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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Modern Bowie is rubbish? Get a grip!, 23 Sep 2007
My mate told me that Bowie's new stuff was useless, which meant, of course, that he hadn't listened to it. It's become a bit of a fashion to knock Bowie, just beacuse he keeps in there and keeps going. I would advise similar doubters to do the following. Buy this album and listen to 'I Have not been to Oxford Town' followed by 'I'm Derranged' and then 'Strangers when we meet.' If you aren't converted after three listens to these tracks, then go back to the Kaiser Chiefs. You thought you had musical taste and culture, but sorry - that just isn't you after all. You're as shallow as an Egyptian puddle.
If you do enjoy them - then I'm quite envious of you. You can listen to the rest of this work of art, and then collect another 20 albums of musical perfection and experimentation which will change your life, or at least influence it - as mine has been for the past 30 years. This really is no exaggeration. Bowie is beyond description, as Robert Smith, Kurt Cobain, Ian Curtis, Damon Albarn, Suede ... and countless others will all testify I'm sure. Buying this is like investing in an original painting. It's value to you will increase as time goes by - and its creator will be held in awe. I can say no more.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Flawed Masterpiece, 21 Jul 2005
By A Customer
Firstly, I would like to apologise for not giving this five stars, I feel I really ought to because this along with 'The Heathen' are, in my opinion his best two albums since 'Scary Monsters' and this album is growing in stature all the time, especially among the younger generation and acts such as Air, but it is far too long. For this to be a true masterpiece it needs some editing, i.e. cut out most of the interludes between songs and knock off one or two of the weaker songs.
This album has loads of standout tracks for example: 'The Heart's Filthy Lesson', 'Hallo Spaceboy', 'The Motel', 'I Have Not Been To Oxford Town', 'No Control' and 'I'm Deranged', but these highlights alongside other excellent tracks get swamped in the vastness of this padded out concept album.
It's not too late for this to become an absolute masterpiece, this album has already been digitally re-mastered which makes it sound even better, and when this album fully comes around again, which it will (Techno and Ambient are dead at the time of writing), this could be scaled down into the masterpiece that it truly deserves to be, because sometimes - less is more.
There really is no need for most of these interludes anymore because Bowie's never going to get around to doing 'Outside - 2 and 3' which was his original intention, forming some sort of on-going narrative through the three albums.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A return to form..., 21 Jan 2007
`1. Outside was supposed to be part of a millennial themed trilogy of works clearly modelled on Bowie's celebrated Berlin Trilogy - the presence of Brian Eno and the marketing of the record company at the time was a giveaway. Episodes 2 and 3 failed to appear, instead Bowie went drum'n'bass with his `Earthling' album and the great `Mother'-collaboration with Goldie.
The 1980s were bad for Bowie - he had great success with `Scary Monsters' and `Let's Dance' but creatively went into decline with the dire `Tonight' and `Never Let Me Down' albums. Worse than the `Dancing in the Street' single was the dull Tin Machine project, which somehow produced three albums that no one would really want to listen to. `Black Tie White Noise' and the soundtrack to `The Buddha of Suburbia' had some great moments and suggested that Bowie might return to the form of 1979/1980. `1.Outside' at least shows Bowie trying and was probably his best album since `Lodger' (one half of `Scary Monsters' still doesn't work for me!) - though I'd dispute the view here and elsewhere that it's one of Bowie's greatest albums to rank alongside `Hunky Dory', `Low' or "Heroes." Bowie here is more analogous to Neil Young - the results aren't always great, but at least he's trying...
This album was seen as an example of pre-millennium tensions, something that came very much into vogue with Massive Attack's `Mezzanine', Radiohead's `OK Computer' and Tricky's `Pre-Millennium Tension' - so Bowie was becoming influential again. The story is sub-Burroughs cut-up silliness, like many of the interludes here kind of unnecessary - the view that this should be re-cut down to several key songs holds up, the album should be edited into the following: 1. Outside 2. Heart's Filthy Lesson 3. A Small Plot of Land 4. Hallo Spaceboy 5. The Motel 6. I Have Not Been to Oxford Town 7. No Control 8. The Voyeur of Utter Destruction 9. Wishful Beginnings 10. We Prick You 11. I'm Deranged 12. Thru These Architect Eyes 13. Strangers When We Meet - which all sounds like a pretty decent LP to me! It might even make my Bowie Top 10 of albums...
Produced by Bowie and Eno with David Richards it's the sound of the Thin White One returning to the creative form he appeared to have lost - parts of `...Hours' and `Reality' were great, while `Heathen' was brilliant and a complete album to rank alongside that 1971 to 1977 peak. Nice to see some other usual suspects appearing here - Reeves Gabrels (despite Tin Machine!), Mike Garson, & Carlos Alomar as well as Eno. Garson's `Aladdin Sane' style piano features wonderfully on `The Motel' and `A Small Plot of Land' - even if his look circa `Earthling' reminded me of the keyboard player from Spinal Tap!!
The version of `Hallo Spaceboy' is much more industrial than the Pet Shop Boys version, showing that Bowie was probably listening to Ministry and Nine Inch Nails at the time. `I Have Not Been to Oxford Town' is one of Bowie's great pop songs and was quite effectively covered for Paul Verhoeven's ironic fascist movie `Starship Troopers.' `1.Outside' has further film/TV connections, from single `Strangers When We Meet' (which was originally on the soundtrack to `Buddha of Suburbia'), to `I'm Deranged' (which opened and closed David Lynch's excellent `Lost Highway'), and single `Heart's Filthy Lesson' - which was much more effective with those scary titles at the end of the rather bleak serial killer movie `Se7en.' My favourite song is the title track which literally sounds like Bowie finding his way again and sounds contemporary - like Scott Walker's Climate of Hunter colliding with the Cure - I think Radiohead from 1997 onwards might have been influenced? The keyboards are a bit proggy too, which is probably a great thing. "Now. Not tomorrow. Yesterday. Not tomorrow. It happens again. The damage today..." - the song was quite vague, especially if you found the Baby Grace/Adler-storyline tedious or impervious. The song seems quite meaningful with time and `Outside', like a few songs here, is one of several songs I'd hope Bowie would play if/when he tours again.
`1.Outside' was a return to form, but there is quite a bit of chuff here - program those tracks above in and it makes more sense. In the Bowie-scheme of things more a Lodger or a Heathen than a Tin Machine or a Tonight. Someone should do a compilation of this era, taking in a few Buddha-tracks, something like `The Dreamers' from `...Hours', the re-recording of `I Can't Read', or his NIN-version of `I'm Afraid of Americans' - `Heathen' didn't come from nowhere and `1. Outside' was the sound of Bowie becoming interesting again...
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