Tonight: Remastered [Original recording reissued]

Rating: 2.5/10

Best songs: "Blue Jean", "Loving the Alien"

Urgh, what happened? I can't even say that Tonight is worth purchasing on the strength of its best songs, as they are easily available on many a Bowie retrospective. Okay, so Let's Dance was the weakest Bowie album for over a decade, but it was still pretty good (its first side was terrific in fact), while Tonight was tragic evidence that the 1970's brightest artistic light had well and truly run out of ideas and was seriously slumming it. Tonight is the first album of Bowie's that doesn't feel like a proper album at all, more a sloppy compilation of half-hearted recordings, too many of which are sub-par covers.

Of course, the presence of a genuinely sparkling cover version on a Bowie album was the norm on most of his 1970's output (although tellingly, his most creative period from 1977-1979 featured no cover versions at all) and he even recorded a whole album of them with 1973's Pin-Ups, but I get the feeling that the decision to work with other people's (including his own on two Bowie/Iggy Pop-penned examples) material on Tonight was less to do with the desire to re-interpret than the fact that he just didn't have enough fresh material of his own.

Still, at least opening song "Loving the Alien" at least keeps any fear at bay - it's very much of its time (and Bowie seemed to acknowledge this, performing an almost apologetic stripped-down acoustic version on his Reality tour back in 2003), but it made for a fine, dramatic single - however, it's the shorter single mix which I find more effective than the slightly overlong version here, but I'm not going to rip too much into it - compared to most of what else is here, "Loving the Alien" in any version is positively glorious. "Don't Look Down" is, on one level, thoroughly depressing - Bowie appears to have lost all identity, content to become another past-it rock star happy to let fashion and expensive studios do all the work for him....it's all just so OKAY, professionally performed, sleek, slick, ever-so-slightly sterile, but taken on its own, I suppose it's reasonably enjoyable reggae-lite fare, with some nice synthesisers here and there.

The ghastly, insincere cover of The Beach Boys' superlative "God Only Knows", which has some rent-an-orchestra showering bathos over a sub-par karaoke vocal (one of Bowie`s worst ever), has rightfully been dismissed as one of lousiest tracks on any Bowie album ever. Only slightly less painful but pretty damn awful is the title track, which is a cover of the astonishingly powerful song of the same name from Iggy Pop's Lust for Life album, and all the drama, tension, fear, horror, beauty and impact of the original has been entirely obliterated in a wretched wave of dull faux-reggae and pointless guest vocals from Tina Turner. Oh yes, and there's horns. Tonight is definitely Bowie's `horniest' album, and the horns don't just blow here, they suck too. A slightly better Pop cover arrives next with "Neighbourhood Threat", which was also on Lust for Life - it's not up to the original, but at least it's got some punch, especially with that guitar hook.

"Blue Jean" is the kind of the song that Tonight needed much, much more of. It's so good you feel sorry for its presence, surrounded by so much trash. This is one of Bowie's most overlooked singles, precisely because it's so throwaway, it's a brilliant bit of bubblegum, it sounds great, has a fun verse, an even more fun chorus, and at three perfect minutes, it doesn't outstay its welcome. Top stuff! The last three tracks are all filler- you wonder what Bowie was thinking, cruising his way through such empty, anonymous, forgettable material.

Now, on a closing note, I know that it's very fa-fa-fa-fashionable to deride everything Bowie gave us after Scary Monsters - after all, it was after that album that he essentially ceased to be a force to be truly reckoned with. However, some of his post-1980 work stands up very well; he's done some great albums and songs since 1980 - it's up to you to appreciate the likes of Outside, Earthling, Heathen, etc, for what they are in themselves, not in comparison to what's come before. I guess what I'm trying to say is - the main reason Tonight is a failure is less to do with the fact that it doesn't match up to Bowie's golden years period, but mainly because most of the songs are crap. Simple as that.

