This really is a seminal album. Almost thirty years later it still may be too heavy and uncomfortable for pop-pickers. Like Low, the B-side/second half is predominantly instrumental, but darken the room, dig out the head-phones and you will be rewarded.
The first half is a bunch of hugely powerful songs, in a strange way it is almost punky, infact ,at times, it is probably a bit harsher/rawer than most punk. I've just finished reading a book (Coming Out As A Bowie Fan In Leeds, Yorkshire, England) by a guy called Mick McCann, a wonderful, vibrant romp through the time in which this album was released. It is very a funny book about being a cross-dressing teenager in a hard place, it's strangely philosophical and very `gritty', it made me see the world slightly differently. Anyway he makes a few references to this album and in one, when talking about the title track, he says that listening to Heroes through a PA brings out a physical reaction, `Like wading through nettles in short pants.' I can't argue with that. `Sons Of The Silent Age' also does that for me, it gets me right in the chest.
This is a special album but it may, like that book, offend sensitive ears - Get me to the Doctor...
