Bowie's "Reality"

I will be visiting my brother in a remote mountain location and won't be able to hear it until next weekend unfortunately. I'm sure the album will be good, but as usual nobody will care.

It took me a sec to realize you weren't joking.

And I too care...

Yeah, I too am sill waiting for the unfinished story onOutside to come to a completion: Will Touchshriek really be accussed of killing Baby Grace, or will Nathan Adler catch Ramona and prove she was behind it all?

Relistened to Heathen today and was struck at how lovely an album it was and is.

"Never Get Old" is maybe the first Bowie track since Mick Ronson died that makes me think, "Fuck, Mick Ronson should have stayed alive to do this Bowie track." You know, in a good way.

"Pablo Picasso" and "Fall Dog Bombs the Moon" are definitely great, as is "Days"; "The Loneliest Guy" does the Heathen-style material better than most of Heathen (I was relieved Heathen was better than Hours but was not much thrilled by it); "Looking for Water" and "She'll Drive the Big Car" could be fodder for terrific remixes; "Try Some, Buy Some" and "New Killer Star" are probably the low points here.

All in all, it's his best album since Outside (and I liked Earthling a lot, it just didn't have very long legs for me). It isn't consistent about the way it's good -- I don't think there's as uniform a Reality sound the way there is an Outside sound or even a Heathen sound -- but it's pretty consistent about the level of quality. The standout tracks are -- in the blush of first-crush-haven't-slept-with-her-my-god-she-must-be-great type bias that you get with the first week of an album, but even so -- among his best material since Scary Monsters, and I think "Disco King" and "Never Get Old" are gonna hover around my personal favorites for a long time.

You know, more to the point, it just plain sounds like a Mick song. It sounds like an outtake from Heaven and Hull.

the outside follow up is never coming out.

And where does that "bass-melody" in "New Killer Star" come from? It is so familiar but I just can't pin it down...

...and still no one has a clue on the "origin" of the new killer star-bassline melody...?

But it more directly rips off something else I can't put my finger on, possibly another Bowie song.

That question could be asked of any career recording artist, though.

What is so comical about double-tracked vocals on Disco King?

SEAN'S BROTHER IS OSAMA BIN LADEN!!!!!

See, Lodger's my least favorite Bowie album of the ones that count (no Never Let Me Down, no pre-Space Oddity...), but I love this one.

And yeah, Ned, "Looking for Water" is one of the ones that's growing on me the more I hear it. That's a keeper.

Haha, if there is anything as good as "Boys Keep Swinging" or "Ashes To Ashes" on this album I missed it entirely.

I read a dutch review today that might "put your finger on it". It said that the chorus of "New Killer Star" is a slowed down version of the "Hallo Spaceboy" chorus.
(IIRC, I think he's right, but I'm not able to check it since I still haven't got 1.Outside on CD and I'm no longer able to play tapes...)

the rhythm sounds like a vague ripoff of 'coffee and tv' to me 'cept played a little slower

how do you feel about "reality" now that you've heard it, geeta?

a little review in the seattle weekly...i'm fixing it up right now!

I like the album though. If I can find anything worthwhile to say I will.

of the new songs, i find the slower songs like "never get old" and "disco king" really very tedious and a waste of time, and so i don't care to go back and re-think, however purportedly profound the lyrics might be and despite others seemingly favouring both those tracks. "never get old" eh,.. i'll take the "wrong words make you listen" of 'Fantastic Voyage' of Lodger.

but i like the faster new tracks which seem to lack the bombastic atmospeheres of Heathen in favour of the more sprightly Lodger and Scary Monsters sound, and particularly that attitude of "screw moby, forget reeves, let's have lots of cameo instrumental flavour" (instrumentalists keep swinging).

were there any Scary Monsters singles with non-album b-sides ? i ask this because i remember buying Scary Monsters as much on the promise of "Scream like a Baby" as of "Ashes to Ashes" (and despite "Fashion", ugh). Which leaves me hoping for some Reality b-sides :(

Wasn't "Crystal Japan" an instrumental b-side from the Scary Monsters days?

(i admit that i now really like ".. Disco King")

the noise treatments thing that pleasantly evokes the late '70s material is so much more up-front and delivered with what seems like the requisite space, something that the other two recent albums didn't do (again even if perhaps "limited" EP format).

i'm not sure about the Peggy March comparison, as "New Killer Star" carries such significant injections of every other aspect of song except for that minor rhythmic component. However i would claim that the package does have a sort-of built-in Ian Curtis tribute.

"Outside" may have been the duke's last honest attempt at breaking down the barriers and being pretty damn successful at it.

I have had a bowtie that the seemd in order to develop larger and larger to every time the world has turned

THis happend in realty!!!

"New Killer Star," "Bring Me The Disco King," and "Never Get Old" are teh spiff.

