I liked the kind of album guides that came up in the pet sounds topic. would love it if someone could do the same for low. i've just got this feeling that i'm missing something. thanks in advance.
It's one of my favorite Bowie albums for sure, but I don't consider myself an expert or anything. I will, however, pipe up about my favorite song on it- "Be My Wife".
Bowie was going through serious marital problems at the time (he divorced Angela in 1980), and I believe they were separated. So the listlessness of "I've been all over the world" and the ache of "sometimes you get so lonely" resonate that much more. Plus, I interpret him singing "be my wife" more like "please act like a wife to me- the person I married" than a marriage proposal. Coupled with the video in which he looks like an absolute wreck, I think it's incredibly powerful.
I was indifferent to it for a long time,but it's worked it's way into (probably) my top ten now. I believe it's easily his best album. The first side is killer pop,but it's the second side that really blows my mind. Those instrumentals are heartbreakingly brilliant,especially when I'm depressed on a dreary and lonely day...
I was indifferent to it for a long time,but it's worked it's way into (probably) my top ten now. I believe it's easily his best album. The first side is killer pop,but it's the second side that really blows my mind. Those instrumentals are heartbreakingly brilliant,especially when I'm depressed on a dreary and lonely day...
Indeed, those instrumentals at the end are beauty defined. The ones on Heroes don't quite measure up. As for the A side, I'm absolutely in love with Moog synthesizers, so I was an easy sell. But the way that Bowie redefined his lyrical approach is what makes those songs sound so fresh and new. He paints the picture with few words. It doesn't hurt that the songs are so short and seem to breeze by.
I can't listen to the instrumentals in Low without thinking that it would make an excellent videogame soundtrack. I just have heard the Tron and Final Fantasy soundtracks so many times, and that is exactly what it sounds like to me. I like this album, but like most of Bowie's stuff it is not anywhere close to my top 10.
I think the best entry point for Low is through Gary Numan, Depeche Mode, ABC, Joy Division/New Order, early/mid-period Talk Talk...your high-quality synth-pop, in other words. None of their music would have existed, at least as we now have it, without Low.
(Of course, if one just doesn't like synth, then the album will probably never appeal.)
