“Bowie in Berlin! (A Review…)” by Richard F. Yates

Hey folks! Looky what I got for the holidays from my fam, TWO of the THREE albums (CDs, technically) from that time when David Bowie was holed up in Berlin (in the late 1970s) with Brian Eno, Iggy Pop, and Tony Visconti, and they made some freakin’ good music! I’ve owned Lodger (1979) for several years, but I was VERY excited to finally get Low and “Heroes”, both of which came out in 1977! (Two albums in one year! That’s pretty impressive!)

According to the Wiki pages that I read for this mini-review (plus about a million interviews and documentaries that I’ve watched…), this trilogy of albums (PLUS Iggy Pop’s The Idiot and Lust for Life, both co-created with Bowie and ALSO both released in 1977!!! Damn!) came about as Bowie and Pop fled from their troubles (relationship and drug related) and hooked up with Brian Eno to try and detox and makes some tunes. And the MUSIC that they made reflects that uneasy, somewhat seasick, but also exciting time, overflowing with experimental soundscapes and crunchy rhythms and introspective explorations. Let’s look at the individual albums a bit closer…

Low

Track list:

1. “Speed of Life”
2. “Breaking Glass”
3. “What in the World”
4. “Sound and Vision”
5. “Always Crashing in the Same Car”
6. “Be My Wife”
7. “A New Career in a New Town”
8. “Warszawa”
9. “Art Decade”
10. “Weeping Wall”
11. “Subterraneans”

The first thing to notice here is that there aren’t that many POP songs in this track list. No “China Girl” or “Changes” or “Fame” or “Young Americans.” I mean, “Sound and Vision” is almost a pop song, but it has these strange, cascading synths drenching the track, and “Be My Wife” was also ALMOST a pop song, but it’s so unsettling, with these odd, minor-key chorus lines and this almost blues-rock crunching guitar that I'm surprised they released it as a single!

However, despite the lack of any truly commercial sounding songs, there are several very cool tracks on this album. I like “Sound and Vision,” which I’m pretty sure was a single, (it’s on the Rykodisc, two CD hits collection, called Sound + Vision.) The song has cool synths and Bowie's croon is smooth on this one, and the song, “Always Crashing in the Same Car,” is also great, but my favorite track on the CD, which is also the shortest on the album at less than two minutes, is “Breaking Glass.” It’s a very odd track that starts like it might be about to go into a Joe Walsh sort of funk-rock thing, then this dry, hacking beat kicks in and Bowie goes full robot mode, pushing out these dry, flat lyrics, and THEN, for some reason, this fuzzy, jarring synth screech attacks the track, for just a second, like a lightning stab hitting a computer! Bowie then goes full freak-out on the “chorus” and shrieks about how “wonderful” this person is (in a very unconvincing tone.) It’s unsettling and obviously pointing at some terrible, dysfunctional relationship. Its a very short, very “dirty” (in sound and mood), and wonderfully creepy cut…one minute and 53 seconds of insane brilliance…

There are also several songs on here that are instrumental, or nearly instrumental, and seem more like sonic dreamscapes than songs---explorations of nightmare in sound form. “Warszawa” is a jungle adventure that builds to a ritual manifestation, “Art Decade” is a ghost floating down the halls of some forgotten castle while rain sends rivers of sooty debris down from the nearly burned through roof, and “Subterraneans” is a narcotic stroll along a lonely beach boardwalk with a mad saxophonist wailing about some lost alien love…

The experience of listening to this album might be a boring for some, if they have no time for these nearly classical / proto-new age / sonic explorations---and the weirder, more unsettling moments are going to disturb anyone looking for “Golden Years” or “Young Americans.” However, if you’re up for the challenge, there is a LOT of interesting nonsense on this album to enjoy (particularly for folks who already know Eno’s work from Roxy Music albums, like For Your Pleasure (1973), which is, of course, brilliant!) So Low gets a solid “Love It!” from me, although it IS a challenging album that might not be everybody’s cup of cocoa (with or without peppermint schnapps.)

“Heroes”

Track listing:

1. “Beauty and the Beast”
2. “Joe the Lion”
3. “‘Heroes’”
4. “Sons of the Silent Age”
5. “Blackout”
6. “V-2 Schneider”
7. “Sense of Doubt”
8. “Moss Garden”
9. “Neukoln”
10. “The Secret Life of Arabia”

This album has no Iggy Pop on it, but Robert Fripp, from King Crimson, does add guitars, including the lead on the hit single, “‘Heroes,’” (which is one of my favorite Bowie songs of all time---up there with “Changes” and “Space Oddity” and “Oh, You Pretty Things.”) The first five cuts are all solidly recognizable as "songs," with “Blackout” being the closest to a freak-out cut, like “Breaking Glass” was on the previous album. Tracks six through nine, though, are back to the sonic experimentation and soundscapes, like those on Low---and the final track, “The Secret Life of Arabia,” goes back to standard format, with vocals and all, AND it's a cool, catchy song, as well. I think it would have made a good charting single, if they'd chosen to release it as such, but for some reason, “Beauty and the Beast” was the only other single from this album---and it’s not a super-good song, if you ask me. It’s not bad, has some odd tonal qualities to it, but it’s not particularly catchy. “Blackout” is much better, but it’s too nervous and frantic for radio.

