Stan Deely on 12 Bowie albums in 12 months – Never Let Me Down
PREVIOUS HISTORY WITH THIS ALBUM
Spring 1987. I have recently moved to London from my home town Swindon and I’m enjoying the gig opportunities. I’m regularly seeing my favourites, Billy Childish’s Mighty Caesars, Television Personalities and the Three Johns. At home I listen to REM and the Pogues and am just starting to get into Tom Waits and Hank Williams.
Bowie, who is pretty much off my agenda at this point, announces a new album and, as I remember, the video for the first single ‘Day In Day Out’ gets its own slot on Channel 4. However, whereas ‘Blue Jean’, three years previously, got a 45 minute special at 10.30pm now its a mere 10 minute post midnight slot. The song, which seems to lack any discernible melody, is generically 80’s in sound and, on first listening, unmemorable. It’s accompanied by a Hollywood values ‘gritty’ video featuring a mulletted Bowie on rollerskates in supermarket. I’m not even sure if I watch the video until the end. The single didn’t do too well in the charts getting to the low teens I think, and I wasn’t even aware of any follow up. I’ve never heard the album, being further put off by the cover art.
A week or so later the Glass Spider tour is announced. A return to “theatrical rock” with poodle haired pretty boy AOR’er Peter Frampton on lead guitar. To me it feels misjudged and a grand folly. “He’s lost it” I think and the album and tour are mentally consigned to my ‘Bowie the lost it years’ file and I don’t really think about them again until now.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Overall the songs seem to be a return to rock with an arty/theatrical slant however with an American AOR sound, 1980’s Foreigner play Diamond Dogs or something like that. Peter Frampton’s lead guitar is all over some of the songs and there is some influence of the dance/rock crossover that was big at the time in the wake of Prince, Michael Jackson etc,
He seems to be making more of an effort with more complex songwriting than the light pop tunes and sparse arrangements of ‘Tonight’. However, generic 80’s production and overcluttered arrangements make the whole a bit of an indistinct soup. I listen to it a lot on shuffle to try to get to know the songs individually. As I get to know the album better the songs seem curiously disjointed with verses and choruses often seemingly bolted together with no regard for each other. Like Tonight the best (or should that be least worst!) songs come at the start and towards the end the album sounds pretty uninspired and samey.
THE SONGS
DAY IN DAY OUT
The aforementioned dance influenced rock sound, not much tonal variation or melody in the tune. Subject matter – homelessness in American. I’m not sure it suits Bowie to be doing social commentary. (However having said that I think, ‘Repetition’ on the Lodger album about domestic violence, which at first I thought a bit trite I now find very perceptive). The sound is even more generic 80’s than Tonight. Whereas I found Tonight’s plastic pop/soul sound a bit cheap and tacky it did have some space in it. This song is smothered by over the top, cluttered 80s production, Power Station gated drum sound and generally too much going on. It does have a decent groove and is quite catchy but I’m not sure it’s single material. Something I started to notice on Tonight, the less inspired the song, the more Bowie tries to rescue it with bravado vocal performance and this happens here. I actually don’t mind this one too much as I think I’m more a groove than melody person but really there’s not too much going here. It’s a bit stretched out at 5 and a half minutes, having never really gone anywhere.
TIME WILL CRAWL
Another social commentary song, supposedly about Chernobyl and apparently the second single from the album although I don’t think it bothered the charts and I never heard it on the radio. Starts off with a nice synth riff and once again it’s a dance rock vamp. It has an almost righteous groove but the rhythm section don’t have the magic of Alomar, Davis, Murray team that played from Station to Station to Scary Monsters. It’s quite catchy – I say that he could still write a hook but overall a pleasant enough song but somewhat repetitive and once again, doesn’t really go anywhere.
BEAT OF YOUR DRUM
After the relative monochrome of the previous two songs, here the tone and pace change and we have a bit of classic/formulaic Bowie depending on your tastes. The intro is a bit post punk cold wave, something like an Icehousey sound. Bowie imitates the imitators and then suddenly we are into a jaunty repetitive catchy chorus something like Nik Kershaw playing a Specials tune. Whilst not unpleasant it does rather detract from the atmosphere of the verses. It’s a shame as the chorus is definitely an ear worm and if he had just slowed it down a bit and written a better lyric this would probably be the best song on the album. Ends with lots of sax and guitar giving it a Bruce Springsteen 1984 (dance) rock sound.
