Let's Dance: Remastered [Enhanced, Original recording reissued]

Rating: 6.5/10

Best tracks: "China Girl", "Without You", "Let's Dance", "Modern Love".

Let's Dance finally appeared in 1983 after the longest hiatus Bowie fans had to endure to date; in the seventies, he was practically delivering album after album, year after year, each one a classic of its own kind. However, there was a whopping three-year wait after Scary Monsters, only alleviated by one classic single (`Under Pressure'), some soundtrack work and a few film appearances. I doubt anyone would have expected Bowie to return the way he did; true, Bowie had been a star in the past, as he'd made it big in the UK during the Ziggy/Aladdin Sane period, and in the US with Young Americans and Station to Station, but for the first time he became a fully-fledged SUPERSTAR, with a blockbusting album to accompany. Now, Let's Dance can be harshly dismissed as the beginning of the end, as it was his weakest album since The Man Who Sold the World, while its populist stance paved the way for his worst ever musical period. Yet as work on it's own, it's a pretty good pop record, and with its combination of Nile Rodgers' super-slick production with Stevie Ray Vaughan's distinctive blues-guitar sound, it proved he wasn't quite ready to stop trying out new things. However, Bowie's step into the mainstream meant a sacrifice of personality, edge and what made him such a thrilling artist for ten or so years.

The catchy "Modern Love" kicks off the album in strong style; this is unashamed pop, more pop than anything Bowie had ever done; more seemingly determined to hit the top of the charts, which is no bad thing if it's a great song, and luckily it is. In fact, the first side of Let's Dance is excellent; obviously not as good as his best seventies work, but a refreshing, new, stylish and exciting Bowie sound all the same. The terrific "China Girl" is probably the best thing here, and an absolutely sterling example of how to do a great cover version. The original was written by Bowie and Iggy Pop and featured on the latter's 1977 album The Idiot. That version was a searing, intense, beautiful and very powerful classic, while Bowie cranks up the pop, throws in loads of new unbeatable hooks (the opening guitar line, the `uh-oh-oh-ohhh...little China Girl' vocal refrain, the memorable bass line), and is given the best super-smooth, super-funky Nile Rodgers production in town. The sign of a great cover version is that it becomes all its own, to the point where both versions can stand proud against each other. I love both versions of "China Girl", they both work in different ways, beautifully so. The huge, huge hit that was the title track is featured here in what I presume is its 12" version, which is all very good indeed, as this song's got such a fantastic hook that I don't mind it going on for over seven minutes. There's a very good case for this being the last truly great Bowie single. The first side ends on a deliciously mellow, moonlit note with the underrated `Without You", which features some lovely Bowie vocals and some cool guitar.

Unfortunately, the second side doesn't work very well at all; it's as though all the best shots were fired on the first side, making Let's Dance a work that kicks off with a bang but ends with a whimper. 'Ricochet' attempts experimentation, but aside from great sounding production, it's all a bit of a mess. The reworking of `Cat People' is okay, but the original single is better, while `Shake It' is a total throwaway, and throwaways on albums that are only eight songs longer are simply not allowed. Still, `Criminal World' has a fantastic guitar section in the middle, and saves the latter half of this album from being totally redundant. After this, there was the poor Tonight album, the guilty pleasures of Labyrinth, Glass Spider, Tin Machine and lots of very bad hairstyle decision. True, plenty of the afore-mentioned isn't quite as horrendous as you'd believe, but it was clear that Bowie's glory days were well and truly over. Still, at least Let's Dance proposed the idea of Bowie as Pop Star, and for a while, that wasn't a bad thing at all.

This is just a great album. I have been a Bowie fan since 1972,and his music has provided the soundtrack to my life - and in many ways still does. And this is the music of the 80s - Let's Dance, China Girl and Modern Love are great songs, which were included in Bowie's most recent tour - so he must like them too. Cat People is a great track as is Criminal World. Ok, so there are a couple of tracks which rather signposted the way the next albums were heading; Shake It is rather a filler for example, but for all that this is a great album, which bears the test of time well.

If you don't have this or haven't updated from vinyl or cassette - you really should do it now - you won't regret it.

This was the first Bowie Album I purchased which was originally released way back in 1983. This was a time when he'd become more 'pop-py' than we were used to during the 70s with hits like the title Track and 'Modern Love'. He'd gained a whole new following by then. Not sure which Bowie I preferred, as I had enjoyed his earlier material too - especially most of his earlier hit Singles.

Taking into account the string of Single releases taken from this Album - coupled with the fact that there are only eight Tracks in total - a very short Album this, and more like an EP at the time than an 'LP'. The Singles are also extended mixes, which for myself I never liked appearing on LPs - I preferred to buy the 12" Single if I wished to hear more of a Song - always felt it an excuse to fill Album short on Songs otherwise. Catchy Album though!