His new live one really does those songs justice. Maybe not "Disco King," which is a little cabaret-y for my taste, but the other two rock. I never would've heard 'em otherwise.

This one got Son of Heathen dismissals but it's the closest thing to Lodger that he's come up with in twenty years.

His last album at this rate. I actually like the idea of him just simply calling it quits without fuss.

Fine with me. I'm not sure he has any context into which he can legitimately insert himself.

Vaguely referred to role model, at most. (Lady Gaga's invoked him a few times, yeah? Timberlake muttered about him as well when his last album came out.)

Weird, reading the revive nearly brings tears to my eyes. I miss him, really would like to hear new stuff.

I'm not sure he has any context into which he can legitimately insert himself.

Being spotted at Arcade Fire and TV on the Radio shows?

(Or, was that David Byrne?)

'never ever gonna get high

never ever gonna get LOW'

I like how when DB sings the word 'LOW' it has added resonance

as on 'all-time LOW'

Man, how did I never check this one out before? This is fantastic, at least the last five songs.

"New Killer Star," "Bring Me The Disco King," and "Never Get Old" are teh spiff.

― Filmmaker, Author, Radio Host Stephen Baldwin (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, July 13, 2010 1

Yep, but I'll also rep for the title track and his Harrison cover.

Agree on the title track, but the Harrison cover reminds me of how badly he can sing when he tries.

A pretty good unintentional retirement album.

After a decade's worth of grand statements and comebacks the modesty of Reality came as a relief to me – a Lodger recorded in his fifties, and like Ned said a poignant farewell.

...& tour, as well. The show was a blast.

;_; this "poignant farewell" talk is making me emotional

Seriously.

His retirement might be the canniest move of his career.

It's enabled him a very handy quiet mystique -- there's the occasional 'hey whatever happened to' piece and mention, nothing more. He probably looks at what Mick Jagger is up to these days and thinking "Yeah, I've got it better."

Well, he's got both a preteen daughter and a successful director son. Pretty good way to spend your 60s

That is, ballet class at 6pm, Tribeca film festival at 9

This holds up!

Weird to think that as late as 2012 we were calling it his retirement album. But that’s what it seemed like!

For so long it looked like his actual swansong would be a collab with Ricky Gervais

New Killer Star was the first Bowie song I loved. Was very entertained by the video too (thanks Brit Awards 2004 DVD).

I think this album is ok, I like it more now maybe than when it first came out. artwork is so bad though.

I wish I liked it more than I do, I’ve been trying since the day it came out. My personal least fave of the final four.

agreed

but I'm glad he toured behind it and I got to see it!

Good to Great:

New Killer Star
Bring Me the Disco King
Never Get Old

Sound, Solid

Looking for Water
Fall Dog Bombs the Moon
Days
She'll Drive the Big Car

Meh

The Luckiest Guy
Reality

The Hague

Try Some, Buy Some
Pablo Picasso

His most throwaway album since Tonight but way better than that shit b/c thought and care went into it. I like the demos-plus-touring-band approach. The covers are appalling. "Try Some, Buy Some" defeated Ronnie Spector the first time, so no way Bowie was gonna save George Harrison's seesawing composition.

I generally agree with the rankings though I'd bump "She'll Drive the Big Car" up to 'good to great.' Something about it captures the mood of the time for me, and this is me living in the Midwest during the GWB-era, so I wasn't relating to the references to the Hudson, Ludlow and Grand, etc.

That George Harrison cover was a sweet gesture to a departed friend but I never liked the song - still don't but it's the thought that counts. Bowie's also done a lot of covers where I kind of think they're ill-advised yet entertaining at the same time, and "Pablo Picasso" is one of those.

alfred-
re:

His most throwaway album since Tonight

what about hours?

i kind of lump reality and heathen together. in that regard, they're fine; good `album rock.`

Heathen is a minor masterpiece, the second best of the last four

hours is nasty, his worst since Tonight.

Other than New Killer Star, my favourite is Looking for Water

Definitely has an 'old man rock' feel to it, often quite trad without being 'rootsy', reminds me in spirit of a Weller album of the period.

I don't remember hours that well, but I caught a lot of promotional appearances for it on TV (either live performances or music videos), and I remember thinking Bowie was entering some kind of bland, soft-rock phase that thankfully didn't go any further than that album. "Thursday's Child" is kind of lovely though, probably the one keeper I'd take from the album.

Hours is his dentist's waiting room at 10am album, waiting for the coffee to get to work, the (ahem) toothpastey bluey whites of the sleeve sum up the music quite well (see also R.E.M.'s Around the Sun). Might have appealed to those for whom 2000 was about Play and White Ladder.

