Never Let Me Down
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| Never Let Me Down | ||
 |
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| Studio album by David Bowie | ||
| Released | April 1987 | |
| Recorded | 1987 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 53:07 | |
| Label | EMI | |
| Producer(s) | David Bowie and David Richards | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| David Bowie chronology | ||
| Tonight (1984) |
Never Let Me Down (1987) |
Sound + Vision (1989) |
Never Let Me Down is an album by David Bowie, released April 1987. It drew some of the harshest criticism of Bowie's career, condemned by critics as a faceless piece of product and ignored by the public—Bowie himself openly apologised in an interview for the album being so bad. However, defenders of the album maintain that many of its songs are underrated and that Bowie at this time was simply facing the inevitable backlash of an overexposed superstar. Featuring more of Bowie's own compositions, the album certainly maintained a greater degree of originality than its predecessor, Tonight.
Tracks from Never Let Me Down formed the backbone of Bowie's highly theatrical Glass Spider world tour in 1987.
Contents |
[edit] Quote from Bowie on Never Let Me Down
- "[Fame] meant absolutely nothing to me. It didn't make me feel good. I felt dissatisfied with everything I was doing, and eventually it started showing in my work. Let's Dance was an excellent album in a certain genre, but the next two albums after that [Tonight and Never Let Me Down] showed that my lack of interest in my own work was really becoming transparent. My nadir was Never Let Me Down. It was such an awful album. I've gotten to a place now where I'm not very judgmental about myself. I put out what I do, whether it's in visual arts or in music, because I know that everything I do is really heartfelt. Even if it's a failure artistically, it doesn't bother me in the same way that Never Let Me Down bothers me. I really shouldn't have even bothered going into the studio to record it. [laughs] In fact, when I play it, I wonder if I did sometimes." [1]
[edit] Track listing
All tracks by Bowie unless otherwise noted.
- "Day-In Day-Out" – 4:38
- "Time Will Crawl" – 4:18
- "Beat of Your Drum" – 4:32
- "Never Let Me Down" (Bowie, Alomar) – 4:03
- "Zeroes" – 5:46
- "Glass Spider" – 4:56
- "Shining Star (Makin' My Love)" – 4:05
- "New York's in Love" – 3:55
- "'87 and Cry" – 3:53
- "Too Dizzy" (Bowie, Kizilcay) – 3:58
- "Bang Bang" (Pop, Kral) – 4:02
[edit] Reissues
The album was one of the first to feature different mixes on vinyl and CD, with the latter being generally longer. "Too Dizzy" has the dubious status of being deleted from subsequent reissues of the album, most likely because of the irony-free borderline misogyny of the lyrics. In 1995, Virgin Records rereleased the album on CD with three bonus tracks. EMI did the second rerelease in 1999 (featuring 24-bit digitally remastered sound and no bonus tracks).
[edit] 1995 reissue bonus tracks
- "Girls" (Bowie, Kizilcay) (1987 B-side of "Time Will Crawl" single) – 5:38
- "Julie" (Bowie) (1987 B-side of "Day-In Day-Out" single) – 3:45
- "When the Wind Blows" (Bowie) (from the When the Wind Blows soundtrack 1985) – 3:36
[edit] Production credits
- Producers:
- David Bowie
- David Richards
- Musicians:
- David Bowie – vocals, guitar, keyboards, tambourine, background vocals
- Carlos Alomar – guitar, guitar synthesizer, tambourine, background vocals
- Erdal Kizilcay – keyboards, drums, bass, trumpet, background vocals, violins
- Peter Frampton – lead guitar
- Phillipe Saisse – piano, keyboards
- Carmine Rojas – bass
- Earl Gardner – flugelhorn
- Crusher Bennet – percussion
- Stan Harrison – alto saxophone
- Laurie Frink – trumpet
- Steve Elson – baritone saxophone
- Lenny Pickett – tenor saxophone
- Robin Clark, Loni Groves, Diva Gray, Gordon Grodie – background vocals
- Sid McGinnis – lead guitar on Bang Bang, Time Will Crawl and Day-In Day-Out
- Mickey Rourke – mid-song rap on Makin' My Love
[edit] Notes
- ^ Ingrid Sischy "David Bowie - interview with singer - Interview". Interview. Sept 1995. FindArticles.com.
| David Bowie |
|---|
| Discography |
| Studio albums |
| David Bowie | Space Oddity | The Man Who Sold the World | Hunky Dory | The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars | Aladdin Sane | Pin Ups | Diamond Dogs | Young Americans | Station to Station | Low | "Heroes" | Lodger | Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) | Let's Dance | Tonight | Never Let Me Down | Black Tie White Noise | Outside | Earthling | 'hours...' | Heathen | Reality |
| With Tin Machine |
| Tin Machine | Tin Machine II |
| Live albums |
| David Live | Stage | Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture | Tin Machine Live: Oy Vey, Baby | Santa Monica '72 | Bowie at the Beeb | LiveAndWell.com |
| Soundtracks |
| Christiane F. | Labyrinth | The Buddha of Suburbia | Lost Highway |
| Related articles |
| Tony Visconti | Brian Eno | Mick Ronson | Iggy Pop | Mike Garson | Reeves Gabrels |