NEVER LET ME DOWN
For a song that starts off like a Chris Rea ballad this one redeems itself and could be considered the best track on the album. Apparently written quickly at the end of the sessions it’s a thank you/love song to his personal assistant/friend and probably short term lover (but then who wasn’t in the 1970’s) Coco Schwab. Apparently around 1975/76 Angie gave Bowie the ultimatum “It’s Coco or me” and got the kiss off song ‘Golden Years’ as a result.
Musically it’s a mid-paced light jazz funk style song with plaintive harmonica and tasteful guitar licks which puts me in mind of Paul MaCartney’s ‘Coming Up’ or even the ‘Nightfly’ album. It’s a bit out of place on this album but provides welcome relief. The second half of the album could have done with a similarly paced song to break it up. Supposedly released as the third single off the album it appears to have sunk without trace. Maybe like ‘Where are we now’ from ‘The Next Day’ it might have worked better for the album as the first single.
ZEROES
Starting with a hyped up shouted introduction and live crowd noises this one is pretty over the top in its kitchen sink approach. A slight not unpleasant song, possibly some kind of homage to 1960’s and his time in beat groups it recalls Traffic with lots of Beatles touches, sitar sounds and Mr Frampton screeching away, playing the white boy 60’s blues. It’s almost like Bowie writing the type of song he would have covered on ‘Pin Ups.’ I’ve never heard Peter Frampton’s Herd but imagine this is pretty much what they would have sounded like. Whilst early plays of the album made me think that this was one of the better tracks consequently I am finding it a bit empty reminding me of a big icing covered wedding cake with nothing much there in the centre.
The bad news is that the first five songs what would have made the old side 1 are probably the best five songs on the album and the second half has a dramatic fall in quality from the not too heady heights we have already scaled. I will try to be fair and not too damning.
GLASS SPIDER
Starts with like two minutes of monologue Future Legend meets Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds, which incidentally is selling out an enormodome near you as I write. The song itself is a bit of a repetitive chant, like Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family slowed down and extended, with Frampton squealing away for the last four minutes This song introduced Bowie on the Glass Spider tour when following a Carlos Alomar playing squiggly guitar in a fright wig and a cast of scarey street dancers that seemed to recast the cast of the Wizard of Oz (tin solder etc) into a Mad Max scenario. He descended from the aforesaid giant Glass spider in an office chair sprayed silver singing into a Marx Brothers era silver phone. This a full four years after Spinal Tap and Stonehenge. Ridiculous in concert and pointless on record. A very strange and weak concept for the centrepiece of the tour. I suspect that Bowie, even though he supposedly cleaned up in Berlin must still have been under the influence of some mind altering substances at this time. Anyone else got any ideas about what was going on for him around then?
SHINING STAR
I suppose this fulfils a bit the function of light relief and a change of pace after the last two rather overwrought pieces. A mid paced song, the rhythm a bit reminiscent of the Pretenders ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’. Another slight, pleasant, seemingly meaningless pop song. And this one doesn’t feature Peter Frampton. Instead it has Mickey Rourke method rapping a verse. You couldn’t make this stuff up.
NEW YORKS IN LOVE
Ups the tempo a bit. Features a Huey Lewis Farfisa organ and sounds a bit like J Geils band ‘Centrefold’ workman like blues given an 80’s sheen. If this was by one of those bands and a single it might still get played on Boring Radio FM but as it’s a Bowie album track it’s forgotten. The chorus is competent enough and the vocal sounds reasonably enthused and excited. Squealing guitar courtesy of Frampton. I am getting a bit sick of repeating myself saying, competent, not bad but pointless.
87 AND CRY
Starts off with heavy guitar riffing and then chiefly notable for a melody line that would also be used the song ‘Black Star’. Hard rock, sounds a bit like an Iggy song, a bit like Neighbourhood Threat off the last album. Another one where the various parts do not particularly gel or add up. At times on this album he appears to be using William Burrough’s cut up technique not just with lyrics but with the whole process of a song. Once again, repetitive and over long, a relief when it ends.