Overall, I don’t think this album is as interesting as Low, but I enjoy “Blackout,” and some of the soundscape tracks are curious listening (like “Neukoln,” which seems to have that same mad saxophonist from “Subterraneans” on it, scronking away in a dark alley somewhere, like a demonic cat in heat), and the title track is still fantastic. I’ve heard it a thousand times and it still gives me chills. Great cut. Still and all, I’m glad I own this album now, and it’s possible that I’ll grow to enjoy the cuts I’m not as struck by right now after I’ve listened to them a few times and gotten a feel for what they have to offer.

Lodger

Track listing:

1. “Fantastic Voyage”
2. “African Night Flight”
3. “Move On”
4. “Yassassin (Turkish For: Long Live)”
5. “Red Sails”
6. “D.J.”
7. “Look Back in Anger”
8. “Boys Keep Swinging”
9. “Repetition”
10. “Red Money”

The final album in the “trilogy” is Lodger, which was given to me several years ago by a friend. Of these three albums, this is the one I’m most familiar with, and it has a few cuts that I love on it. The first is “D.J.,” which was a single, despite having a swaying, unsettling quality to it. I guess, by 1979, Bowie and Eno had decided that people weren’t going to be frightened away by weird synth noises and a “dirty” sound. It’s a cool cut, kind of funky, but kind of creepy at the same time. A fantastic song. Another good track is “Look Back in Anger,” which has sing-a-long vocals and a solid, driving rhythm and percussion (which reminds me a bit of the sort of progressive, driving feel you get from the band Neu!) This one was also a single---although not one I really remember hearing on the radio much when I was young. (The song, “Yassassin...,” was ALSO released as a single, even though it’s a weird, experimental, “world music” type track---and one that I don’t think works very well, personally…)

The last track on this album that I want to mention is “African Night Flight.” I love this cut, even though it’s a tough one to expect “normal folks” to enjoy. It's a freakish and bizarre track with very odd, poly-rhythmic percussion, chanted vocals, bizarre growling guitar slabs (that sound a bit like hungry animals---or large, angry insects), odd synth chirps, whispers… It’s a nervous, twitchy assault on the ears---experimental and psychotic. Hard to describe, might be difficult for some people to sit through because of how jarring it is, but I find it VERY enjoyable! (* SIDE NOTE! Another track with this level of freakishness that really unsettles folks is "Nature of Love (Cruelty B Mix)" by Ministry! So strange!)

Unlike the other two Berlin albums, this one doesn’t have any of the instrumental cuts on it, although according to the Wiki, Eno was hoping to continue with that format, but creative differences had started to creep into the working relationship between the artists, and Bowie vetoed the plan and wrote lyrics for all the songs instead of leaving some of them as instrumentals. The album feels more like a BOWIE record than the previous two, which certainly had the ENO synths and soundscapes on full display. Here, they’re submerged beneath the Bowie---still present and still adding massively to the ambience, but no longer center stage. For folks who are looking for more “traditional” song structures, this is probably the album for you, (out of these three, at least, although, “African Night Flight” is still going to freak you out a bit.)

Overall, this is a good album. Listenable, quirky, with a couple of solid “pop-esque” singles on it, like “Look Back in Anger” and “Boys Keep Swinging,” and a collection of odder, more uneasy and experimental tracks keeping the “nicer” cuts on their toes. “D.J.” is probably the highlight, at least in my opinion, with “African Night Flight” being my go-to cut for when I’m feeling weird and adventurous!

And that’s the Berlin trilogy---which wasn’t REALLY a trilogy at all, just a few albums where a couple of genius musicians got together and tested each other’s creativity (and, eventually, patience…) It's wonderful that these albums exist, that these two giants got together at just the right time and place to make them---and I’m excited that I finally have them all in my collection! (I also got a bunch of gift cards for iTunes and Amazon for Xmas, which I used to buy EVEN MORE music! I’ll talk about some of THOSE purchases once I have a playlist or a CD put together---and I get the energy to talk about all the what's and why's!!! Until then, go listen to “Breaking Glass” or “D.J.” or “‘Heroes’” and see if these aren’t great songs. If you don’t think so, let me know why in the comments. I’ll listen to your reasoning and, if necessary, defend my position! That's the kind of back-and-forth that critic types, like me, live for!

Later skaters!!!

---Richard F. Yates (Holy Fool)