David Bowie

This brooding album may not have an obvious single, but by forgetting about current fashions and trends, Bowie has crafted his best disc in years. The world's still a dark, dangerous but oddly romantic place, and the thin, well-dressed one seems reinvigorated by the fact that the rest of us have caught his sense of paranoia.

The most immediate pleasures on Heathen are all covers. David Bowie has exquisitely hip
taste, and he attacks the Pixies' "Cactus," Neil Young's '69 ruby "I've Been Waiting for You"
and the Legendary Stardust Cowboy's sci-fi valentine "I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship"
with the same sharp-dressed zest that he brought to the Easybeats and Pretty Things hits on
1973's Pin Ups. The rest of Heathen is the sound of Bowie essentially covering hi... More >

The "Bowie's back" huzzahs that accompany every one of this music mill's new releases beg the question of what he's back to and from. The reason Englishmen have actually touted him as the greatest rock artiste of all time is that he's the least American major rock artiste of all time, which is one reason his careful brand maintenance isn't filling any arenas over here. Just to be mean I compared his latest phoenix imitation to 1979's Lodger, a certified nonclassic I always kind of liked. Lodger won easy. He has indeed Learned to Sing, thus rendering himself more the chansonnier only art-rockers ever wanted him to be, and the strain is hell on his sense of humor. The textures are nicer now, but whose aren't? And while the songwriting ain't bad, it also ain't that good. Just switch between the Black Francis cover and any other track and you'll know exactly what I mean. (Grade - C+)