BANG BANG
Iggy’s flop single from his 1981 attempt at a sellout album Party – an album that is reckoned by many as Iggy’s worst but I have a soft spot for. Bowie’s version has more energy and works better than the Iggy covers on Tonight. Rescues the end of the album after the rather dismal selection preceding it.
EXTRA TRACK – TOO DIZZY
Originally in the middle of side two. After the first pressing Bowie expressly ordered this song to disappear from all re-issues. I personally find this track quite good fun. It’s a soul stomper in the mode of Modern Love with lots of horns. Nice backing vocals. If it stayed it would have broken up the rather ponderous uninspired run towards the end.
IN SUMMATION
Well listening to the album was a ride, and not in a good way. Due to the production it’s quite an exhausting listen. On the first few listens it merged into one. I put the effort into getting to know the songs individually, watched the Press Conference for the Glass Spider tour and even watched some live footage from the tour. Whilst the Press Conference may have helped my understanding of what he was trying to do, I’m not sure any of it aided my interest or pleasure. How did Bowie come in 11 short years from his Young Americans/Thin White Duke persona ie. the coolest man on the planet to the mulleted red suit wearing caricature seemingly trapped in Spinal Tap parody hell?
At this point I wondered why I was putting myself through this and I then realised that Bowie was the guy who introduced me to music and a lot more besides. I saw his Starman performance on Top of the Pops and it gave this 8 year old a sense of ‘Outsiderdom’ that I never even knew I possessed. The journey with Bowie introduced me to a world way beyond the humdrum existence of blue collar Swindon in the 1970’s.
Keeping faith with Bowie during his 80’s period feels a bit like visiting one’s elderly parent with dementia in hospital. They were there for you back in the day and now it’s your turn to just turn up and be there and try not to judge or quibble too much. Sorry if I am revealing a bit much of myself. This wasn’t the plan but the Bowie project has taken me to places and memories that I hadn’t expected.
Your contributions as always are very much welcomed. What’s your history with the album? And did any of you see the Glass Spider tour? I’d love to hear your opinions. Over to you.
Agree with pretty much everything. Didn’t see Glass Spider tour, a friend went and said it was worst gig he ever saw.
Wonder if you have heard the remixed version that came out a year or two ago. Some seem to like it, but many are always looking for undiscovered gems and reappraisal when sometimes the initial view was correct. It’s a terrible album
I didn’t at the time as I wanted to get to know the songs on the original as well as I could and didn’t want to confuse matters. I have just given it a couple of listens. The big plus is Peter Frampton’s guitar has been replaced by Reeves Gabrel who plays much more to my liking. However getting rid of the OTT production exposes the songs and they remain somewhat uninspired and misguided.
“It has Mickey Rourke method rapping a verse”. Damn you, Stan – Now I HAVE TO listen to it..
LU-ARRRRD-UH!
Great stuff Stan. As you manfully cope with 80s Bowie I’m slightly relieved I passed the baton on but equally I will need to listen to it now. I love the second last paragraph. Paul Weller was my Bowie I guess, Down In The Tube Station my Starman. Fortunately for me Weller not only has all his faculties but he’s putting them to great purpose creating ever more glorious albums with each passing year.
Thanks. Weller, lucky for you as he has an astonishing work rate and has kept a high standard. I think of him as the British Neil Young – a lifer who just keeps on keeping on and doesn’t look back. I have lost touch with his work since Wake Up the Nation so where would you recommend I start in getting to grips with his current (ie. last decade’s) output?
PS I first heard Down in the Tube Station when they played it live at Reading Festival a couple of months before it was released as a single, and even heard for the first time at the end of an exhausting day (Hitching there and then 4 mile walk to get in as we followed the signs that took the car route and circumvented the centre of Reading and sets from New Hearts, Radio Stars, Penetration, Sham 69 – Steve Hillage guesting lead-guitaring all over ‘If the Kids are United’, the Pirates and Ultravox) it stood out as a classic. In my opinion the start of an unbelievably great run of singles until they disbanded.
