Hello all. I’ve revived my David Bowie; Albumtoalbum podcast and for the first episode in ages, have author of The Complete David Bowie, Nicholas Pegg join me for a poke around the innards of 1984’s ‘Tonight’. Not an album I went into this conversation with any high regard for, but as ever Pegg is balanced, reasonable and of course, possessed of an almost frightening level of knowledge and insights. Hope you enjoy
Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.

Part One
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/davidbowie-albumtoalbum/id1355073030?i=1000684569133
Part Two
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/davidbowie-albumtoalbum/id1355073030?i=1000685621801
Part Three
Coming soon
And Part Three is live now
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/davidbowie-albumtoalbum/id1355073030?i=1000688210894
Well done, and good to see the podcast back in action.
For me Tonight is middle-ranking Bowie. It includes Loving the Alien, one of the best things the Dame ever did, and Blue Jean is top-drawer as well. I also like Neighbourhood Threat and one or two others.
However, the title track goes on too long without doing anything much, and the cover of God Only Knows is very bad indeed. The original is about as beautiful as music can get, and he shouldn’t have even tried covering it. Has anybody ever done a version that comes close to the Beach Boys’?
The album gets a bit of a rough ride, IMHO, and deserves more praise. I’ll check out what Nicholas Pegg comes up with about it.
Thanks Cap’n – Nick is very fair-minded about it, me, not so much. But we’re all pretty much unanimous on his take on God Only Knows. Probably the worst single track of his entire recorded output. I’ve grown fonder of Loving the Alien in the weeks since recording the podcast.
I did enjoy revisiting the superb mini-Ealing comedy Jazzin for Blue Jean tho
I have the DVD of Blue Jean – and buried in the film are Easter Eggs that lead you to interviews and performances from the 70s. It’s great.
As a side note, I do enjoy Bowie’s acting and it might be time to posthumously declare that he was very good at it. He got quite a bit of stick in his lifetime whenever he treaded the boards or went in front of a camera.
Yes, I thought his various turns were underrated. Was he going to win an Oscar? No. But he was usually an interesting performer and right for the part.
His turn as Nikola Tesla in The Prestige was only a small part, but for me it was a stand-out bit of the film.
Enjoyed him in Baal and it was good to see it again.
Mmm I’m afraid I’m with the majority here. IMHO he was a terrible actor. OOAA
One slightly ever-so negative comment re: the Sainted Dave/acting etc., and obviously without beating around the bush, going around the houses, not getting to the point etc… erm… I hate to be the bearer of bad news but Absolute Beginners is the worst film ever made, and the SD’s paw-prints are all over it..
Apart from that, triffic, well done Dave-first-name-Sainted.
That not only ruined the film but my affection the SD too. The typewriter scene… argh
It’s a terrible film, but I quite liked some of the music performances contained within. e.g. Ray Davies’ Quiet Life
And the title track is one of Bowie’s greatest songs
Damned by association sadly.
I’m not going to defend “God Only Knows” (yes, dreadful) but DB’s cover versions are little discussed outside of “Pin-Ups”, which is weird bearing in mind that most of his albums include one, and they’re usually interesting choices, even if the covers themselves aren’t great (obvious exception: Wild is the Wind)
Have listened to the two parts already up. Very enjoyable
I’d much rather listen to you and Mr Pegg discuss it than listen to the album itself. Although I do like Loving the Alien.
A great listen! Terrible album! In his bottom 2 or 3 for me
turkey
Indeed.
An album only Bernard Matthews could love
It’s neither a turkey nor tremendous , it’s alright but am I the only person on this thread who hasn’t the faintest idea who Nicholas Pegg is.
No its a turkey. Horrendous. Nicholas Pegg is an actor and Bowie biographer
Blue Jean is not a classic. I remember the video on The Tube. This trend for pretentious mini movies extending the pop video like it was a great advancement . Bowie going through the motions. A disappointment. By numbers. Rather empty. That’s when I thought he’s lost it. It’s driving him rather than him driving it.
It’s what’s known in the poultry business as “all the trimmings”.
That’s definitely one of the interesting things about this album – it was in part an attempt to fit in with prevailing trends – white reggae, synthetic pop, those confounded marimbas – which seemed incredible coming from the maker of Low, Heroes, Scary Monsters etc
I’m with you on that one – Blue Jean is eminently skippable.
I loved Blue Jean. A big, sing it out loud, fun rock song, with a silly but entertaining video.
I think it’s an ok pop song especially compared to all but one other track on the album. I feel Dave could have worked a bit more on the tune though I like “Jazzin for Blue Jean”
The only truly awful album he did was Never Let Me Down (he should have taken his own advice there…) All of the others have at least a few bangers.
Of course, a banger from Ziggy… is going to be another kind of banger than the ones from Tonight, but they all have a place. And very few people who wants to be stars have it in them to write even one banger during their brief careers…
His first eponymous album in 67 was pretty bad
That’s the only one I’ve never listened to, so OK, I’ll take your word for it and say TWO awful albums…
Gobble gobble
Two tracks only. The rest have been binned from my library. Along with nearly all his output before TMWSTW.
like all the Dames post Lets dance 80’s albums. Great EP, shite album.
Ooooh! Welcome back. I’ve missed you!
Thanks Tiggs! It’s been a long break but I’m really enjoying doing this new batch of episodes. More on the way!
Lovely!
I’ve just realised you wanted an opinion on the album. I gave mine several years ago and stick by it.
