David Bowie's New Album: Classic or Dud?

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The new album won't be out for another month or so, but make your predictions: is it going to be another "Hours" dud?

― geeta, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It's going to be the best album he's released since _Earthling_!

― Dan Perry, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

better than tonight (possibly)

― mark s, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"hours" is classic! and the next one will be to!

― A Nairn, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Guess we'll never know until we buy it. Yep, guess we'll never know....

― Dave225, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

gosh, has he released a good ANYTHING in 20 years?

― M Matos, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

He's released some good reissues (Rykodisc, not the bullshit Virgin ones).

― J Blount, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

'hours' a classic? You're high!

The last thing the man did worth listening to was "the Heart's Filthy Lesson" on OUTSIDE.

― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Nah, "We Prick You" and "Hallo Spaceboy" were also good on that one.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

And "Looking for Satellites" on Earthling was wonderful. I have nothing to say about ...hours. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I've heard good things about his credit cards.

― Colin Meeder, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I understand iuits going to have a big UK Garage production with a concept about the life cycle of Moths - but will actually end up sounding a bit like Nine Inch Nails.

― Tanya Headon, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Tanya that's the least bitchy thing you've said in ages. Do you actually have a soft spot for David?

― Tim, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

His hair was good during Hours. If it is still good he can be forgiven everything.

― Bill, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

gosh, has he released a good ANYTHING in 20 years?
Well, between the good bits of Scary Monsters,Let's Dance and Never Let Me Down you'd have one really cool Bowie record.

― Lord Custos II, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yes, I'm one of the few people that thinks Never Let Me Down was underrated. Sure, the B-side was a load of extra large polyester PANTS...but the A-side is *almost* qyueewl.

― Lord Custos, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I liked 'Hours', I thought it was decadent. He's finally nailed it!

― dave q, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought "Hours" was not bad. "Never Let Me Down" is the worst album he ever made.

― Sean, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Bowie doesn't have a "worst album." It goes against his nature. He's just too good.

― A Nairn, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

by that standard he doesn't have a "best" album either--he's just not good enough

― M Matos, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

hah! here is some info - make yr best guess on what phase he's going through now:

new album title: "Heathen"

track listing:

1. Sunday
2. Cactus
3. Slip Away
4. Slow Burn
5. Afraid
6. I've Been Waiting For You
7. I Would Be Your Slave
8. Gemini Spacecraft
9. The Angels Have Gone
10. Everyone Says Hi
11. A Better Future
12. Heathen

― geeta, Saturday, 20 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

initial thoughts: interweb mentalism is spreading that bowie has developed a new "heathen" persona to go with the album, complete with inverted crosses etc - i don't care, as long as it's some sort of mask (i think one of the [many] reasons 'hours' didn't work was because there was no artifice, it was just him, mr boring adult-contemporary 'i am getting old' saddo - not some way-cool half-man half-dog or silver-suited spaceman)

track 7 "Slave": poss. britney teamup is in the works?!! [i love spreading internet lies]

track 8 "gemini spacecraft": maybe he's finally going back in time and embracing the aliens of yore! woo!

― geeta, Saturday, 20 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought "Hours" was not bad. "Never Let Me Down" is the worst album he ever made.
Naw. Tonight was.

― Lord Custos II, Saturday, 20 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It won't be better than Marc Bolans' new album!

― James H., Saturday, 20 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Here's the sleeve:

http://www.davidbowie.com/bin/images/html/heathen_small.jpg

― Momus, Sunday, 21 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

momus you have been what DB should have been during most of his "lost years"!! (that is meant nice btw)

of course he is not very bright and you are (on the other hand, you could possibly nevah have made THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD)

― mark s, Sunday, 21 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

that is a great-looking covah by the way: i am bored of being bored with bowie

― mark s, Sunday, 21 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

(Flattered swoon at Mark's remarks): Ma, he's making eyes at me!

Actually I think Bowie is intensely bright. It comes through, not in his malapropism- cluttered prose (classic auto-didact), but in his humour. Read his web transcripts, he's sharp and funny online in real time.

Who is he trying to be in this sleeve photo? This sleeve seems to recapitulate the 'Heroes' sleeve in that it's in role. Formally, it's a Man Ray rip. He's in a sober 1940s suit, shirt and tie. His whitened eyes make you think he's some sort of evil charismatic who's fled Europe to start some insane little community of the faithful in the US. Wilhelm Reich, perhaps? Nicolai Tesla, Aleister Crowley? He's a sort of quack scientist, that's for sure. I'm racking my brains for who it might be.

― Momus, Sunday, 21 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Or is it Andre Breton, with just a touch of Spock?

― Momus, Sunday, 21 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Here's Breton, photographed by Man Ray:

http://www.ex.ac.uk/drama/dada/breton.jpg

― Momus, Sunday, 21 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one month passes...

thread revival!!!

― geeta, Tuesday, 11 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Who is he trying to be in this sleeve photo?"

Gary Numan. Gary INVENTED Bowie.

― Wyndham Earl, Tuesday, 11 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

um...

― jess, Tuesday, 11 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The album is, of course, a total snore. Of course, as far as I'm concerned he hasn't made a good album since _The Lodger_.