Great story. I missed them live. 16 when they split, offered tickets for the last tour but couldn’t get the money together. Sigh…
Weller’s last 3 albums are all brilliant with On Sunset an absolute masterpiece. True Meanings is beautiful while Fat Pop just continues to show that he has an endless supply of ingredients in his musical larder.
I will try to give them a listen soon. How would you say they compare with the whole cannon – Jam, Style Council, other solo stuff. What’s your favourite Weller period overall?
The vinyl version is better because most of the tracks are shorter (almost a full minute off Day In Day Out). The ‘remix’ on the Loving The Alien box de-eighties the sound, substituting real strings and real drums. Laurie Anderson replaces Mickey Rourke. Time Will Crawl and Zeroes are the big beneficiaries.
I saw Glass Spider. I was confused by the stage show and Frampton seemed to have turned up to the wrong gig but the band rocked and Bowie’s singing was great.
By then, Bowie was so rich, he could do what he liked with barely anyone able to hold him back.
I’m really interested in where you go next, Stan. If you skip Tin Machine, you will end neatly on Black Star and you will have done the real hard yards already.
😉
Tin Machine II is about to be reissued, which is a good excuse to skip Tin Machine.
The plan is to ignore Tin Machine and concentrate on Bowie solo so I can finish on Black Star. I might give Tin Machine a listen at some point during the year as I don’t know them at all.
Interesting, that so far, you are the only Afterworder who saw the tour. It seems quite a few saw him live doing Serious Moonlight so I am thinking that Bowie at this time had alienated most of us.
I dare say a few of us carry the burden of having witnessed the Glass Spider tour. Sadly it was the only time I caught him, and, as has been widely accepted, it was godawful shite.
I saw the Glass Spider tour at Maine Road, Manchester. We were students at Manchester Uni at the time and just went along, bought tickets from touts outside just as it started – I recall them being very cheap, but can’t remember how much. I guess they were just trying to offload.
Saw him again at Maine Road a few years later (Sound & Vision Tour ?) which I remember was much better – basically a greatest hits tour (I think I recall that he had said it was going be the last time he would play the hits live…….yeah, right)
I think duco was at Maine Road too.
The Glass Spider staging cost around a million quid. He went through two lots, I believe. Outdoors, in the rain, it did not look or function well, especially the cherry picker for Time. Indoors, it was much better (apparently). There is a recording in the Loving The Alien box & it’s much better than you’d think. Rebel Rebel is storming. The Glass Spider might not have worked as intended but it set a precedent for all major acts after, from Madonna to Floyd.
My sister went to one of the gigs on that tour. Don’t know which one but Terence Trent D’Arby was the support and came on the coach to hand out t-shirts to the fans.
“Get out of the seat reserved for elderly or disabled passengers, non-Grandma!”
She was there with her then-boyfriend, otherwise the Neither Fish Nor Flesh Hitmaker would have been in mortal peril. I think being a few feet away from the Trentmeister was a turning point for my sis – she was then five years into a relationship with a man who she then described as having “the physique of an Easter egg”. About six weeks later she left him…. not for Terence, sadly, but at least she left him.
She was perfectly happy with the Bowie gig by the way, just considering it a privilege to have seen him.
Seriously though, Terry on the bus with t shirts – I’d be a puddle of swoon. How do you top that? Next tour: Betty Boo giving out hot pants?
Oh bloody hell!
How am I supposed to get to sleep now?
Puddle of Swoon. TMFTL.
Sorry, a bit obvious, I know.
Speaking of Betty Boo, have you heard her comeback single? I love the WAYB?HM but it is so smothered in auto-tune I had to turn it off (and just watch the muted video).
Betty Boo…. comeback… smothered…. basically you people never want me to sleep again.
Believe it was the last proper “hits” tour, of course he played many afterwards but only as part of tours promoting specific albums, one offs like Glastonbury excepted
He played nearly all of his hits on the Reality tour. Looking down this I can think of very few he missed out – maybe Boys Keep Swinging and, more surprisingly, Absolute Beginners. Perhaps as with This Is Not America he felt that he’d done them justice at Maida Vale and Glasto and the point didn’t need to be made again.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Reality_Tour
PS what an insane list of covers. It Can’t Happen Here?? *hits eel market*
He always played some ‘hits’, even in the nineties.