Bowie only wrote two songs for Tonight, both successful singles. The rest are covers or co-writes with Iggy Pop. It’s an album dashed off rather too quickly without much thought, probably before Bowie had met with his accountant to discuss 1983’s earnings. Derek Bramble replaces both Nile Rodgers as producer and Stevie Ray Vaughan as lead guitarist, which says it all. It contains three of Bowie’s strangest tracks all on side one. Don’t Look Down features the most lifeless reggae beat put to tape, the cover of God Only Knows clinically removes all its tenderness and the title track is a duet with Tina Turner in which the well-known hollerer is reduced to providing hushed backing vocals only. The three singles are good but remastering most of the rest brings to mind the phrase ‘polishing a turd’. Derek Bramble.
I know objectively it’s not great but I had it on a cassette in my first car – I loved all the songs and knew them by heart. It still takes me back to that time. (And this was the first version of God Only Knows that I ever heard)
I definitely remember, from the dire itself, on Radio London one Saturday morning in September 1984 (yikes), that a presenter/DJ trailed the album with two songs from the nine-song album… one was Blue Jean and the other was the b-side of Blue Jean (both previously released).
I wasn’t sure at the time whether this meant that the DJ was shite, the Sainted Dave’s album was shite, or the dire 1980s was shite, but presumed it was all three.
I know now… three bells in a row!
Think I might cleanse my palate with a listen to Heathen and possibly the best songs from Earthling and Outside to restore the karmic balance after just having to think about the horrendous ‘Tonight’. But a couple of stinkers in 40 years ain’t a bad strike rate.
Fascinating and very entertaining, Heart warming that Bowie included so many Iggy Pop tracks at the commercial peak of his career to help pay Iggy’s tax bill. Great that you have some very deep knowledge that even Nick was unaware of, such as the Cath Kidson connection. I don’t think anyone has mentioned that Ricky Gervais has based much of his career impersonating David Bowie, especially the Vic character from Jazzin’ for Blue Jean. I can’t wait for Part 3
Tonight sold a million copies in the USA, matching Let’s Dance. Iggy did very nicely, thank you. I may be wrong, but I think China Girl has earned him more money than the rest of his songs, more than Lust For Life.
I’ve only listened to part one. Exemplary podcasting. The passion, the detail, the knowledge are superb. Both of you have done your homework thoroughly. And, slot, your voice is perfect, so smooth and resonant. Pegg’s voice isn’t bad either.
Thank you
I don’t think his name is slot! Nice voice though
Ha, Slot’s fine. Thank you both!
Fantastic to have you back, I’ll happily admit to a burst of excitement when I saw the first episode drop. Listened to both so far, excellent as always. I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Dave’s very odd God Only Knows, hated his version of Tonight (loved the original so my immediate reaction was ‘how could you do that to it?’), an very aware the album is lacklustre but in terms of ‘likelihood yo return to’ both this and Never Let Me Down sit above Let’s Dance for me (that album and I have never got on)
It’s interesting how Let’s Dance gets an easy ride – beyond the three singles and IMO ‘Without You’, it’s pretty feeble
I make it 4 singles (kind of), so we have more than half the album there.
ah yes! Cat People
Radically different but still pretty good I think (prefer the 1st version myself)
Bowie owned the seventies but, lovely and interesting as he remained, he lost me after Scary Monsters and never again reached the heights of Aladdin Sane or Low.
But then neither did anyone else.
80s Bowie songs associated with films have been exemplary. Well, Cat People, Absolute Beginners and This Is Not America (Falcon and Snowman) at least.
Yeah – relieved to see that you omitted that steaming great turkey “That’s Motivation” from Absolute Beginners.
And very relieved that you omitted all of the songs from Labyrinth, a film I love but rather wish wasn’t a musical (and I love musicals!)
Everything about Absolute Beginners is shite. Worst film ever made.
Bowie’s theme is as far from the core work – the first and best best novel on post-war British pop culture ever written, set at the time, a time remember when, while the Beatles and Stones were teenagers, the Sainted Dave was NOT (hard cheese) – as it is possible to be.
It is, therefore, shite.
No offence meant to D, the Sainted, or, while we’re at it, S., second name Dave.
They’d have been better off using the Jam song.
Nah it’s a brilliant song. May have nothing to do with the book but still brilliant.
Actually a contender for the worst film ever made could be Give My Regards to Broad St and that has one magnificent song too. No More Lonely Nights
“Peter’s Friends” is a contender.
Oh god – that one has some very bad singing/song(s?) in it as well…
But it made me very grateful that I never went to Oxbridge, so there’s that!
True
The novel is one of my all-time favourites and, as much as I like The Jam’s song, I’ve always thought Bowie’s song reflected the tone of the novel much better. It somehow seems to capture more the protagonist’s exuberant swagger and confidence,
The film’s pure shite.
Bowie’s song exists in it’s own right. You don’t have to know about the book or film. The song is up there with his best singles. Much fine music has come to exist and live on despite being part of a dire film.
Yes. There’s a thread in there somewhere…
Listened to the whole thing. Superb!!! Thank you
Thanks Tiggs, that’s lovely to hear! Working on the next ones now, hope you enjoy as much!
It’s clearly not a classic, but it’s not that bad, it’s just when it’s bad (like God Only Knows) it’s rank
I prefer it to Scary Monsters, which apart from Ashes to Ashes gets on my tits with Fripps guitar playing
I prefer it to Low as well, the second narcolepsy side