BOWIE - 1. OUTSIDE (The Pet Sounds of the 90's)

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

I know I’m probably alone in this, but I think that Bowie’s 1995 album, Outside, is a frigging masterpiece. 74 minutes of brilliance. Not a single wrong note throughout. For the first (and only) time since Let’s Dance, Bowie created a true piece of art (well, the first Tin Machine album was wicked awesome too). Maybe it was Eno’s presence which pushed him in the right direction, I don’t know, but I would give my right elbow for more music from Bowie in this vein.

His records since have been sort of bland, for the most part. I know he has 30 hours of music from the Outside sessions, and the original plan was to release a series of albums containing the material, but Bowie can’t sit still long enough to get to work on it. 

There are so many moments on the album that just make my skin tingle. The way the synths creep in over the percussive intro of “A Small Plot of Land”, the haunting introductory piece, “Leon Takes Us Outside”, with the seemingly random notes falling into place ever so perfectly, as if some supreme power was controlling the hands of the musicians. There is a concept to the record, but presented in a non-linear way which leaves itself open to interpretation. The story is not even that important to the record, it’s just an added bonus, like “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”. 

Bowie is one of my favorite artists, and I base this on the fact that I have all of his 70’s work in the car and listen to it constantly, with Diamond Dogs probably one of my top 5 of all time. That said, I have very little use for his post Scary Monsters output. I didn't even bother buying Tonight or Never Let Me Down until year after when I got them second hand in the record store.

The first Tin Machine album was the one thing I wanted for my 13th birthday in 1989, after seeing the Tin Machine video on MTV (a 10 minute medley shown once) and it did not disappoint, but then he went back to making more bland records. I was not interested in Black Tie and didn't buy it (got it later used). Earthling has it’s moments, and I had high expectations after Outside; but overall, it’s missing some key ingredient, which has lead me to dismiss the album, listening to it twice in the past 8 years. Hours…was just dreadful, except for the strong lead off single, “Thursday’s Child”, which is one of Bowie’s best. I didn’t even bother buying “Heathen” or “Reality”, as I felt Bowie was no longer capable of creating anything that moved me since he has become so insulated with money. All he’s good for is re-releasing his back catalog every couple of years and cashing in.

Recently, though, I found a copy of Heathen for $4.99 and thought I would give him a chance. It started off very well, and I thought maybe I have bailed out on Bowie at the wrong time. Sunday was a magnificent track. But, as the album moved on, I became less and less interested.

I can only hope and pray that further work will be done on the Outside project, for I think it is truly one of the best albums of the past 20 years, a rare piece of relevance from an otherwise artistically bankrupt elder statesman.

[Octave Doctor]

I completely agree with you about Outside. Absolute brilliance! I was thrilled to hear about another Eno/Bowie collaboration, and it definitely delivered. I'm still holding out hope for parts 2 and 3.

[Sir Rob]

When I was a kid Bowie was my absolute hero.  At the age of 10 I saw him (two performances in one night actually - we went back in through the exit doors) on the 1973 UK Ziggy/Aladdin Sane tour at the end of which he announced his 'retirement'.  Of course, it was the end of the Ziggy Stardust persona, not the end of Bowie himself.  Yes, he continued to make some good records in the 1970s, although I remember buying Young Americans and taking it back to the shop in disgust.   Now though, I wish he'd just stop.  He's awful.  Every album a new image and a new desperate attempt to sound hip and happening.   It's all beginning to pall.  I remember watching an episode of Jools Hollands' show a few years ago and, amongst the usual line up of very different artists, he was the worst thing on it.  Absolutely sterile bloody crap.

BTW  Am I the only one that thinks Bowie's voice weakened in the post Ziggy period (drug use?) and has never recovered since?

[andrew k]

i completely disagree. as a bowie historian myself (actually, just a major fan), Outside rates in the lower 8th of his entire cannon for me. 90s bowie is just awful, metalic, thin and hopelessly dated - he was trying so hard to sound 'of' the time. its all downhill from Let's Dance until Heathen for me. no soul to be found in those years.

[analogdemon]

I've always been of the opinion that the 90s Pet Sounds was "The Soft Bulletin" by The Flaming Lips...

[Jonas]

I always thought the Pet Sounds of the 90s was Pet Sounds

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

i completely disagree. as a bowie historian myself (actually, just a major fan), Outside rates in the lower 8th of his entire cannon for me. 90s bowie is just awful, metalic, thin and hopelessly dated - he was trying so hard to sound 'of' the time. its all downhill from Let's Dance until Heathen for me. no soul to be found in those years.

Well, I think that not only 90's Bowie is awful, but 2000- Bowie and 80's Bowie too.

Outside is a brief moment of greatness amid a sea of money.

I find Outside so moving. Look at "The Motel" with Garson's fantastic piano work. The whole album is hauntingly beautiful.

If you're looking for a glam-rock throwback, though, you won't find it there.

[RONDEMON]

Pet Sounds of the 90's = Jellyfish's "Spilt Milk"

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

I didn’t think the Jellyfish album was all that. There were some nice bits, but..eh.

Fine. I hearby proclaim Mr. Bungle’s Disco Volante the Pet Sounds of the 90’s.

[Superlux]

Hi!

My name is superlux.

I totally agree about 'Outside'. -And I have found that people who consider 'Diamond Dogs' his best, often like 'Outside' better than most.

Hours/Heathen/Reality are really weak. But some songs (mostly from 'reality') shines on his DVD 'A Reality Tour'

[Sir Rob]

Diamond Dogs - Bowie's best album?  Surely not.  Even worse is the 'David Live' album from the American tour promoting DD.  Dreadful arrangements of songs that make you want to go back to the originals immediately before your memory of them is ruined forever.  And already Bowie's voice seems a weaker instrument.  A friend of mine borrowed this album off someone when it was released and smashed it up in disgust!

