747 David Bowie - Lodger (1979)

 747 David Bowie - Lodger (1979)

Studio Album - Experimental Pop



About the Act:

David Bowie was a British Pop/Rock star from Bromley in Kent. He first started to come to prominence in the late 60s/early 70s, and was musically active up until his death in 2016.  Bowie was noted for his ever-shifting style, and constant reinvention of himself musically and adopting a variety of public personas. His popularity waxed and waned over his career, as the styles and personas he experimented with were more or less attractive. Some might accuse him of style over substance, but it is more true to say that the style was the substance. He released 27 studio albums, including two credited to the band Tin Machine.  He also had a career as an actor, and was an active artist and art collector. As one of the world's pop megastars, his history, public and private life have been endlessly picked over.

About the Album:

This was his 13th Studio album, wow, and was the third in what has become know of as "The Berlin Trilogy", produced by Brian Eno, and made in a period in Bowie's life when he moved to Berlin from LA to escape the drug culture. Berlin was a particular hotbed of creative music at that time. Also around that time, Bowie was working a lot with his friend Iggy Pop

My History with this Album:

None. I know a couple of tracks a bit.

Review:

As I review David Bowie albums, my respect for him grows. For some reason I never really embraced him when I was young, I enjoyed a lot of his hits in the 70s but I always kept him at arm's length. If I could hear this album not knowing it was Bowie I would be somewhat amazed by it.

The music is definitely experimental, with sometimes quite a loose relation to the idea of key. This is enhanced by getting the guitarist (Adrian Belew who was shortly to join King Crimson) to play without hearing the tracks beforehand. During the recording of the music, they were using Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies cards, which were a list of random suggestions to make changes to songs. The tracks were developed musically before lyrics were written. The most "normal" track is the first, which to me feels a bit out of place, and did not prepare me for what was about to come.

The production and the playing are also odd, there are elements of other things in here (and from the look of the extensive Wikipedia page on the album, different critics hear different elements). There are definitely shades of Talking Heads and the birth of Alternative Rock in here, there is some African influence, one song (Yassassin) has a blend of Turkish folk violin with Reggae, but more mechanical than most Reggae. There are hints of Funk in the basslines at times, but the reality is that most of this occupies ground in the wastelands between normal genre ideas. Apparently David Bowie accused Gary Numan of copying this style, which I can hear.

There is definitely a slab of Krautrock and the kind of computer/mechanical feel coming through from things like The Model by Kraftwerk, a harshness (especially in the guitar) and a general out-of-kilter feeling as if the whole thing is broken, but strangely, in a good way.

These are songs, and they are about things, although sometimes making head or tail of the themes is tricky. Once again I am relying on other people's commentary somewhat. I like the second half more which is about human failings (the first half is more about places and travel). DJ is maybe the most poppy song. Boys Keep Swinging is great. Both of those I have heard before. Red Money is cool. Repetition is disturbing, it is about domestic abuse from the abuser's perspective, and lays it on heavily - a good song but not an easy listen.

One of me habitual criticisms of David Bowie has been that he was "style over substance", but that the style was good. This has more substance than I might have expected, especially musically. It's an interesting album and in intrigued me.

8/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0S5nxDIEprOH23QeDoMeFK

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfIDINzT3xf1-oRmKcufU4Q2b9QM0Q1b7

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodger_(album)



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