Album: Low
Artist: David Bowie
Born: Brixton, London
Released: January 1977
Genre: Art Rock, Ambient
Influenced: Joy Division, OMD, Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, Grandaddy, Interpol
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Creative cross-fertilisation between David Bowie, Brian Eno and Iggy Pop in the late 70s produced one of the most innovative periods in pop history. Like many Bowie fans at the time, the first time I listened to Low I was taken aback at how different this sounded to his earlier albums. This record was also my first introduction to Brian Eno, who is sometimes mistakenly referenced as the producer of Bowie's Berlin trilogy of albums. In fact, it was Tony Visconti that gets the production credits, and one of his main contributions to the album's unique sound is the harmoniser, then a cutting-edge tool that "f**ks with the fabric of time". Bowie was much in need of this new direction, after the political disaster of his cocaine-addled Thin White Duke period, and was already showing signs of a shift towards a more krautrock-influenced sound on previous album, Station to Station (TVC 15 is one of my favourite Bowie tracks). For a man looking to go clean, Berlin (heroin capital of Europe at the time) was a strange choice, but it meant he could get out of the LA spotlight and hang out with Iggy. Low was in fact first conceived in France, at Château d'Hérouville near Paris, and this was where the radical decision, to have one half of Bowie rock tunes and the other half devoted to Eno-inspired ambient music, was taken.
Many of the tracks on side 1 are punk in length but very different in sound. Speed Of Life has a futuristic feel, the bass line, swirling keyboards and strange-sounding drums offset by the more soothing synths. On Breaking Glass, the synths are used more to alarm than soothe, while the lyrics are cryptic ("you're such a lovely person / but you got problems"). What In The World is a more straightforward rock song, although there's what sounds like morse code immediately after the chorus. Sound & Vision and Always Crashing In The Same Car are the side 1 highlights for me, both harnessing the soulful sound of his Young Americans period but mixed with glorious, shimmering instrumentals. Be My Wife is the only track on the album that I actively dislike. On side 2, the influence of Brian Eno is more evident, especially on Warszawa, and the tone is more sombre. Its influence on Joy Division and other bands is well-documented. Art Decade (a play on the word, "decayed") hints at Bowie's yearning for creative renewal at the time, and maintains the melancholy feel. Weeping Wall reflects Bowie's feelings about the Berlin Wall and is influenced by minimalist composer Philip Glass, who later returned the compliment by composing his own symphony based on the album. Subterraneans is a lament for the lost culture of East Berlin, and its influence on the sonic experiments of Radiohead and others is all too clear. This is a truly monumental album, arguably Bowie's best.
Creative cross-fertilisation between David Bowie, Brian Eno and Iggy Pop in the late 70s produced one of the most innovative periods in pop history. Like many Bowie fans at the time, the first time I listened to Low I was taken aback at how different this sounded to his earlier albums. This record was also my first introduction to Brian Eno, who is sometimes mistakenly referenced as the producer of Bowie's Berlin trilogy of albums. In fact, it was Tony Visconti that gets the production credits, and one of his main contributions to the album's unique sound is the harmoniser, then a cutting-edge tool that "f**ks with the fabric of time". Bowie was much in need of this new direction, after the political disaster of his cocaine-addled Thin White Duke period, and was already showing signs of a shift towards a more krautrock-influenced sound on previous album, Station to Station (TVC 15 is one of my favourite Bowie tracks). For a man looking to go clean, Berlin (heroin capital of Europe at the time) was a strange choice, but it meant he could get out of the LA spotlight and hang out with Iggy. Low was in fact first conceived in France, at Château d'Hérouville near Paris, and this was where the radical decision, to have one half of Bowie rock tunes and the other half devoted to Eno-inspired ambient music, was taken.
Many of the tracks on side 1 are punk in length but very different in sound. Speed Of Life has a futuristic feel, the bass line, swirling keyboards and strange-sounding drums offset by the more soothing synths. On Breaking Glass, the synths are used more to alarm than soothe, while the lyrics are cryptic ("you're such a lovely person / but you got problems"). What In The World is a more straightforward rock song, although there's what sounds like morse code immediately after the chorus. Sound & Vision and Always Crashing In The Same Car are the side 1 highlights for me, both harnessing the soulful sound of his Young Americans period but mixed with glorious, shimmering instrumentals. Be My Wife is the only track on the album that I actively dislike. On side 2, the influence of Brian Eno is more evident, especially on Warszawa, and the tone is more sombre. Its influence on Joy Division and other bands is well-documented. Art Decade (a play on the word, "decayed") hints at Bowie's yearning for creative renewal at the time, and maintains the melancholy feel. Weeping Wall reflects Bowie's feelings about the Berlin Wall and is influenced by minimalist composer Philip Glass, who later returned the compliment by composing his own symphony based on the album. Subterraneans is a lament for the lost culture of East Berlin, and its influence on the sonic experiments of Radiohead and others is all too clear. This is a truly monumental album, arguably Bowie's best.
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