It is a ironic that artists as talented as Bowie can often end up as victims of their own success. Sure - as many reviewers point out here - this album pales when put up against the genius of most of Bowie's 70s output. But when compared to other 80s material - both of Bowie and other artists of the era - this album ought to be viewed more favourably. It certainly takes a few more risks than the production-perfect Let's Dance, and hangs together as an album far better than the chaotic mess on Never Let Me Down.

As most listeners know most Bowie albums seem to try and deliver an interpretation of a given sound of the times they are made - a notoriously tricky thing to do given it is only in hindsight one can really be seen to have captured the zeitgeist. Generally Bowie's judgment in this regard can be seen to be excellent - right throughout the 70s and more recently on Outside and Heathen. I think the mistake he made with this album, though, was trying to capture 1984 as Culture Club or Frankie Goes To Hollywood rather than New Order or the Cure. But at least it was better than attempting to become Go West or Power Station on the next album...

Whilst Tonight is never going to feature in any Top 100 albums list, it's a perfectly pleasant collection to have on in the background - particularly if you have a soft spot for the 80s. And, even if you hate the rest of it, it does contain Blue Jean and Loving The Alien - both of which should rank on any comprehensive Bowie playlist. I'd say if you can pick it up cheap, then give it a go.

I've been working my way through the Bowie back catalogue album by album recently. It's a catalogue that I was already intimately familiar with but sometimes returning to records that you haven't heard for awhile gives you a new sense of perspective and a chance to re-evaluate. The following observations were made. Firstly his 60's period is far more varied and interesting than I thought ("The Laughing Gnome" being the obvious exception) whilst the 70's stuff confirms what an astonishingly innovative and accomplished songwriter he was. And then there's the 80's and consequently this album. I remember thinking when I first heard it that it was easily the worst record that he had made. And you know what? I haven't changed my mind. This album is STILL a piece of crap and there are several reasons why this is the case. In 1983, Bowie decides that he wants commercial success. So instead of sticking with the hugely versatile Tony Visconti as producer he hires a couple of "young guns" - namely Nile Rodgers and Derek Bramble, both of whom use 80's production techniques that make Bowie's records sound just like any other from that period. Bowie decides not to play on either album and exists as a vocalist only. This not only gives the producer greater control over the musical direction but it also significantly limits Bowie's input. With the hugely successful "Let's Dance" shifting zillions of units, for the first time on "Tonight", instead of being one step ahead of the game, Bowie treads water by following the formula of the previous album. Meanwhile the lack of decent new material on this record suggests that either Bowie had lost interest in songwriting or that his creative well had dried up, though the inclusion of no less than 5 Iggy Pop songs leads some people to think that the record is a deliberate attempt to line Mr.Pop's pockets as Ig had recently fallen on hard times.

O.K. So what do we get for our money? The singles - "Blue Jean" and "Loving The Alien" are good but elsewhere there are 2 vastly inferior re-treads of songs that Bowie and Iggy had already perfected on "Lust For Life", one of which, the title track - is given an awful cod-reggae arrangement that takes away the humour and the vitality of the original. Iggy's "Don't Look Down" is also afflicted by another reggae make-over whilst the 2 new Pop/Bowie songs are so-so but are swamped by a production that is so shiny that the material struggles through a blinding flash of drum booms and saxophone squeals - an aberration that not only effects the entire album but afflicted the entire decade. As for the remaining cover versions - Leiber and Stoller's "I Keep Forgettin" is an abomination whilst no disrespect to the reviewer who suggested that Bowie's turgid "God Only Knows" is better than the Beach Boys original but it's like comparing Michelangelo to Paint By Numbers.

It took a while for Bowie to come to his senses but rest assured it never got as bad as this again. If you want good Bowie I would suggest everything from Hunky Dory to Heroes, a good 60's compilation and a close look at his last 4 or 5 records - all of which confirm that David is back on the ball and making great records again. Meanwhile, if it's the 80's you're after - buy Haircut 100.