(Though I did hide it away, blushingly at the end of Disc 4. I know it is a pezzy, nursery rhyme song. It just reminds me of happy times in the summer football nearly came home.)
Charli XCX
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I’m a big fan of The Motel and We Prick You amongst others
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The Motel is the one song on it I never need to hear again! I think ‘We Prick You’ was his most successful excursion into drum & bass, great tune and a lot better than anything on ‘Earthling’.
It’s a shame he didn’t carry on with the initial plan re ‘Outside’ and complete the trilogy, would have been interesting to see where he and Eno would have gone next (I believe they had discussed reviving the project before Bowie died) I think the rest of the 90’s were a write off for Bowie tbh.
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I’m a confirmed agnostic when it comes to the idea of Eno as a towering genius who turns base metals into gold. He didn’t stop Coldplay from being rubbish did he?
Bowie on the other hand went on to make Heathen, Reality, The Next Day and Blackstar without him.
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On the whole I would agree with you, I even think Eno’s role in early Roxy is hugely overstated. I do feel Eno was allowed more input with Bowie than most of the artists he produces though (for example ‘Warszawa’ is basically an Eno composition with Bowie only writing the vocals) and on Outside - if memory serves me correct - he does have a lot of co-writing credits as well as production credits on ‘Outside.1’.
That said Bowie’s band at that time was pretty phenomenal and Bowie himself massively upped his game in all departments so I wouldn’t suggest that the success of the record was mostly down to Eno (who apparently was disappointed with the finished result, he felt the final mix on the album was way too busy. Possibly a reason why the ‘Outside’ project was abandoned?)
But yes, some bands obviously only get Eno in for the credibility that having his name attached to the project brings more than any sonic improvements they think he’ll provide, which to my ears anyway, are minimal.
re. your last sentence:- Does that make Bowie the only artist to have it, lose it, regain it, lose it again, and regain it again?! 
Suppose it depends on what you think of ‘Earthling’ and ‘Hours’. I think they’re a bit rubbish personally.
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Outside is Bowie’s forgotten masterpiece and an album he was desperate to return to before he died, which is why so much of The Next Day and especially Blackstar resemble it musically. It is unique, brilliant and imo the greatest return to form of any artist. His ten years in the wilderness beforehand are excruciating. The man came back to life, and then some. I wish he literally could right now.
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I love them, accept that they’re flawed in different ways, but also know they’re both far and away better than anything he put out between Let’s Dance and Outside.
There’s a couple of decent tracks on ‘Earthling’ tbf. I find ‘Hours’ to be really bland and pedestrian though.
Even on his proper wilderness years he could still throw up the odd gem like ‘loving the alien’, ‘absolute beginners’, ‘jump they say’…even the first tin machine ain’t too bad. I think on ‘The Buddha Of Suburbia’ album his hearts in the right place, it’s just not quite happening for him. Like you said though, none of that really prepares you for ‘Outside’
Good morning bornin69x, I’m a long time lurker, and I missed the whole of the beginning of HGATR (but now addicted to it!) and I keep meaning to get involved on this forum, especially since everybody rated Velvet Underground, Aphex Twin and Neil Young so highly. I’m a firm believer in your second sentence! I think if there was a Black Sabbath HGATR then I’d plunge in head first. The first six albums still melt my brain all the years after I first discovered them.
Funnily enough I discovered Black Sabbath through a write up in one of the first copies of NME I bought (Black Sabbath not really usual NME fodder) and Neil Young in one of the first copies of Kerrang I bought (Neil Young same for a metal magazine). Both were extremely passionate pieces and through the power of the journalists pen I decided to spend my hard earned pennies on those albums, Sabbath being Paranoid and NY being Weld. I’m sure a lot of us remember those days when we were influenced by words of a good journo on what to listen to, as I never had older siblings to guide me, and my mates were into early East Coast hip-hop (as was I) but I was looking for pastures new.
It’s great to know there’s a fellow Sabbath head on here. I might get my arse into gear and start contributing in the future.
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I was a long term Metal refusenik (and I still only dabble) but Sabbath completely won me over. I think there would be a fair amount of support for them in HGATR. There are quite a few people on DiS are well into ‘heavy music’ and a fair few dilettantes like me who acknowledge their brilliance.
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But the osbornes…!
It’s great to read from another Sabbath fan. Us old-school metal fans do tend to keep ourselves to ourselves, but we shouldn’t, as a lot of that music is flat out fantastic.
I would argue Black Sabbath are definitely a good case for this thread. The first six Sabbath albums are some of the best metal ever put to tape. Then came Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die!, but afterwards, with Heaven and Hell, they kicked the speed up a notch, and produced something every bit as good as their earlier classics.
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Theres quite a lot of sabbath fans on here tbf
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As there should be!
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Gotta be honest, I’ve never bothered to venture beyond the first 6 albums myself as I’ve only really read negative things about what came after.
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Give Heaven and Hell a go. Even if it’s not Ozzy Sabbath, it is a genuinely cracking record.
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Heaven and Hell is decent, 13 is pretty good. Wouldn’t bother with any of the others after the first six.
Seeing as we’re on a metal tangent - Iron Maiden. Incredible run of records up til Seventh Son, then completely lost it for the next decade, before finding ‘it’ again at least a few times from BNW onwards. (Would argue they’ve now probably lost it again with the latest record)
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