― Douglas, Tuesday, 11 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Well, I like it. I'm with the others that said not much of use since Outside, and this is def. the best thing since then. Grows on you with each listen. And jeeze, he covers the Pixies. How cool is that?
― Sean Carruthers, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

a: pretty cool.

― Sean Carruthers, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

you're right, sean, it grows on you. it sounded a bit lame to me upon first listen, but i keep putting it on.
cactus is great (also from a "pixies-fan point of view") and the neil young cover is ace, too. i'm not so sure about the third cover though, gemini spacecraft sounds a bit too "flat", especially in comparison to the rest of the album...

― willem, Thursday, 13 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Douglas I have this theory about what you're saying and it goes like this. A person gets into David Bowie based on back catalogue. At whatever point a person jumps on, Bowie's canon seems awfully solid. The first album Bowie releases after a person gets into Bowie invariably seems a terrible disappointment compared to That Which Has Gone Before. For me: got into Bowie about a year after Scary Monsters came out, which I loved; next album out was "Let's Dance," which me & all my Scary Monsters-lovin' friends felt was an unmitigated disaster. Anybody here ever experience D.B. releasing a new album which they loved as much as albums you'd learned to love after they'd already been gilded by history?

― John Darnielle, Thursday, 13 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I bought "Scary Monsters" when it came out, and immediately snatched up as many other Bowie albums as I could afford. When "Let's Dance" came out, it seemed obvious to me it was a pop move and I was pretty into his image, Serious Moonlight tour, etc. Now I see it as the beginning of a dramatic fall-off, but I didn't think so at the time.

― Sean, Thursday, 13 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think it works like this. At whatever point you get into Bowie, Bowie says, "Great, that guy's onboard. Now I can suck for the next 20 years."

― Curt, Thursday, 13 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I just listened to it, and think it's pretty good. Definately the nicest production on a Bowie album in a long time. "Gemini Spacecraft" is a stand-out for me so far. I actually want to listen to it again, which is a good sign.

― Sean, Friday, 14 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think the problem, John, is that Bowie reinvents himself so often that anytime you get into him on the heels of something else, you're bound to be disappointed by the next one just because of dashed expectations. Why that doesn't factor in the back catalogue I'm not sure, but I'm sure there's a good psychological explanation...maybe because the next album he releases will have more expectations added to it because there's a wait of a year or two, whereas you can always go and pick up any of the back catalogue at any time? At any rate, there's still something to your theory: I really got into Bowie around the time of Outside (sort of flirted with his back catalogue on and off before then, but I really only started getting access to his albums about the time that Let's Dance came out, and that string of albums starting there until about Outside really didn't do much for me). (That may be why I sort of fell for Outside....I knew the guy was supposed to be some sort of damn pioneer but that string of albums sure didn't give off any indications of that sort. Finally hearing something like Outside made me reconsider, and then I started on the EARLY back catalogue, starting with the other Eno albums and working out from there.) Anyhow, point being: I hated Earthling. So.

― Sean Carruthers, Friday, 14 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

I've been playing the last several Bowie albums a lot lately and am thinking very highly of them, but I wanted to revive this thread (too bad it doesn't have Heathen in the title) to say that not only do I love this album but think Tony Visconti really knows how to record David's voice.

― Sean (Sean), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 21:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Wow there's been a bunch of Bowie talk on ILM lately too,

How do you feel about Hours? A lot of people think that's his worst newer album (I like it a lot). I still need to get into Heathen, but I can tell it's really good. Reality; I've sort of lost a little interest in, but I hope that wouldn't last too long.

― A Nairn (moretap), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)

my review of 'reality' will be out next week (finally). i'm sorry to say it's a sorta negative review (and i'm the biggest bowie apologist ever, usually!)

― geeta (geeta), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 23:31 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, Reality is kind of a negative review type of album.

― A Nairn (moretap), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 05:02 (twenty-one years ago)

the record definitely made a stronger initial impression than a lasting one. I still love "Bring me the Disco King" but the rest seems like a come-down after Heathen, which I genuinely do love.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 05:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, I think Reality is great too. Not a come-down at all. I'm actually glad to report I feel this way.

― Sean (Sean), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 06:13 (twenty-one years ago)

eight years pass...

listened to side 1 of 'heathen' last night for the first time in i guess 10 years, i was surprised by how good it sounded. underrated?

― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Monday, 16 July 2012 18:14 (thirteen years ago)

Heathen and Reality were the best albums since Scary Monsters!

― Morrissey & Clunes: The Severed Alliance (PaulTMA), Monday, 16 July 2012 20:34 (thirteen years ago)

don't think anyne underrates those two albums

― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 16 July 2012 20:36 (thirteen years ago)

Not a lot of competition in that span.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 16 July 2012 20:37 (thirteen years ago)

i thought there was some recent thread that got derailed by arguing about bowie records and people were dissing them?

matt chamberlain sounds great on 'heathen', as always.

― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Monday, 16 July 2012 20:41 (thirteen years ago)

is Bowie pretty much cooked?

― frogbs, Monday, 16 July 2012 21:02 (thirteen years ago)

Well, he's old, if that's what you mean.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 16 July 2012 23:39 (thirteen years ago)

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