Rating:  -
David Bowies Lodger is a very uneasy and unsetteling album. Lodger isnt acessable in any since, which isnt a surprize as it is David Bowie! Through Bowies carear he created many a good rock album, case in point Ziggy Stardust, Man Who Sold The World, Station To Station, but this album falls short of even being called great. While decent, you grow to expect more from an artist of David Bowies calaber.
Lodger is an album full of new wave sounds and strange experiments, really before it's time. The album opens with 'Fantastic Voyage' which features nice vocals and great lyrics, but it's not a very good song, and really not the song to open the album with thats for sure! 'African Fight Night' is a strange song that along with the opener isnt that good the only difference is the opener has good lyrics! 'Move On' is a good song, the first one on the album. It's very space age-ish, and sounds almost like it could have done well on Scary Monsters. The song features haunting vocals which add a nice touch. 'Yassasin' is another strange song and while it's not an amazing song it is still pretty cool, I actually like this song it shows Bowie has no fear of experimenting with sounds. 'Red Sails' is probabley the best song on the album. It's easily my favorite song here. Next is the hit single, 'D.J' is a anthemtic rock song that did well for Bowie on the charts. 'D.J' is one of the better songs on the album. 'Look back In Anger' is a killer song with powerfull vocals and excelent lyrics. Bowie often opens his shows with this song, it has since become a Bowie classic. 'Boys Keep Swinging' is one of my all time favorite David Bowie songs and is a pure Bowie classic in all since of the terms! Classic video featuring Bowie in drag, what a surprize, huh? 'Boys Keep Swinging' is one of Bowies all time best songs. 'Repetition' is a great song as well showing great guitar playing and very laid back vocals give this song a nice sound. The album ends with 'Red Money' which is really cool, anyone who has heard the song knows this, it is the very best pick to close the album. I really dig this song and wish Bowie made more like it. The song features some really cool guitar playing!
While Lodger isnt David Bowies best album it isnt his worst either. Yes I do think Bowie could have dont much better on this album I thnk most fans are in agreement with me on that one but one listen to this album will tell you he was capable of much more. So with all that said and in mind this isnt a bad album and is actually good for a spin every now and then. I'm not sure who to recomend this album to because it is open for interatation but obviously all Bowie fans should own it as it has a couple unforgettable classics.
Rating: -
A much overlooked gem this. Most likely forgotten because it came right after the exceptional Low and Heroes, it is a fitting coda to them. It's not experimental like its two predecessors but as usual with Bowie it's the quality of the songwriting that shines through.
Fantastic Voyage is a fantastic song, Move On and Red Sails are quality too. Side two kicks off with the album's three strong singles and finishes with Red Money, which is a re-working of Iggy Pop's Sister Midnight.
It's a bit of a low key album but none the worse for that. At its best (Look Back In Anger, Boys Keep Swinging) it's very very good and even at its more mediocre moments it surpasses most of what's around.
Rating:  -
I like this album a lot. No, it's not a "Low" or a "Scary Monsters", but it's still darn good. Unfortunately, this album is often forgotten when people talk about Bowie's fantastic 70's. The album has two halves (sides), the first one is so-so, and most of the songs are annoying, although "Red Sails" is growing on me. Then something wonderful happens. One a row, we get "DJ", "Look back in anger", "Boys Keep Swinging", and "Reptetion", all stellar tracks displaying Bowie at his best! I particularly like "Boys Keep Swinging", one of my all time Bowie favorites, and the dark, cynical "Repetition" gets better every time you listen to it.
My only complaint is that the album is fairly short. It clocks in at merely 35 min, but then again, the last 18 min alone are worth the price of the CD! Bonus points for the creative (and disturbing?) album art! :)
Rating: -
...makes this release all the more interesting.
David Bowie was coming to a crossroad w/ Brian Eno. Bowie felt he had to take some control back of his own work which starts to show as Eno's presence isn't that predominant as on the past 2 releases prior. Gone from the album are ambient workouts like "Moss Garden" and "Art Decade". Instead the work showed a greater interest in twisting strange atmospheres into pop songs which would foreshadow the best parts of New Wave, as well as touching upon the post-punk movement that was running along the side of it at the same time.
The opener "Fantastic Voyage" is excellent, almost an overture to the rest of the LP, acting like an updated song from "Three Penny Opera". A cousin to "5 Years". "African Night Flight" has often been sited as bizarre but its one of the best tracks on Lodger (if not in his career) that puts an agressive view to world music, just like the Talking Heads would do in Remain In Light a year later. The rest of the songs travel in and out foreign lands, haphazzard fashions, regret and sexual politics (of being a boy and abuse). "Repetition" is one of the most point blank views on marital abuse ever (which was later cover by the feminist punkers The Au Pairs). The voyage ends on a sour prediction about the decade greed that was to come our way in the 1980s ("Red Money").
Of course, the record company robs us of "I Pray, Ole" in this remastered reissue. But noticing the current rate of the anniversary packaged albums being produced maybe we'll see something (however I wouldn't hold my breath).
I understand why many wouldn't think this is Bowie's best work, especially looking at his whole career. But for some reason every time I listen to it I feel that it is my favorite one.
Definitely overlooked, so please give it a try.
Rating: -
Bowie returns to melody and narrative for this funky excursion into exotic musical forms.
Many of the songs describe wanderers--perhaps a metaphor for Bowie's philosophical wanderings?
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