Looking at that link, I’ve suddenly realised that it’s close to twenty years since I saw him live. I was forty-five. Manchester, November 2003 was a superb gig. I’d say the best I ever saw. He was confident, relaxed, very comfortable in his skin and he want brilliantly. The band were perfect. It doesn’t feel like a lifetime ago.
Yeah but that’s everything played on the tour. There were quite a few hits, not all played every night, but lots from Reality album too, I enjoyed the show a lot. The only other time I saw him was on the Outside tour which had one big hit Under Pressure, a few minor ones and much obscurity
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/david-bowie/1996/hallenstadion-zurich-switzerland-7bd0ea2c.html
I’m guessing that ICHH was on the event of Zappa’s 60th birthday, when the tour was in the US.
They rehearsed “Win” but never played it live….unscratchable itch alert!
I saw it in Melbourne. Recollection- it was wet, fucking wet. Poured all night.
I have never heard this album and I never want to. I’ll hand my Bowie Tragic card in on the way out.
It’s crap, but I like it. Everything about it is rubbish…. the sleeve is even worse than Toy. And yet….
And yet …. ? What? I am intrigued by what you like about it. Even though I thought it was uninspired and misguided and I’m not a fan of 80’s production I did, in some respects, find it a comfort listen and I’m not sure why. Anyone else got anything positive to say about the album?
I’ve got a very high tolerance threshold for 80s nonsense, which is connected with nostalgia. Probably the sound of a Linn Drum reminds me of when all was before me (steady).
With NLMD I do kind of enjoy its desperation. And I do enjoy the fact that Bowie, having so much great music behind and ahead of him, had a crap period that was so crap. It’s like National Service. Unfortunately, as this thread indicates, that was the feeling for his fans too.
Yeah, Stan. Despite your lukewarm review of the track, Time Will Crawl is definitely in my Bowie Top 50. Possibly his best song of the Eighties [although the competition is not massive].
The rest of the LP is shit. Day In Day Out is his worst single by some stretch.
I saw the Glass Spider gig in West Berlin, June 1987. The stage was in a huge area at the Reichstag building, with the Berlin Wall directly behind. According to an interview with the promoter, they suspected that the sound could be heard in the eastern part behind the Wall, but they didn’t know if the border guards would let people near the area… As a gesture to the East German fans Bowie gave permission for the whole concert to be broadcast live on RIAS Radio (the US/German radio station in the American sector).
When the support band (some godawful dreary stadium rock from The Alarm) had finished it became obvious that around thousand fans had turned up at the east side of the Wall – we could clearly hear applause and whistling from there. And before the Bowie band entered the stage you could see roadies turning some of the equipment around: according to the promoter a third of the speakers were facing East!
The whole gig was of course a confusing mix of theatrics and 80s rock, and without today’s big screens a lot of the stage show simply didn’t reach the audience. But it was a special atmosphere as the concert was going in two directions. Bowie repeatedly gave »thanks to our friends on the other side of the wall…« – and the performance of »Heroes« was truly fantastic.
Newspaper reports next day stated that the East German guards merely watched on as more and more fans gathered in the streets near the Wall to listen to the Bowie show – there were no hassles, riots or other mischief.
A week later US president Reagan gave his famous »Tear down this wall, Mr. Gorbatchow« speech not far from the site of the Glass Spider gig.
Sounds amazing.
I found this quote from an interview with »Performing Songwriter«:
————
Q: I have a friend who said he saw you perform “Heroes” in Berlin in 1987 at the wall.
BOWIE: I’ll never forget that. It was one of the most emotional performances I’ve ever done. I was in tears. They’d backed up the stage to the wall itself so that the wall was acting as our backdrop. We kind of heard that a few of the East Berliners might actually get the chance to hear the thing, but we didn’t realize in what numbers they would. And there were thousands on the other side that had come close to the wall. So it was like a double concert where the wall was the division. And we would hear them cheering and singing along from the other side. God, even now I get choked up. It was breaking my heart. I’d never done anything like that in my life, and I guess I never will again. When we did “Heroes” it really felt anthemic, almost like a prayer. However well we do it these days, it’s almost like walking through it compared to that night, because it meant so much more.
