Review by: Andreas Georgi
Dedicated to the memory of David Bowie
This is the last of 3 albums Bowie did with Eno (his "Berlin" period, although this one was not recorded in Berlin. This is my favorite one of the three, and possibly my favorite Bowie album period. This one has no instrumental pieces, like on "Low" and "Heroes". The first half of the album has a vague "travel" theme to it. In several songs Bowie mixes in bits of African drumming or arabesque sounding string synthesizer sounds. These are all rock or pop songs, but they are all "deconstructed" pop songs, because everything from the instrument sounds to the songs' construction is turned on its head, at least that's how it seemed in 1979. This album features Adrian Belew on guitar making sounds that were basically unheard of at the time. "DJ" and "Boys.." are highlights - absolutely brilliant, and Belew truly uses his guitar like a weapon on his solos. The only really weak song is "Red Money", which is the music from Iggy Pop's "Sister Midnight" set to different (inferior) lyrics. Fortunately it's at the end, so it's easy to skip that tune, but the rest is highly recommended.
The review is also available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/review/R252SM1SPI70T5/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00001OH7X
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