In case there is any curiosity here about Tin Machine II, unsaintly follow up to 1989’s TM1, my latest episode of Albumtoalbum begins a new series of conversations with Bowie buff extraordinaire Leah Kardos on the joys and woes (both in abundance) of the final Tin Machine studio album.
Trigger warning: Includes a bit of me trying to emulate Ferry’s warble on “If There Is Something”
Episode here >>> https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/davidbowie-albumtoalbum/id1355073030?i=1000717500464
If they get the legalities sorted out, a Tin Machine box set would be something I’d be interested in. I quite like the first album but haven’t heard II for a long time.
Yes it seems to be mired in all manner of legal issues but I’d absolutely love a well put together box soaking up all the odds and ends and maybe a remix of TM1
“Well put together” – They’d be missing a trick if they didn’t put it in a metal box
John Lyndon has copyrighted that. (Wouldn’t surprise me!)
If so, Quo owe him royalties
I don’t think I’ve ever hear the album end to end. My main memory of it is wandering through WH Smith in Lancaster just after if was released, and stopping in my tracks as I walked past a display of them because someone had been tasked with placing tiny blue stickers over the willies of the statues on the cover.
Oy vey !
Bargain Bin Machine. Two of the band members are called ‘Sales’, so the omens were there. It sounds like the guitarist is stuck in a fridge. Dave Bogie is quite good though.
I quite like Tin Machine II (not as much as Tin Machine I (if that’s how it’s referred to?) but not a terrible listen
I liked them both, ‘Baby Universal’ is still on my phone. I also liked Oi Vey, Baby, which I bought from the table outside Steve’s Sounds for fifty pence.
Bowie had the right idea with Tin machine. He saw that grunge/indie alternative was coming but he should have got Sonic youth/dinosaur Jr/Pixies in as the backing band rather than loads of session guys.
Well the session guys would have been more pliable than Sonic Youth / Pixies etc but good point – a full on Bowie collab with any of those bands would have been intriguing. Ultimately, it came down to an autocrat demanding a democracy. That said, it wasn’t a waste of time, he did have that fruitful relationship developing with Reeves that would sustain almost a decade
Difference between the first and second albums is night and day for me. There are four or five crackers on TM1 (top of my head: I Can’t Read, Bus Stop, Under The God, Amazing) but only Baby Universal crawls out of the wreckage that is TM2. I believe drugs taken by at least one of the band members may have been a hinderance.
Hmmm…I reckon You Belong In Rock n ‘Roll, Goodbye Mr Ed and the cover of If There Is Something are also all very worthwhile. The less said about Hunt’ contributions, the better.
Add Amalpura and Shopping For Girls and you have an LP with seven good to very good tracks. Not bad for one of his “worst”.
In fact I prefer it to TM1. So there.
Its better than Never Let Me Down / Tonight IMO
Anything is.
Fantastic podcast. Thoroughly enjoyable listen.