This is a fabulous post Fatima. Thank you
In fact you gave me an idea…
I saw it in torrential rain, at Roker Park…can you imagine? By definition it was exciting to see Bowie in whatever guise, but the ‘theatrical’ intricacies were just lost in such a massive space, and the rain certainly didn’t help. I actually bought the VHS a few years later; it was filmed at an indoor venue, and was much more effective and satisfying as a consequence.
Looks like comments on this subject have now pretty much wound up with nothing for the last few days. In reply to my final comment/questions of the original review…
“‘What’s your history with the album? And did any of you see the Glass Spider tour?”
We’ve had quite a bit of commentary about the Glass Spider tour however, apart from Moose, very little about your relationship with the album and any redeeming factors, guilty pleasure songs you find contained within. So before I turn my full attention to Black Tie White Noise – any final comments, anecdotes etc. the more personal the better.
As others have said, I think you should give the 2018 remix a go. It’s actually properly good … although in the end it’s also about as authentic as those dreadful albums where they’ve slathered the Royal Philharmonic orchestra on Buddy Holly’s records or whatever.
I will just mention in passing that the first Tin Machine album was reissued in 1999 as being by David Bowie . …
I’ve now listened to the 2018 remix a couple of times. I’m glad that they’ve got rid of Peter Frampton and much prefer the guitar work of Gabrels and Torn. However I’m not sure about the strings.
I had hopes for the remix of Beat of your Drum which I think, despite may be my favourite song on the album. They have taken my advice and slowed down and de-jollified the chorus however they have lost the icey weirdness of the verses replaced by a rather standard string section.
Yes – Tin Machine. Whilst reviewing Never Let Me Down I was listening to Iggy’s Blah Blah Blah album for background info as it was a template/precursor for NLMD. Maybe as part of the Black Tie White Noise process I will give the three Tin Machine albums a listen.
BBB is arguably more of a Bowie album than Tonight is. Again, high tolerance for 80s foolishness is a requisite.* It’s an odd coda to the long Jones-Osterberg saga but it actually succeeded in turning the Igster into a sort of (ahem) pop star.
You’ve also wisely missed out Labyrinth, which is a very ropey few songs to accompany the mysteriously successful ‘Man with prominent Todger meets some Muppets’ film. The only decent track on it is Chilly Down, which DB isn’t even on.
(* t….t….t…)
I think his songs on the Labyrinth OST are much better than NLMD’s, not just Chilly Down. Even though I have never heard NLMD I stand by this comment.
Well let’s look at the guest stars: Labyrinth has Albert King* and Kevin “Elmo” Clash, whereas NLMD has a drunken ‘rap’ by Mickey “Lard” Rourke. So you may be right.
(* for about three seconds)
As I said last month, after Let’s Dance, I bought Bowie singles but avoided buying his albums until Outside. I liked the first two NIN albums and it sounded like those.
He toured with “ver Nine” straight after it but I spose you knew that.
Yeah. There’s a bootleg or two around.
I did buy Tin Machine, but only because they were almost giving it away.
I didn’t buy the album at all until the noughties. I suppose I hoped that if I ignored it, it would go away. The CD shocked me as I’d been used to the L.P. version. I enjoyed the Time Will Crawl single, though.
Also, I never held Tin Machine in much esteem. They were okay when Bowie is normally way better than okay. They did the job, though, because he was much more himself in the nineties, weird, unpredictable and fascinating. It was either Tin Machine who got his mojo working again or Iman.
This one wasn’t described as “his best work since Scary Monsters”, but looking at wikipedia the next 3 albums were
(note: Tin Machine wasn’t – that was described as “his most challenging work since StationToStation”.
This one? It’s OK, but I only bought it/own it to fill the gap in the collection.
If it’s any help, I’m only doing my hair tomorrow so I don’t mind laying into Absolute Beginners come the afternoon.
Don’t fall asleep under the dryer.
Merely offering my services… albeit with very good hair.
IIRC I had it on cassette – from the “We’ll Pay YOU” bin, or I wouldn’t have bothered. But reading your review the only track I can remember the tune to by title and description only is “Day In Day Out” (which I have quite fond memories of thanks to it being part of the soundtrack to some good times).
I suspect that I didn’t listen to it more than once or twice after buying it.