Black Tie White Noise [CD]

Who is this album for? It's not really for you and me, it's for David Bowie. It's a deeply personal album about a man getting married, making peace with his enemies, making good old friendships and laying to rest some old ghosts. Whether it is Bowie's best or worst is kind of irrelevant. That's not its function. It would have served its purpose had Bowie simply recorded it and never released it.

The first track, "The Wedding" is a scene-setting instrumental written for Bowie's wedding to the supermodel Iman. This is then followed by the excellent "You've Been Around". On the one hand this is Bowie at his brooding best but on the other it is also a thankyou to co-writer Reeves Gabrels who saw Bowie through the Tin Machine years and to Nile Rogers who produced both the global smash Let's Dance and this album. Then Bowie does a respectable dance-oriented cover of the Cream classic "I Feel Free" which again simultaneously commemorates his late brother Terry, who is associated with this song, and the late Mick Ronson, whose blistering guitar break in this track would be his last Bowie collaboration. The title track is about the LA riots which struck a chord with Bowie who was about to enter a mixed-race marriage and whose music draws heavily at times on black musical styles. Unfortunately, it isn't a great number and the choice of Al B Sure! as the duet partner hardly adds much kudos to the track as much as a more premier league collaborator, such as Prince, would have. The hit single of the album is "Jump They Say" which sounds expensively produced and, supported by a glossy video, made the UK top 10: to date Bowie's last raid at those heights of the singles charts. Yet again there is a connection with Terry in the theme of the song where the central character seems to be both cajoled and tormented by voices. The highlight of the first half though is a masterful cover of Scott Walker's "Nite Flights" a homage to the later work of Scott Walker which in retrospect had such a clear influence on Bowie. Bowie's baritone and synth treatments produce a wonderful companion piece to his own "You've Been Around".

"Pallas Athena" is a dance instrumental which, despite apparently doing well in the clubs when it was released under the nom de plume Tao Jones Index, really isn't my cup of tea and I just find the central mantra a tad embarrassing. In any case lengthy techno-dance tracks aren't for listening to for pleasure, they are for dancing to. A fairly fun single then follows called "Miracle Goodnight" which is clearly about Iman. It's a call-and-response type song like "Modern Love" from Let's Dance but much more difficult to take seriously than its superior relation. We then get another cover, "Don't Let Me Down and Down", this time by a Mauritanian princess called Tahra who was a friend of Iman's. This is a slushy romantic ballad which could have worked but for me is utterly ruined by the silly voice affected by Bowie at the beginning of the song. Yet another instrumental follows, this time a duet with Jazz trumpeter Lester Bowie whose brass stylings make light work of Bowie's idiosyncratic saxophone playing. Again, this track has connections with Bowie's brother Terry who was a great fan of Jazz. The Morrissey cover "I Know it's Gonna Happen Someday" is an overwrought rendition, presumably there to please Bowie's son Duncan who was a great Morrissey fan and as a nod to a younger generation of acolytes. The "Wedding Song" then rounds off the proceedings with another track penned for his wedding, this time with lyrics in adulation of his new wife.

Assessing this album as any other Bowie release it ultimately doesn't fair well. With three instrumentals and four cover versions, there are only 5 new tracks for fans to examine. The first half is by far the stronger and of that only two or three tracks are worthy of addition to the list of Bowie greats. It's not that the rest of it is really bad it's just that it's a bit like looking through someone else's photo album: of immense personal significance to them but far less so to a casual bystander. The expensive production (at well over $1,000,000) makes the album sound important but all it ultimately achieved was the bankruptcy of the label Savage Records and yet another setback in Bowie's long 2 decade journey back to the cutting edge.

By 1993, David Bowie had not released a solo album since 1987 ('Never Let Me Down').

Coming off a wave of indifference with Tin Machine, Bowie came back with full force in his new solo venture.

After 3 Tin Machine albums ('Tin Machine', the underrated 'Tin Machine II' and 'Oy Vey, Baby'), Bowie had slumped into being a hasbeen rock star, which was exactly what he needed to public to see him as. The high fame from 'Let's Dance' (1983) had taken away his creative flare, he was making pop songs to please a new generation of 80s rockers. Try as he did with new concepts as the 'Glass Spider Tour', and film ventures such as 'Labyrinth', his creative side had dried up.

So what do we see on this 1993 offering? Well, we see a newly wed Mr Bowie trying to use the old tools of survival, which he sued so well in the 60s and early 70s. This album has several songs which a true Bowie masterpieces, namely 'Jump They Say', 'Miracle Goodnight' and 'The Wedding Song'. 'Nite Flights' and 'I Feel Free' also stand out, the latter featuring the very last work by former Spider Mick Ronson.

However, the album does feature too many fillers. 'Looking For Lester', 'You've Been Around' and 'I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday' are tagged on for no apparent reason, and I will never understand 'Pallas Athena'.

The most obscure of covers, 'Don't Let Me Down & Down' is an unsung hero of the album, proving that even the most obscure of songs can be successful, especially w/ David's soaring vocal toward the end, after line after line of monotone alto sounds.

It is tough to rate this album, though. It did go No1 on its release, but perhaps was overrated for a return album at the time.

I give it 3 1/2, as although it is wonderfully creative, the album as a whole feels disjointed in places, mostly due to the fillers.

It certainly beats his 80s attempts (bar 'Scary Monsters' (1980), and proves that as a creative artist, he is far from dried up.

The music is definitely Bowie at his best. One of my all time Favourite tracks has to be the Wedding Song, makes your hair stand on end and would'nt it be great if it was adopted as the new wedding anthem. Although hard to get used to at first I find this album most fulfilling and up tempo. Then again Bowie never stays with any theme for too long anyway. A change is as good as a rest so they say