Bowie's Post-Tin Machine Albums

Apart from "Black Tie White Noise", which has only a couple really good tracks, I do find some value in most of these. "Outside" and "Earthling" were interesting experiments and interesting ideas, but I still feel that my vote has to go to his #1 "return to form" album. "Heathen" that is, which sounds almost like a good attempt at "Scary Monsters" MK II.

Outside - it has the highest highs, which overwhelm the narrative skits.

Gah. David Bowie has jumped the shark. But like a once-great NBA player past-his-prime, Bowie can still add something valuable and interesting in a supporting role, e.g., his backup vocals on that TVOTR song (tho his voice was buried too low in the mix, I thought).

I saw him live around Outside time and it was a pretty damn good show. I like the Pixies cover on Heathen as well. I don't really think any of these albums are great though (although I haven't heard Hours or Reality all the way through). Black Tie White Noise is pretty rubbish and probably not any better than his maligned 80s stuff IMO.

I have never knowingly heard a single song by Tin Machine. Recently I read some article saying they aren't really that bad and better than a lot of his solo stuff around that time - anyone agree with that?

The first few BTWN tracks are exceptiona: "The Wedding," "You've Been Around," and the truly great "Jump, They Say" (there's a thread I started somewhere).

Reality's my favorite of the pack, and the one to which I return yearly. In its modesty and avant-garde takes on pop, it's the Lodger of his autumnal years.

i'll go for Outside but really, these all have their great moments.

"I saw him live around Outside time and it was a pretty damn good show"

Saw him too around that period and it was a magnificent concert - he even rescued some minor classics of his repertoire like "Andy Warhol" and "Look back in anger", and played a fabolous version of Scott Walker's "Nite flights".

My vote goes for "Outside", which is good and sometimes very good, but all these albums have their moments.

Ok Geir - that was a good poll idea.

Voted 'Heathen' because I play it more, only slightly edging out 'Outside' - The rest of 'em recently found new foster homes via used cd store - they just didn't get played.

heathen is a great album, the only one of thse I'd classify as "great". I don't think it has any bad tracks at all and is one of his career best. "Hours" is terrible, "Reality" was alright but dull, "Earthling" I liked at the time but sounds so dated now, "Outside" is well, "Outside"....brilliant tracks buried in nonsense. "Black Tie" had some good stuff and is probably my third favorite here. I always forget about "Buddha"...it's okay.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I love select tracks on Outside (oh ... excuse me ... 1. Outside... yeah, `cos ya know 2. is on the way, right? Sure it is) and Earthling, although the latter hasn't aged exceptionally well.

oh ... excuse me ... 1. Outside... yeah, `cos ya know 2. is on the way, right? Sure it is)

crossing my fingers... hahahah

BTWN I always lump into the "Bowie is crap" years.

Outside I *really* liked when it came out (and always feel cheated he never finished the project)

The other albums I thought were okay in passing but never really got too enthusiastic about. Except Hours, which, as far as I remember, was really quite bad.

SUNDAY means it has to be 'heathen' really.

ILM's high regard of Let's Dance is ill-placed. Bowie's gift for making good albums ended, gloriously, with Scary Monsters.

Of the good-singles-plus-varying-filler collections here, I'll probably take hours... although the SNL performance of "Little Wonder" from Earthling was so good that I'm drawn that way. But it's a coin toss, really.

I don't get the hatred for "Hours" here. To me it's OK. Not essensial in any way, but part of what would see its fruitation on "Heathen" is sensed already on "Hours". It is less experimental than what we were used to on "Outside" and "Earthling", but it contains some nice pop songs. Too long it was, though. And, obv. "Heathen" and "Reality" are way better.

1. Outside, Earthling and Reality are probably the most played after their respective releases. Earthling plays were the loudest/most fun. Both Earthling and Reality tours were terrific. As a whole album, i.e. not "just" a collection of good-to-great songs + filler, though, I feel 1.Outside is the best. I enjoy most of its silly filler stuff, too. (hums *I am with name/I am Ramona A. Stone*)

"Strangers When We Meet" off Outside is Top 20 Bowie for me, certainly the best of his recent ballads. The cut and paste ethos of which he was particularly enamored in the mid nineties serves some beautiful chord progressions and singing.

