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you_are_what_you_is
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09 Aug 2010, 7:22 pm

I've been listening to a lot of his music recently. Are any of you people here fans of his work from the 90's? There don't seem to be many people who share my opinion that the 90's is far and away the best decade for Bowie. To be clear, his 70's music is very good, but for me, most of it's trivial in comparison to the astonishly beautiful stuff he would produce a couple of decades later. Part of the problem, I think, is the production: Low and Heroes, in particular, I find really interesting from a compositional viewpoint, but the production makes it somewhat flat and lifeless to me.

Here's how I'd rank/rate what I've heard so far:

1. Black Tie White Noise 10/10
2. Earthling 10/10
3. 1.Outside 10/10
4. Lodger 10/10
5. The Buddha of Suburbia 10/10
6. Let's Dance 10/10
7. 'hours...' 9/10
8. Reality 9/10
9. Heathen 9/10
10. Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) 9/10
11. Young Americans 8/10
12. Heroes 8/10
13. Low 8/10
14. Station to Station 8/10
15. Tonight 8/10
16. Never Let Me Down 8/10
17. Space Oddity 7/10


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Kilroy
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09 Aug 2010, 7:29 pm

ha, I love David Bowie, I like the 70s the best, though I do own Young Americans on tape "somewhere"



Willard
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09 Aug 2010, 8:26 pm

The production quality problem is entirely the fault of the RCA label, you'll notice the same muddy sounding mastering on all the early Scorpions work, too. I think they were still mastering albums on equipment from the early 50s until the end of the 70s. :roll: You can't even remaster it digitally now and make it sound good.

I've heard some of Bowie's 90s work (The Heart's Filthy Lesson comes to mind), but nothing that really impressed me, though I had pretty much given up on him by the mid 80s - Lets Dance just didn't do a thing for me, nor Tonight, with the one exception of Blue Jean. I did, however really like Tin Machine 2, so go figure. I guess technically, that was 90s work, as it came out in '91.

Of course, other than Ziggy Stardust, he was always one of those performers I preferred to take in small doses. He has songs I absolutely love, but 40+ minutes of Bowie in one sitting is more than I'm usually up for.

OTOH, I can listen to Kate Bush all day and I know a lot of people who can't sit through one song without complaining. :P



IdahoRose
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09 Aug 2010, 10:14 pm

I loved David Bowie in Labyrinth.



Hector
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10 Aug 2010, 3:45 am

I was never really a fan, but always thought Outside and Earthling were among his better albums.



you_are_what_you_is
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11 Aug 2010, 11:22 am

Willard wrote:
OTOH, I can listen to Kate Bush all day and I know a lot of people who can't sit through one song without complaining. :P

Kate Bush is a genius. I don't think I could listen to her all day, but I wouldn't want to listen to any artist all day. Well, maybe Zappa.

.


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Moog
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12 Aug 2010, 6:04 am

My views on DB are eerily similar to Willard's. And on Kate Bush too :-)


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auntblabby
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14 Aug 2010, 6:31 am

i thought "the laughing gnome" was interesting.



Mewlvr
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14 Aug 2010, 3:16 pm

I love the song Modern Love :D And my friend cosplayed as Jarreth The Goblin King (David Bowie) at Metrocon 2010!


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