Low was a real watershed moment for popular music, would electronic music really work on a mainstream audience? Critics were confused, even his record company refused to let it count as part of his contractual obligation, yet it caused a storm on it's release, and ushered in a new age of a new kind of music, electronic pop. Low is one of the greatest and most important albums ever released, born out of desperation and alienation, it is Bowie's definitive artistic statement, and although many people consider it's follow up, Heroes, to be the better album, they're wrong. Heroes expands on what Bowie achieved on Low, and combined it with his more familiar sound, songs were fuller and more formed, but on Low, we had pure emotion. Snippets of information presented to us, lyrics presenting us with the essential facts and nothing more. A sense of bravery and experimentation flows throughout. This is the start of Bowie's 'Berlin Trilogy', and what a way to kick it off!
Bowie was at his end, having just starred in The Man Who Fell To Earth, he was addicted to cocaine and alcohol, he was empty and stressed, his marriage was in ruins and his career was over. Moving to Berlin with Iggy Pop in tow, to escape from his vices and renew himself, Bowie fully submerged himself in the Krautrock scene, Kraftwerk, Can, Neu! and so forth, and this was to inform his last chance, creating an album that's natural yet synthetic, inwardly depressive yet optimistic. With weird stories involving conflicts and confusion with his band, and a collaboration with the artistic Brian Eno, this album really shines and is in some respect a miracle. Mojo magazine has done numerous articles on the creation of and background to Low(including one in this month's issue!), so I'll leave it at that, and go just review the album. As you may have already guessed, I really like it!
Side A is mostly conventional music, starting with the instrumental Speed Of Life, a motorik beat, repetitive rhythm, and a lead guitar really take us into alien territory, the lead synth gives us a hopeful melody. This is a decent upbeat song, combining Bowie's pop sensibilities with a noticeable Krautrock influence. The short and sweet nature really contrasts with the opening song of his previous album, Station To Station. A funky yet robotic bass guitar and an almost out of tune guitar take us into the second track, Breaking Glass, with lyrics inspired by a fight Bowie got himself in, we're told a story in snippets, and an acknowledgement of his own flaws. We get a neat synth sound throughout in places. It's a great, short, well written song which fades out, taking us into What In The World. With lyrics about 'a little world with grey eyes', this sounds the most 'Bowie' track on the album, with some great guitar, and the repetitive motorik beat still carrying on. The lyrics tell a story, yet still feel somewhat abstracted, and some occasionally out of time singing overlapped works brilliantly.
The hit single Sound And Vision takes us in with a pleasant guitar riff, funky bass and the same motorik drum beat. In true Krautrock style, it opens with an extended instrumental section, synth patterns and so on. It's a very upbeat piece involving sometimes undecipherable lyrics. He starts singling with the chorus and we're treated to some true abstract lyrics, this song is perhaps the true turning point on how the music is lifting out of his solitude and into a new world of colour and optimism. The next song is Always Crashing In The Same Car, which like Breaking Glass, is a very straightforward lyrical theme. Again, the same motorik beat, and some nice lead guitar work, some bubbling synths in the background over an instrumental section. Bowie really lets the groove work itself out here, the upbeat music contrasting his rather subdued and melancholy singing, but it just really works out. The solo is excellent in the psychedelic/prog style, really fitting into place. Next Bowie asks someone to Be My Wife, a cry for help during his fractious marriage which is disintegrating before his very eyes. The guitar is distorted and out of tune, the beat the same as before, the music dramatic. Our man's isolation and loneliness really comes out here, showing a search for belonging, a quest for love. A romantic way of dealing with a gruelling divorce case. Again the guitar solo really kicks it in the bag, with equal melancholy and upbeatness. The first side ends with the instrumental A New Career In New Town, opening up with a sombre beat, and ghostly synth chords, it then kicks it up a not, bringing back the motorik beat from before, an upbeat melody and a true uplifting feel, Bowie is crawling up from the depths of desperation. As the title suggests, this instrumental track represents the new found hope he felt during his move to Berlin, and his adoption of a more electric style, free from the excesses of conventional rock. There's hints of Kraftwerk and Neu! on this track. Notably, the studio this album was recorded in was situated opposite Kraftwerk's legendary Kling Klang studio. The track fades out into upbeatness. A thoroughly enjoyable first side, nice upbeat music, and a real solid drumbeat throughout.
