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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Re-issue For Bowie's Career Re, 19 Aug 2003
By 1993, David Bowie was considered washed up, a has-been, a complete irrelevance. Since his greatest commercially selling album, "Lets Dance" in 1983, he had produced two criminally dire albums in "Tonight" and "Never Let Me Down" and three albums with rock dirge group "Tin Machine". Who would have guessed that his marriage to Somalian model Iman Abdul-Majid would have helped kickstart a creative process that would produce his best album in over ten years?Although the album was said by Bowie to have been inspired by his marriage to Iman, only two of the tracks featured appear to have any reference to the event. "The Wedding" features wedding bells as the an album opener, and "The Wedding Song" is a gushing, swooning and deeply romantic paen to his new bride. The rest of the album however is classic Bowie; full of darkness, paranoia and more importantly - killer tunes. Lead-off single "Jump They Say" is a stunning breakneck hard-edged dance track packed with gorgeous sax work from Bowie and excellent trumpet work from Lester Bowie (no relation). Second single the title track is a laid back funk/soul duet with Detroit singer Al B Sure! (Yes, that is his real name) that surely deserved higher than it's number 39 chart placing. And third and final single "Miracle Goodnight" is possibly the catchiest song Bowie, if indeed, anyone has ever written. But aside from the trio of excellent singles, there is much more listening pleasure to still be had. The whole album is filled with funky and soulful dance percussion, Bowie's voice is on the finest form that it has ever been in, and the lead sax and trumpet playing from the two Bowies is dynamism perfection. Four cover versions also make up the album; Cream's "I Feel Free" is given a radical funk makeover with a poignant guitar solo from Mick Ronson (he died from liver cancer days after its recording), Scott Walker's "Nite Flights" becomes a dark and brooding dance track that was to sweep to nightclubs throughout the nineties, Morrissey's "I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday" is given a hugely overwrought and thouroughly over dramatic rendition. It would however have made a great single. The only weak link on the album is "Don't Let Me Down And Down", a little known french love song sung quite weakly against an insipid backing track. The album was given was given a hugely warm reception when it was first released, and that praise is still deserved. This reissue comes with a bonus cd of extra tracks and remixes which vary from the essential ("Lucy Can't Dance", Leftfield's rocking remix of "Jump They Say") to plain filler ("Real Cool World"). This cd does however compile much wanted hard-to-find tracks and some thrilling, if dated, remixes. Also, this set comes with a DVD of interview footage, some concert footage, and three promo videos. The interview is dull, the performances are good but not essential, but the three promos are among the best that Bowie has ever produced. All in all, this set is an absolute must for any self-respecting Bowie fan, and at this price this is fantastic collection worth taking a look at if you are interested in taking a look at Bowie's recording history, but don't want anything quite as dark and experimental as say "Low", "Outside" or "Station To Station".
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