The fixed smile of the serious addict
For archiving/nostalgia purposes: I recently had cause to drag up these links again, and might as well say something here so they'll be easy to find. In the middle of 2004 I took four months to do an On Second Thought for each of the four Berlin-era Bowie records. It remains the single sustained piece of writing that I'm most proud of, and one of the few things of mine I'd actually point people to as a source. I think they all still read pretty well, and I also flatter myself that they're a concise, fairly interesting introduction to the best period of a guy you have to care about if you give a shit about music at all. If you've got some time to kill, why not check them out?
Station to Station
Low
"Heroes"
Lodger
(and by the way, in my own opinion the proper order of these records from best to worst is "Heroes", Station to Station, Lodger and then Low, although I love them all)
Station to Station
Low
"Heroes"
Lodger
(and by the way, in my own opinion the proper order of these records from best to worst is "Heroes", Station to Station, Lodger and then Low, although I love them all)
You should be proud of those Ian - really top notch writing, informative and engrossing.
My order fluctuates, but has lately been Station To Station, Lodger, Low and "Heroes". I've always felt the last of those just doesn't ring true - it seems an overreaction to the sound and public reception of Low. "Look, I can be warm and catchy while still being arty!" And Lodger sounds like he's actually okay with where he's come from and where he's going.
But to be honest, I like Stages better than any of the studio albums. The live version of "Station To Station" is better than anything else Bowie has done. I think you need to do a piece on the re-issued version of that album to complete the cycle.
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