Bowie's best and probably most revealing TV appearance from the era was on The Big Breakfast. He's there to promote the second single, and I feel like this is something he would've done only in this weirdly undistinguished era. Had he had time free in 1997 or 2002 and he got the call I just can't see him there, joining in on all the show's usual hijinks. Extra odd and appealing thing IIRC is the date was 30 December '99.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xRy1pHdULE

Hours is a damp, cold dog turd disintegrating in the rain. His worst.

And the look! The long hair and flip-flops, like a conservative's idea of a lesbian art teacher.

That was a weird time. Bowie attained this mystique where he was an inaccessible and mysterious guy in the last decade of his life, but it was also kind of bewildering when the previous decade saw him literally everywhere and anywhere, almost pandering to mainstream and middle-of-the-road audiences. I think part of it was he mellowed, part of it was necessity (due to the whole Bowie bonds thing, he did appearances like the all-request TV special with Mark McEwen to generate revenue) and part of it was his interest in the internet and the ability to connect with a then-niche audience of tech-savvy fans. IIRC he participated casually in the forums of his own internet service.

I presume he was disappointed at his albums and singles of that era only initially performing modestly well, before fading away. Trying now to picture Scott Walker going on TFI Friday

lol good on you, alfred! i'll still defend hours for a few tracks, even though it's clearly in his bottom 3 albums (if not dead last!)

didn't mean to derail, here's this if anyone wants to have a further go: I love you. I'll survive.: the David Bowie 'hours. . .' poll.

akm, i'll definitely revisit heathen on your words there. like i said: at the time, i remember thinking the best tracks from that and reality would've made a truly solid album.

As much as 'hours' smells, I wish it could have been given a remix/complete makeover, although someone would need to replace those horrible 90s synth patches with something else (anything else)

As for Heathen / Reality... Heathen is obviously especially good, but the three covers on each album really weighed them down. Was delighted when his 2010s era binned that off for good

Stereos should have a switch to turn off Reeves Gabrels in the mix.

Love him in Tin Machine, he's fine in the Cure, he just utterly runs roughshod over everything on hours.

Hours has several better songs than Reality, it’s just murdered by the worst production of his career.

My intro to Bowie was whatever Hours songs he did on the SNL episode he was on with Jerry Seinfeld hosting. Set my Bowie fandom back and easy 10 years.

Never heard …Hours, need to see if I agree with you all.

Your sphincter will contract the moment you hear those presets.

so i gave the hours/heathen/reality trilogy a full revisit this evening. besides the shift between the first two feeling like a noticeable and relieving change in air pressure, i stand by my assessment that the others have enough filler to merit consolidation. the addendum i have is that the highlights are waaaaaay stronger than i remembered, especially on reality.

Never listened to the whole album but 'Bring Me The Head Of The Disco King' is one of his best late period tracks

Do you hear hours as the first part of a trilogy, Austin? For me it's the End of Something, the final chapter in the heedless rush from context to context that characterized his '90s work.

idk for the sake of this conversation, sure. i think it's really illuminating that about the same amount of time passed between earthing and hours, and then again between hours and heathen. reeves still around intermittently for heathen, but not nearly as prominent a role.

i definitely agree, though: whatever trilogy it's a part of it, it's the weakest and least interesting as a listener.

definitely an end point.

I gave the Montreaux show a listen last night over streaming, what an incredible show, I think this is one of the best live Bowie sets available. Poked around the internet and found video of this as well but haven't watched it yet.

Reality remaster is an improvement, lots of sonic details poking out in places I didn't notice them before. Doesn't improve the duff tracks but it's a good remastering job. Looking forward to hearing the other albums now.

reality is the album where i reconnected with Bowie - a friend took me to a “worldwide cinema event” thing where they played the album thru and did a few oldies (Fantastic Voyage!) and i was impressed & they said the tour would come to Australia and it did! first tour here since Glass Spider (when i was like 13 and not interested)

and the tour was soooooo good - i saw two shows, the only time(s) i got to see Bowie and i feel kind of gratitude for the whole album/tour for that reason - great band, great mix of new and old stuff, the new songs certainly didn’t drag - well maybe The Loneliest Guy did - and New Killer Star remains a great Bowie banger to me - slightly throwaway but cool for it

in retrospect Heathen is the better album - and there was some great Heathen stuff still in the set in 2004 - i heard Sunday and 5:15 for the first time at these shows and was super impressed, and he played the Heathen title track in Perth and that song is so beautiful

The Heathen title track would've been an august valedictory had he sropp3d in 2002.

i do feel that Heathen is where he kinda started to think “what if this was my last ever album”, or at least it is where impermanence/ mortality really begins to inform the writing

Definitely has that elegiac feel, although death permeated his work pretty much from the get go. This is a guy who wrote Rock n roll suicide at the age of 25! Not to mention Bewlay Brothers, Space Oddity etc even earlier.