David Bowie - All Filler No Killer

[Thomas]

I love its cosmic operatic opener and heart-wrenching closer, but the Ziggy album has quite a lot of generic rock in the middle.

As repeatedly opined, Station to Station and Blackstar are fillerless. Diamond Dogs is another favourite, but I'll skip 'Rock 'n' Roll with Me'.

[Oz Oz Alice]

I'm probably in the minority but I don't think there's any filler on 1.Outside; sure, I'll skip the in character segues Bowie is doing in daft voices sometimes the way I would the skits on a rap album but there are some of my favourite Bowie songs on that album. There's some seriously grim lyrical content on there so when all the mutilated teens for art projects and sex murders are done the re-recording of Strangers When We Meet that ends the album packs a serious punch for me, and Reeves Gabrel's guitar and Mike Garson's piano lift it to the level of a "Heroes" for me. I seriously love that album: after going back in the closet in the 80s and betraying us all it's suddenly back to the perviness of The Hearts Filthy Lesson and "Do you like girls or boys? It's confusing these days" on Hallo Spaceboy.

Bowie's always as good as the people he's imitating: of course Never Let Me Down was terrible because he was imitating Robert Palmer or Phil Collins, and on Tin Machine well as much as I love the man he's not great at just "rocking out". Which is a fine and admirable thing but it led to letting one of the Sales brothers sing interminable blues rock dirges. So when on 1.Outside he reunites with Eno and he's immersing himself in Scott Walker again as well as The Young Gods and NIN, it's obviously going to be better. I'm someone who grew up with Bowie and I very faintly recall my dad playing 1.Outside a lot when I was a kid and saying to my mum "He's back". Can only imagine how someone who got into Bowie because of the weirdness and the mystery would feel when that run of mediocrity was punctured by something as perverse, often unpleasant and just as often beautiful as this album. I'm going to put it on now and be again amazed that something as strange as A Small Plot of Land (Blackstar decades early), The Motel (the Dame does Climate of Hunter) or Wishful Beginnings (Bowie singing about murder over the sound of androids burping) was made by someone who sold that many records.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Yassassin is the most filler-ish track on Lodger, IMO.

[non capisco]

I'm probably in the minority but I don't think there's any filler on 1.Outside; sure, I'll skip the in character segues Bowie is doing in daft voices sometimes the way I would the skits on a rap album but there are some of my favourite Bowie songs on that album. There's some seriously grim lyrical content on there so when all the mutilated teens for art projects and sex murders are done the re-recording of Strangers When We Meet that ends the album packs a serious punch for me, and Reeves Gabrel's guitar and Mike Garson's piano lift it to the level of a "Heroes" for me. I seriously love that album: after going back in the closet in the 80s and betraying us all it's suddenly back to the perviness of The Hearts Filthy Lesson and "Do you like girls or boys? It's confusing these days" on Hallo Spaceboy.

Bowie's always as good as the people he's imitating: of course Never Let Me Down was terrible because he was imitating Robert Palmer or Phil Collins, and on Tin Machine well as much as I love the man he's not great at just "rocking out". Which is a fine and admirable thing but it led to letting one of the Sales brothers sing interminable blues rock dirges. So when on 1.Outside he reunites with Eno and he's immersing himself in Scott Walker again as well as The Young Gods and NIN, it's obviously going to be better. I'm someone who grew up with Bowie and I very faintly recall my dad playing 1.Outside a lot when I was a kid and saying to my mum "He's back". Can only imagine how someone who got into Bowie because of the weirdness and the mystery would feel when that run of mediocrity was punctured by something as perverse, often unpleasant and just as often beautiful as this album. I'm going to put it on now and be again amazed that something as strange as A Small Plot of Land (Blackstar decades early), The Motel (the Dame does Climate of Hunter) or Wishful Beginnings (Bowie singing about murder over the sound of androids burping) was made by someone who sold that many records.

Great post. I need to revisit 1.Outside.

[Johnboy]

I agree with everything there Oz Oz

Outside was such an exciting return to form, I think it's the best since Scary Monsters and I include Blackstar in that assessment.

Saw the Outside show in Belfast - just brilliant.

[kalowski]

But you're going some to say Outside has no filler.

[Oz Oz Alice]

In my opinion it doesn't. In some people's opinion Let's Dance isn't atrocious. I'd say we're both equally mad. There's nothing off Outside I can't happily listen to, and that's including the Algeria Touchshriek segue where he's doing a strange Peter Cook voice over some ersatz lift music.

[SweetPomPoms]

1. Outside is top tier Bowie but Strangers doesn't belong there. The Spencer Davis intro made sense on Buddha but sticks out like a sore thumb. Would have been better with a well chosen cover or just going with Garson playing out Architects Eyes for a bit longer.

The tour was incredible too, made the absolute best use of his back catalogue and the full scale band with Garson, Carlos, Reeves, Gail and the synths was better than any line up that came after.

[Thomas]

Great post, Oz.

Outside, with its muddled murder mystery concept and experimental art atmosphere, reminds me of Twin Peaks - but not quite the contemporaneous series of the '90s; rather, it's almost a pre-emptive glimpse of the uncompromising third series. Bowie mentioned Twin Peaks at the time when discussing the album, and it plonks me into the same mindset - sans the soap operatics and warm cosiness. You can easily imagine 'The Heart's Filthy Lesson' closing an episode of The Return. Such a shame Bowie wasn't well enough to reappear as Phillip Jeffries.

I love the title track, and the vocals on 'Architect's Eyes' contain traces of what his aged voice will be like by the time of The Next Day.