Taking Sides: Bowie's Low

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granted it would have been tough to place anywhere on either side. but somehow it's now my favorite track on the whole album.

can't believe they leave it off some versions of the album. criminals.

also, geir, you know about the 'All Saints - collected instrumentals 77-79' compilation, right?
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/masses/ab/bowie45.html

'Another green world' is so much better than side two or side one of heroes.

This week's Then Play Long update? Why is it here? Read on.

I've only just quick-scanned it (bookmarked for quality time with a glass of laphroiag, for sure) but that is fantastic.

… but you got problems

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FODvjYoVEi8&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FODvjYoVEi8&feature=youtu.be

oh shit lol xp

anyway I laughed

Same guy did this one, which is not as brilliant, but still very good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZEGHK_3W2o

Geir Hongro, may I just say that you seem like a very reasonable man indeed and I am utterly baffled why some on these boards hold you up as an example of spectacular and stubborn insanity. When I come to Norway we shall roam fjords singing the rather decent melody of 'Sombre Reptiles' together.

haha that Warszaw video is hilarious, very well done!

After some thought, this has to be Side One for me. Side Two has 'Warszawa' and 'Subterraneans', which are both indispensable for me, but every cut on Side One rules.

I listen more to side one, but I think side 2 informs side 1. You listen to it in a slightly different way because you know what's on the other side.

The extra track they put on the re-release a few years back was really good, I forget what it's called now.

― Two-Faced January (Two-Faced January), Wednesday, October 15, 2003 7:19 AM (12 years ago)

yes: you can even give it a pass over and over, but it's still there, and the more unevenly you play it, the more side 2 sounds like a discovery or a rare event

Is it just me or is the new mix crystal clear?
https://open.spotify.com/album/6DcvIymXDe8sCD1u0fzi8J

lol it's apparently just a remaster - nothing to see here... I'm just enjoying it a lot

Sides One of Low and Heroes, put together, would be the most fantastic Bowie pop record ever made

eh, fun idea ! I will try to listen to it that way. It may change the perspective.
I have loved Bowie (mostly the Ziggy period and StS) but can't really get into it anymore.

Easily in my Top 3 albums of his, alongside Station to Station and Lodger ...

How did I miss this thread at the time? Of course I prefer side 2 as it is more challenging and less conventional. And almost everything Eno touches sounds better after. Additionally I have never liked Bowie's contrived voice.

no wait there is something to see here after all:

In terms of the issue around the mastering and the additional bass or ‘bottom end’ on albums like Low and Lodger, the point was strenuously made that Tony Visconti has never been involved in remastering these albums before, and what you hear on these new remasters is how he always wanted them to sound.

http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/parlophone-respond-to-david-bowie-berlin-box-set-mastering-criticisms/

interesting ! especially since I was just listening to Low/Heroes today and was wondering what the difference was between this Low remaster and the 1999 one.
And I also noticed that "drop" during "Heroes" but I thought I had touched a button or something.

I couldn't resist having a look over at the retirement home upon reading that - I instantly saw a thread that was about 180+ pages...

There will be friendships truncated and sig files revised over this...

the way the snare sound deepens and then cuts off in "breaking glass" >>>>>>

eno's convulsive blinking synth in "what in the world" >>>>>

the out of tune Iggy backing vocals on "What in the World"

yes to both of those, yes to all of Side 1, this is his pinnacle imo much as i love Lodger. still think "Heroes" is the weakest of the three

In the intro to Breaking Glass I recently noticed really quiet synth that sounds like a ringing phone that was either muted or erased and has bled into another track, kinda wish it had been left in.

I've always found this idea of a "trilogy" a bit stupid, for me I see everything from Station to Station up to Scary Monsters (including stuff like The Idiot) as one long golden period.

Do you have any idea of the context of the recording of those three particular albums?

Because if you did, you're already aware of the idiocy of your own statement.

Actually, Turrican is right insofar as the Davis-Murray years go from 1976 to 1971. And only one album was recorded in Berlin.

it's a well established shorthand, however arbitrary, let's hustle along without revisiting Taxonomy 101 for the millionth time

this is not your first rodeo

1976 to 1971?

I've always found this idea of a "trilogy" a bit stupid

i think i posted this before:

Bowie began referring to the three albums as a Berlin-centered trilogy during the promotion of Lodger, although "Heroes" was the only installment primarily recorded in the city.

song cycle begins with "sister midnight" and ends with "red money" there you go

Y'know, people say that the melody on 'Weeping Wall' is meant to be 'Scarborough Fair', but I suspect that it's actually taken from Zappa's 'Who Are the Brain Police?' (Which Bowie was a fan of and even apparently covered in the '60s)

Eh?!??!? Right, I'll have to check that out!

It's true!

ummm wow!