Oct 16, 2024 Excited to dive into the Bowie album! Great pick @Yeez , have been meaning to listen to his music for awhile now. Was gonna start with Ziggy Stardust, but a deeper cut sounds more interesting!
Oct 18, 2024 David Bowie - Low review I’ve been meaning to get into David Bowie’s music for years now. Only projects of his that I’ve heard are Blackstar and Ziggy Stardust, the former being a very grim and gloomy record that I really enjoyed - it is not an album I would replay too often because it tends to make you feel a certain type of way but it is still one of the more interesting art-rock albums I’ve listened to in years. Not much for me to add about Ziggy Stardust, that project is a classic and one of the all time best concept albums. Now let me get started on Low. This is an album I knew pretty much nothing about. Honestly when @Yeez picked it I was happy that I would finally dive deeper in Bowie’s discography. One of my favorite artists of all time is Lou Reed, Bowie’s contemporary and friend - Bowie also co-produced Reed’s solo album Transformer which I love the h--- out of. The sonical signature of Transformer more or less comes back on Low. That 70s rock sound which presents us with the typical rawness of the period’s art rock immediately had me loving the project’s opening track. Speed of Life is a catchy instrumental intro which sets the stage perfectly for Bowie to showcase his coked-out-of-his-mind self (in the best way possible) on the following tracks. Breaking Glass is the next track, that opening guitar is, to put it in simple terms, cool as f---. Bowie’s vocals draw you in, I love how everything is mixed; Bowie commands the track with his interesting lyrical narrative while also leaving adequate space for this really cool art-rock instrumental to develop around him. I do wish this track was longer but maybe it is better like this because I find it infinitely replayable. The transition into the next song is great, a common theme on this album is how fluently songs melt into one another. What in the World is an insane song too, it’s just great music so I’ll restrain myself from yapping and say that Bowie is such a genius writer and composer. Sound and Vision is a track I’ll give mandatory praise to as well, everything about it is excellent, really. I love this song’s structure, the instrumental is gorgeous - it is pretty much a similar array of instruments up until this point, but Bowie manages to bring out so many feelings and different atmospheres with such little variety by relying on excellent vocal performance, writing, and melodies. Always Crashing into the Same Car is nothing short of amazing either. Could be a weird connection to make but the track seems to me like something heavily influential to bands such as MGMT and psychedelic rock in general. Building such a wall of sonics in the 70s and being among one of the pioneers of such a vibrantly intimate sound is exactly why I have a lot of respect for Bowie. Be my Wife is a b-----r and it is obvious why he chose it as the second single. Although engaging and fun, the song loses no complexity in terms of sound whatsoever. Absolutely great. The next track, A New Career in a New Town sees the album at a transition of sorts. It is a song where bowie further amps up his use of synthesisers, vibraphone, xylophone, and wordless vocals. I find the general atmosphere of this song very interesting and even soothing. Loved it. The following 4 tracks really melt into one another. I am usually not the biggest fan of ambiental music but I thoroughly enjoyed it on Low. The compositions of these songs are very creative and left-field when observed through the context of 70s rock. These songs, and the entirety of the album, actually, I can describe with a single sentence: David Bowie’s Low is a record that does not try to be art, it just simply is. 10/10 @AOTWClub @Justin Trudeau
Oct 18, 2024 OMG. Im glad you loved the album!!!! Even if it was produced years beforehand I can definitely see the similarities between this and Transformer.
Oct 18, 2024 Loved pretty much everything about it. Also a plus for being fun as f--- to listen to after smoking up lmao
Oct 18, 2024 Swear to god I’m not usually a forgetful guy but the aotw tags are giving me early onset dementia
Oct 19, 2024 David Bowie- Low Growing up I remember my dad playing a good amount of Bowie, I actually always remembered multiple songs by him. "Ground control to major tom" from Space Oddity, as a kid I used to make fun of the song but then realized it's f---ing great when I listened when I got older. Id heard many Bowie albums but hadn't heard "Low" before so I was excited when it was picked. The album was definitely "weird" I'd say compared to what I'd previously known of Bowie. The first thing I noticed is that this album is David Bowie very stripped down compared to the stuff I had previously heard. I also did some research and read that this was an album he'd made immediately after leaving LA to try and rid his drug habit. I found the album almost sounded to me like someone who was trying to heal and better himself. There's a fair amount of instrumental without lyrics but I find it all very engaging and it kept my attention and I really enjoyed it. My favorite songs are: speed of life, breaking glass, what in the world and be my wife This is definitely a great listen and a great album by a legendary artist Score: 8/10 @AOTWClub
Oct 19, 2024 @AOTWClub @Michael Myers is up tomorrow for his choice for @AOTWClub Also hoping he does a Bowie review and a Disturbed review lol Only 3 Reviews in for David Bowie, hoping we keep getting numbers in for this!
Oct 19, 2024 Don't worry I'm here to save the club. David Bowie - Low Hands down one of the best Bowie projects and one of the goat experimental albums. I Love the ambient electronic sounds, which you can imagine would have been ground breaking at the time. The atmosphere of this album always has me faded AF. Overall, incredible album. 9/10 @Justin Trudeau
Oct 19, 2024 Hey I thought I had the Halloween week damnnn Yeah I'm getting the Bowie one tomorrow, after my football match!
Oct 20, 2024 Review in for Bowie tomorrow, tomorrow is gonna be my big big media consumption day because I’m behind on my horror movie marathon over in Mikey’s thread too