[andrew k]

yeah, i have to say, i've NEVER heard anyone call diamond dogs their favorite. but then again, i've never heard more than a couple people say outside is even a record that deserves multiple listenings - so i guess its a great big world of diversity. normaly you have people who are going to pick hunky dory or ziggy, or you've got the people who are going to pick low or heroes.  then you have a smaller bunch who are going to choose scary monsters - which is his last meaningful piece of music.   i'm not commenting that its crazy to like outside, in fact i'm glad ot hear it gets appreciation. rock on.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

Well, listen to this....

DIAMOND DOGS IS MY FAVORITE BOWIE RECORD.


I don't see why that is so surprising. It is a friggin' masterpiece.

My favorite thing about the album is that Bowie does all the guitar work himself. His solos, while primitive, are incredibly moving, in a Neil Young sort of way. The songs are dark and menacing, yet filled with beauty. "Sweet Thing" is my second favorite Bowie song (after "Life on Mars?").  Garson's piano work is brilliant as always. Bowie's voice soars like a cocaine fueled eagle throughout.

Check out Bowies guitar solo in "Sweet Thing", and the little riffs that drop in at just the right moment in "Rock and Roll With Me". Powerful stuff.


I remember when I discovered the record back in the 7th or 8th grade. Mind blower. And I never tire of it. In fact, I'll listen to it right now.

Sure, Ziggy is more universally acclaimed and all, but for me, none of his work moves me nearly as much as the DD album.

Perhaps that is why I like Outside so much. It is also a very dark album. But that is not a bad thing. It's filled with ingenuity. Give it a chance. Go into it without expectations and accept it's morbid beauty.

And I like "David Live" very much. This album is dismissed far too easily. First, you get the Diamond DOg tracks, and youknow what I think of them. ANd then you get some mighty fine versions of his earlier work. I like this rendition of "Moonage Daydream" alot. It's not necessarily superior to the Mike Ronson distortion drenched version found on the "Ziggy Stardust" live album, but is just as pleasing for me. A nice acappella opening leads into a scrumptious version of "All The Young Dudes".

I can't get enough of the stuff from the '74 tour, at least the first half before he cut that lame Soul record....

So, in closing, let me again emphasis that Diamond Dogs is, has been, and always will be my favorite Bowie album, and it's in my top 5 albums of all time.

DIAMOND DOGS = BOWIE'S ARTISTIC PEAK.

[dennyfan]

Bubba, you have mighty fine taste in Bowie albums.  Outside is by far, his MOST underrated album, ever and his most underrated of the 70's is Diamond Dogs.  The Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing track is a piece of genius. "And we jump in the river holding hands..."

When I saw the man at Glastonbury a few years back, everyone was singing along to every song and cheering, until the opening notes to the ALBUM version of Hallo Spaceboy rang out.  I went mad whilst the hundreds of people immediately adjascent to me were silent.  That song is amazing, the Pet Shop Boys remix was terrible!

Songs from Outside I love - Outside, The Heart's Filthy Lesson, Hallo Spaceboy, The Voyeur Of Utter Destruction (As Beauty).  I like the others and it works really well as an album taken as a whole.

Ziggy is good, but DD and Hunky Dory are better.   Don't get me started on Kooks, Like on Mars, Andy Warhol and Life on Mars!
Oh, David Bowie/Space Oddity album is good too.....
As is Alladin Sane (same pianist as Outside - you can tell!)

[asswax]

i listed to "earthling" way back when out of the blue.  the only bowie i'd heard before that was "ziggy stardust."

with wide open ears and no prior knowledge of where bowie's been, besides the hits of course, i took to earthling like a duck to water.

this may be true for all albums, but especially for this one....you gotta listen to this one loud.

on the "outside" note?  i listened to the cassette all the way through once.  my brother made me do it.  and since i liked "earthling" i felt i had nothing to lose.  i didn't lose anything, but i didn't gain anything.

your love for "outside" over "earthling" will make me give it a second shot.  i'm off to see if the library has any tin machine.  thanks.

[Roger Ryan]

Having been a Bowie fan since the mid-70s, I was immensely disappointed with his 80s output after "Scary Monsters". "Tin Machine" was a tentative step in the right direction, but "Outside" was the real McCoy I had been waiting 15 years for! I loved Bowie's subsequent tour with Nine Inch Nails, although the audience was dumbstruck to hear only obscure material from the Thin White Duke (I was thrilled to hear "Andy Warhol", "Joe The Lion", "Breaking Glass", etc.).

Bubba Ho-Tep - Seeing as you are on the same wavelength (somewhat), let me recommend "Reality" which I think is Bowie's best effort since "Outside". You may disagree, but I find this record quite a bit better than "Heathen" and have come to appreciate every track on it save an unnecessary cover of George Harrison's "Try Some, Buy Some" (although Bowie's cover of The Modern Lovers' "Pablo Picasso" is fantastic). "The Loneliest Guy", especially, would have fit perfectly on "Outside".

[mikee]

For the first (and only) time since Let’s Dance, Bowie created a true piece of art (well, the first Tin Machine album was wicked awesome too).

I remember hearing one song from Outside around the time it came out and I thought it was good, so I'll check it out.  I bought the first Tin Machine album only about a year ago and I was surprised to find that I liked it a lot.  As expected, I found the sound-scape on it to be thinner, but I enjoyed it a lot anyway.  I probably would have really enjoyed Tin  Machine live.  I like the whole concept that he had a band playing only new music, without his name on it.