"Outside" deserves props for its ambitions, which were partly fulfilled. But because it is a bit too long, with too many moments that had better been left off, I go for his oughties albums, which were more straightforward, but also very good in a typical classic Bowie way.

More precicely, "Outside" and "Earthling" find Bowie experimenting with other stuff than what he has previously done. It works to some extent, and is definitely more interesting than his mid 80s AOR albums, but it still doesn't work in the same way as his 70s experimentation, plus he also found himself to a growing extent aping trends rather than creating them. Which was why it was probably a wise move to give up and just "return to form" in a classic Bowie-pop way. And that is exactly what he did on "Heathen" and "Reality".

The problem with Hours is completely down to Reeves Gabrels not knowing how to restrain himself. He's just making annoying noise all over the album, to the point where songs I'd like if they were toned down a bit (pretty things, for one) are just a racket (and not a good racket). I'm glad Bowie fired him after that record, he could have really screwed up Heathen.

J0hn you need to give Heathen another listen, it's lovely, a late-career highlight.

The problem with Hours post-Tin Machine Bowie is completely down to Reeves Gabrels.

The problem with Hours post-Tin Machine Bowie is completely down to Reeves Gabrels.

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn,

Are you implying that Reeves wasn't responsible for the horror of Tin Machine? (though honestly, I like some of that stuff)

i think he just got more and more annoying after tin machine. I like the two tin machine albums alright myself. but I think once he was allowed to co-produce things he went too far.

He wasn't a, shall we say, resourceful guitarist.

Is he that bald bloke who played horrible wanky solos all over everything?

J0hn you need to give Heathen another listen, it's lovely, a late-career highlight.

I liked it pretty well, though God knows where it is up amongst the many CDs in the room where the CDs go. The only thing I remember about it now is the Pixies cover.

Is he that bald bloke who played horrible wanky solos all over everything?

yes. he is like Robert Fripp without any taste or manners

Happy to see Outside is getting some love.

Outside is--gasp--one of my favorite Bowie records. The concept notwithstanding, from a sheer musical perspective, the tunes here make this one of his most consistent records. The concept is cheeky and fun -- virtually everybody who's criticized it seems to have completely missed that aspect of it entirely.

Hours is...not bad, but kind of boring. Heathen I don't care about and Earthling is about the worst thing in his catalogue -- just ghastly and chintsy-sounding from start to finish. Coming after Outside, it was just a huge, huge letdown.

There's a good song in the din of "Dead Man Walking." He needs to polish it as well as he did "Loving the Alien" on his last tour.

for me - Heathen, no question

Outside is easily one of my top four or five Bowie albums. The "Segue" tracks are a little silly, but they've definitely grown on me over the years... to the point where I pretty much know them all by heart. I can't think of any songs on the album I don't like, either. The re-working of "Strangers When We Meet" is glorious, but there're a lot of other gems on there (the criminally under-appreciated "A Small Plot of Land", for instance).

"Buddha of Suburbia" is another favorite, just because it's so odd. Coming out after "Outside", "Earthling" felt like a let-down, but there's a bunch of great (if dated) sounding songs on there. "Hours" through "Reality" has been a pretty mixed bag, with "Heathen" being the stand-out. I've only made it through "Reality" a couple of times, to be honest. I like the song "Bring Me the Disco King" on the bonus disc, though.

"Black Tie White Noise" is a pretty spotty set, too, although I've always had a weird fascination with the song "Miracle Goodnight".

Great video

Oh, yeah. The video is truly bizarre.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

anybody ever see him do "dead man walking" solo acoustic (maybe duo) on Letterman? he wasn't even in the performers' area, just in the guests' chair. it was terrific.

YES. It was on 'Conan,' actually. Gabrels sounded good!

I recorded it at the time. He told this funny story about how he ripped the chord sequence from "The Superman," which is in itself a Jimmy Page riff that he "donated" to "David."

This one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leEF6oubJ8Q

It is pretty amazing.

That's it!

these poll results are 100% OTM

Well, TBOS is much better than ...hours and Earthling.

man this live "Dead Man Walking" rescues a great melody from the overarrangement it got on the album. Such a nicely constructed thing.

these poll results are 100% OTM

Not with "Heathen" not on top and "Reality" way down there, no. :)

(Although it makes sense that those who like "Reality" best voted for "Heathen". I mean, I did. And they are pretty related musically)