Side B opens with Warszawa, a track which inspired Joy Division so much that they were initially called Warsaw (Spandau Ballet were also so enamoured with this album that their name comes from an area of Berlin). starting with a moody piano beating over a subtle synth, the track opens up with a haunting melody reminiscent of Wendy/Walter Carlos' Clockwork Orange soundtrack. The piano beat becomes more synthy, emphasising a sense of isolation and yet wonder at the newly developing futuristic landscape, it's exploration not just of music, but of this brave new world. It's a sad track, and it allows itself to fully develop and emotional feeling throughout. Yes, it's sad, but it's a bittersweet sadness, one laced with silent hope. This side of the album is the one which really changed popular music, combining Brian Eno's idea of musical soundtracks for visions, with Bowie's amazing writing abilities, music of the most experimental nature! The track cools down, leading Bowie into some tribal style chanting over this haunting beat, suggesting a future world. The melody slows right down before returning to it's main motif, that of exploration. I close my eyes and this track brings forth visions of steel and glass, a clinical clean world of magic. The next track is Art Decade, featuring a moving synth melody, somehow playful yet haunting over a steady beat. Futuristic sound effects flow around, but this track really feels like isolation, loneliness, walking alone in the futuristic world and taking in the sights, sounds, atmosphere. a total synth track, this serves as the counterpoint to Kraftwerk's Autobahn, the fun of driving slows down, and we are now in a place to take in all the details of the surrounding view. The chords build up, and overtake the melody as the track fades away.
The next track is Weeping Wall, vibes enter the scene, creating a constant beat, as a harsh synth takes the lead, the beat dictated by synth. The lead melody is playful yet again somewhat haunting, but the beat ups the pace compared to the previous two tracks. A distorted guitar emanates a sense of melancholy, while the rest of the track is upbeat. Is this our man bowie coming to terms with himself? chanting returns, crying, while then repeated by the synth melody. It's a track which feels lonely, yet also feels alive. It's got concealed hope, like most tracks on this album. The melody is utterly sublime, and at the end some heavy chords take over before it fades into silence. The album closes with Subterraneans, which greets us with some more alien chords, and some reversed sounds, it's a melancholy sound, describing again this strange futuristic world. To a man coming out of isolation/addiction, the world around him must have seemed strange and alien. The melody is haunting, based upon swells of sound, heavenly yet haunting. Bowie's chanting makes a return, following the melody, and suddenly the chord swells feel less melancholic, the melody less haunting, yet the track is still ghostly. A saxophone now comes in, an almost filmic sound, playing over the backing , flowing like liquid into Bowie's chants which're again both upbeat and downbeat, the track brings back the sax as it draws to it's close, Sax over chanting over synth, it's that sense of bittersweetness, that carries the album onwards, with more melodies overlapping, building a sensation before fading into silence forever.
To say this album is a MUST HAVE is a total understatement, it is truly one of the most amazing experiences that your ears can receive. A totally new world unleashed on an unsuspecting public. I think that everyone should get a copy of this album, regardless of taste, you'll find something amazing inside. A mixture of conflicting emotions, new sensations and unbeatable writing. I first heard this album at the age of seventeen, and seven years on and hundreds of listens later, I am still finding new things, new sounds, new feelings. This isn't just Bowie's finest hour, but popular music's finest hour!
I have Low on CD and Vinyl, as well as the single Sound And Vision on vinyl, and I do have to say, the CD version has more clarity of the sounds, it is very precise, yet lacks the air and volume of the vinyl release, which feels far more spacious. The CD is like a high definition photograph, highly detailed yet flattened, while listening to it on Vinyl is like being there and taking it all in. Both are of high quality, and so I'll leave it to you to make your mind up, I prefer the vinyl LP due to it's sense of space and density.
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