiche” that he had left behind starting with Low.
― Trϵϵship, Sunday, 25 November 2018 21:20 (five years ago) link
To be clear, I'm not defending the album besides "Modern Love," "Criminal World," and listening to Chic shimmy in "Without You."
― I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 25 November 2018 21:51 (five years ago) link
I will also step up for "Cat People"
― sleeve, Sunday, 25 November 2018 21:55 (five years ago) link
LD came out my senior year of high school and was considered at least OK even among the fanatics I knew, as Alfred notes Tonight was the dealbreaker in my scene for sure
― sleeve, Sunday, 25 November 2018 21:56 (five years ago) link
this was me and my friends except Let's Dance was the FIRST Bowie album to come out since we'd all become fanatics. We were incredibly excited, and utterly disappointed. All but two of us skipped the tour - who wants to hear that stuff? We liked "Modern Love" OK but it was a giant, giant letdown.
― she carries a torch. two torches, actually (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Sunday, 25 November 2018 22:05 (five years ago) link
The Hunger was released the same year as Let's Dance, right? Like, that movie has got (soon to be defunct) Bowie fanatics Bauhaus playing 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' at the very beginning... also, didn't he do 'Under Pressure' with Queen in between Scary Monsters and Let's Dance? The lyric to that was apparently written almost completely by Bowie.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Sunday, 25 November 2018 22:17 (five years ago) link
the classic karaoke conundrum: what to do during the intro:
Mmm num ba deDum bum ba beDoo buh dum ba beh beh
then you think you're in the clear. then twenty seconds pass, and fucking
Um ba ba beUm ba ba beDe day daEe day da- that's okay
― Karl Malone, Sunday, 25 November 2018 22:34 (five years ago) link
on the other hand, one time i saw someone NAIL all of those little lyrical burps and it was transcendent
that's why I always pick the Bowie part. Friends go for the flamboyant Mercury part while I hang back and go "oooh ooh oooh ooooooh"
― I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 25 November 2018 23:41 (five years ago) link
If you glue the two LPs together so that you have side two of Lodger followed by side one of Scary Monsters you get Bowie's second-best album. In my opinion. Don't do this with actual records.
― Ashley Pomeroy, Sunday, 25 November 2018 23:59 (five years ago) link
Under Pressure has the unique distinction of being both featured act’s worst hit single— I prefer friggin Dancing In The Street, Blue Jean, even Thursday’s Child if we’re getting down to it
I was sure that I liked the re-recording of Look Back In Anger but I’m surely ambivalent about it now. The drums on the original are... amazing
― fgti is for (flamboyant goon tie included), Monday, 26 November 2018 03:21 (five years ago) link
fuckin’ dennis davis
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Monday, 26 November 2018 05:37 (five years ago) link
ok you goon tie although I don't agree, I can see how you might hate "under pressure" and I can accept an argument that "blue jean" is better but preferring "dancing in the street" cmon now that thing is a catastrophe
― she carries a torch. two torches, actually (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Monday, 26 November 2018 12:03 (five years ago) link
I prefer an innocuous catastrophe like "Dancing..." over a song that is so lazy-in-execution and trite-about-a-social-issue and inexplicably refuses to exit the popular canon or my ambient listening experience. I once thought that if music obeys some karmic laws, then I should be grateful for a turd like "Under Pressure" because it allowed an perfect song like "Gypsy Woman" to exist
― fgti is for (flamboyant goon tie included), Monday, 26 November 2018 15:37 (five years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Saturday, 15 December 2018 00:01 (five years ago) link
gah, the mythos of the “Berlin” trilogy
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Saturday, 15 December 2018 00:09 (five years ago) link
and the reality that side 2 of Scary Monsters kinda sucks
― sleeve, Saturday, 15 December 2018 00:28 (five years ago) link
I’ll allow it
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Saturday, 15 December 2018 01:29 (five years ago) link
i expected it to be closer.
― Trϵϵship, Saturday, 15 December 2018 02:17 (five years ago) link
me too
― sleeve, Saturday, 15 December 2018 02:19 (five years ago) link
I had a feeling that Lodger would take this, to be honest. Those that like the album seem to really like it, and there's quite a lot of people on here that have passionately praised it. Scary Monsters is highly praised too, but not to the same degree on here.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Saturday, 15 December 2018 22:12 (five years ago) link
Scary Monsters
Happy 75th DB!
― Davey D, Saturday, 8 January 2022 20:18 (two years ago) link