#82

I meant to say in the Pet Sounds thread, I’m not totally against fade outs but some of the fade outs on that album are appalling

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#84

It’s not even a long album :sweat_smile:

#85

I know, but it is amazingly boring :smiley:

#86

Mmm, I can understand it not necessarily being to everyone’s tastes (I mean I can’t, but) boring?!!

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#87

It’s just nothing I want to listen to. :man_shrugging:t2:

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#88

I’ve listened to it a few times now. I like Warszawa but I sort of lose track during it. Then Art Decade really drags me out. I keep thinking Spotify has somehow switched to an obscure game soundtrack. It actually reminds me of some of the ambient music for the Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis adventure game.

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#89

Aye this has become the emotional centre of the album for me now as well, where it used to be a palate cleanser for heavier things.

It makes I Can’t Give Everything Away even more devastating too.

2 Likes
#90

Great record, only got into it properly off the back of Blackstar. I have no idea how it was made (could probably find out, I know), but I love the way it sounds like the band recorded the music and then Bowie turned up to do his vocals and… didn’t really have much prepared. And was too wasted to do anything about it.
I love how the vocals don’t come in on Sound and Vision for a full two minutes, yet it was still a hit.

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#91

And when the vocals do come in he’s really just playing with the words and the cadence! How they managed to make all of those disparate elements resonate so deeply is kind of magic.

No-one can say the word blue or decorate a room in this house without this being quoted.

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#92

The fadeout/segue from ‘Dollar Days’ to ‘I Can’t Give Everything Away’ is one of the biggest emotional gut punches I’ve ever heard in music and as a result Blackstar somehow, impossibly, elevates a 40+ year old, 10/10 album to something even greater. That harmonica riff - and the general air of wistful nostalgia that’s also prevalent in ‘A New Career…’ - is now, for me, loaded with a huge emotional weight that carries through to side 2 of Low.

6 Likes
#93

Hadn’t picked up the harmonica thing in I cant give everything away being a call back to this. Nice touch

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#94

It’s like two completely different albums. Just gave ‘side 2’ a listen on its own. Lovely stuff. Coming from ‘side 1’ though is just a huge ask. Trying to think of the last album I heard where it’s genuinely lessened by the CD/digital age.

#95

Blimey, I had assumed it was just name. There really are 69 songs on there? And they’re all love songs, the worst type of song? Wow.

Oh okay

makes me feel a bit more confident about listening to it.

#96

Out of interest have you listened to Heroes in full?

#97

Yeah I think so but long ago. Most of my Bowie listening was in the last century and after that I just tended to stick to those early albums that always hit more, plus I’ve always had a soft spot for 1.Outside and Earthling.

#98

The reason why I ask is because it basically follows the same formula as Low, so was interested in if you had a preference

#99

Yeah I assumed as much. I am listening to the Life Without Buildings live album (never considered it before but it’s good) and I’ll give Heroes a listen after.

#100

Thought I’d have to skip “Heroes” itself due to having heard it so much but nah, still an all-time banger.

3 Likes
#101

This is interesting to read

https://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/parlophone-respond-to-david-bowie-berlin-box-set-mastering-criticisms/

I saw on Wikipedia they said that the volume issue in the track “Heroes” was amended later so I guess Spotify maybe has that version. I didn’t hear it.

I’d guess the ‘more bottom end’ mastering has stuck though.

#102

Yes, as it says in that wikipedia link it’s not an album of love songs, it’s an album of songs about love songs where Stephin Merritt takes the tropes you’d associate with love songs and twists them, sometimes so much that they become completely inverted. Now, I can imagine some people find this too arch or may find it insincere to the point of being annoying but I think it totally works and I love it

2 Likes