I think one problem is his band has been too professional in recent years.

They certainly haven't sounded all that inspired, although that could just as easily be due to the somewhat low-energy material they've had to work with.

Still, tracks like "The Pretty Things Are Going To Hell" haven't crackled the way they should have. I mean, I'm just trying to picture him cutting that track as part of the Aladdin Sane sessions, and what a great lot of fun it would have been. On Hours? Not so much. Not that I disliked the track - I think it really just lacked the oomph to take it over the edge.

Somebody ought to cover that one.

In reply to:

---

As far as I'm concerned, Heathen definitely had the best songs AND production.

---

As far as I am concerned that is absolutely true. On "Heathen" Bowie managed to sound modern, adventurous, introvert, extrovert, rocking and tuneful at the same time. Neither "Hours" nor "Reality" managed to combine at least three of those qualities.

With guitarist David Torn "Heathen" included a new and adventurous musician plus Visconti's return after decades was another refreshing point that certainly helped as Visconti seems to not have gone stuck in history. Something I would be afraid of with Cale or Eno at the helm of production. Another failed stab at yesterday's glory like "Outside" is not what I would want form Bowie's next album. If there ever is one.

TW GOD OF FOOTBALL

I love Outside. I love all of his 90's work, really underrated stuff.

I certainly agree it's time for a studio/producer change, though I must say
that Bowie's album "production" has more often than not, been as "mannered"
and professional as his singing.

Visconti added a "symphonic-gauze" to Heathen and created a timeless,
ethereal sound. "Hours", in my opinion, simply suffers from bad sequencing
(very much like Tonight), in that all the slower songs are on side one and
just listen again to NLMD and know that Bowie got it right on Reality.
Hate it or love it, but the "rawest" production shall remain Tin Machine....
and he was CRUCIFIED for it.....this is why Heaven's In Here was allowed
to grind on for 7 minutes, warts and all....you can FEEL the band working
the song...a true JAM. Bowie's vocals are buried in the mix, lyrics are
improvised, etc....

Check out TMWSTW or Let's Dance...simple music, BIG PRODUCTION. Trouser
Press wrote about TMWSTW: "Visconti's compressed production gives the
album an utterly synthetic audio quality; few records this simply played
sound as studio-created."
In my opinion there are only a handful of what would be considered "raw"
productions in Bowie's catalog:

Space Oddity
Hunky Dory
Aladdin Sane
Diamond Dogs
Lodger
Tin Machine
The Buddha of Suburbia

In reply to:

---

I love Outside. I love all of his 90's work, really underrated stuff.

---

Please provide a link or a reference to anywhere where someone underrates Outside. I'd be interested.



It's LABRYNTH, idiot!

Not within the Bowie community. In general, within music, his 90's work is underrated. I mean he didn't exactly have many hits off the albums, so generally other people won't know how good they are.

In reply to:

---

Please provide a link or a reference to anywhere where someone underrates Outside. I'd be interested.

---

Use the search function here for EJ+Outside or EJSunday+Outside. Could bring up some "underratings" in some people's view.

TW GOD OF FOOTBALL

The media gave it some decent reviews at the time from what I remember though it hardly ever gets talked about as much as it should when people talk Bowie.

I feel it is a much more significant album than many people credit

__________________________________________
I'll never touch you...
...but I will prick you!

Blog