Heathen - David Bowie

Anybody with even the most rudimentary grasp of the history of pop music will be aware of one simple fact: David Bowie was better then than he is now. Simply put, Bowie's career can be carved into two neat sections: the Good Bowie (everything up to, and including 'Scary Monsters') and Bad Bowie ('Tonight' onward), with 'Let's Dance forming the bridge between the two, depending on your view on that particular album. After some pioneering work in the ...
...in a cultural wasteland of his own creation, gone from being feted as one of the prime architects of what passes for 'alternative' music to inhabiting the same space in the minds of the nation as the likes of middle-of-the-road monsters Phil Collins and Elton John. Try listening to a Bowie album after 'Let's Dance'. It's painful listening, with rare highs and many crashing lows. From the shocking 'Tonight' to the painfully embarrassing Tin Machine ... more

Anybody with even the most rudimentary grasp of the history of pop music will be aware of one simple fact: David Bowie was better then than he is now. Simply put, Bowie's career can be carved into two neat sections: the Good Bowie (everything up to, and including 'Scary Monsters') and Bad Bowie ('Tonight' onward), with 'Let's Dance forming the bridge between the two, depending on your view on that particular album. After some pioneering work in the 1970's and turn of the 80's, Bowie suddenly found himself in a cultural wasteland of his own creation, gone from being feted as one of the prime architects of what passes for 'alternative' music to inhabiting the same space in the minds of the nation as the likes of middle-of-the-road monsters Phil Collins and Elton John. Try listening to a Bowie album after 'Let's Dance'. It's painful listening, with rare highs and many crashing lows. From the shocking 'Tonight' to the painfully embarrassing Tin Machine project to the embarrassingly desperate geriatric drum 'n' bass of 'Earthling', there seemed to be no way back for Bowie. But wait! Fast-forward a few years (well, a lot of years) to 'Heathen', Bowie's 25th studio album. This is it, the media cried, this is Bowie's return to form. Good Bowie is back, condemning Bad Bowie to extinction forever and ever. But in the cold light of day, when the hyperbole and overstatement has faded and the critics have found something else to crow about, does 'Heathen' stand the test of time and prove itself to be a classic Bowie album in the vein of 'Diamond Dogs', 'Heroes' or 'Scary Monsters'? Or is it an album of false promises, like a cheating lover who says she won't do it again but does?

Ermmm…

Bowie seems acutely aware that he is battling against his history, so instead of letting it be an albatross around his neck he is celebrating it. Take his show-stealing headlining performance at the Glastonbury Festival a few years back, when he eschewed his more modern songs in favour of material pretty much pre-1982. This celebratory attitude of retrospect shows itself here, with the selection of Tony Visconti, co-producer of much of Bowie's greatest work in the 1970's, as producer of 'Heathen'. Ironically, it is also an album with a distinct freshness to it, given that it is Bowie's first album since breaking from his traditional Virgin record label and signing to Columbia Records.

Thankfully this is record to be celebrated because it is a David Bowie album that sounds like a David Bowie album. Confused? Well, look to Bowie's previous efforts, 1997's 'Earthling' and 1999's 'Hours', which were so dismal, their failure due to the fact that is just didn't sound like Bowie. Granted, you could tell it was Bowie singing the words, but it seemed like he was singing the songs of a lesser man, a lesser artist, and the uncharacteristic (read: terrible) stylings of both albums were deservedly rubbished by the music press.

The lead single from the album, 'Slow Burn', has a very retro feel to it, complete with a guitar solo from The Who axeman Pete Townshend. The chorus is resounding, with a somewhat retro vibe from the 1960's and the song reverberates with great power thanks to a terrific vocal performance from Bowie. Taken on the merits of 'Slow Burn' alone, 'Heathen' does indeed seem to be a return to form. The Ziggy Stardust shtick is decades-old, and Bowie has kept that spectre firmly in the closet for much of his career since, but it is fully revived and ready to go on the barnstorming 'I Took A Trip On A Gemini Spacecraft', which manages to just hold back from the brink of complete absurdity. The song demonstrates Bowie's versatility, showing that while he can do old-fashioned guitar rock like the best of them, he is also an electro-pop pioneer with a demonstrable history of experimentation with electronic music. 'Gemini Spacecraft' is indicative of this facet to Bowie and is gloriously fun and wonderfully daft. Listened to alongside 'Afraid', Bowie's fascination with the bizarre and the otherworldly is fully revealed, not that is had ever been hidden.

Little gems are dotted around the album. 'Slip Away' is achingly beautiful, a gorgeous piano-led quasi-ballad that is lyrically obscure, referencing a TV comedy show called Uncle Floyd. It also manages, cryptically, to take a wry look at Bowie's own career, as he sings "Some of us will always stay behind/Down in space it's always 1982/The joke we always knew". 'Sunday' is eerie, tense and atmospheric, the song being drenched in clipped, chilling synths, and is one of the more sinister and threatening tracks on the album, echoing the quite menacing Bowie of old before the menace was eschewed in favour of fixed dentures and music Phil Collins would embrace lovingly, like a foster parent would lovingly embrace a foster child. One of the albums most obvious highlights is 'I Would Be Your Slave' is simply magnificent, a transcendent spectacle of a song.

'Heathen' is an album seemingly devoid of big themes, concepts and ideas that one might expect from the Bowie of old but it is an album with an alluring, radio-friendly sheen that sounds very contemporary yet also seems like it could be vintage Bowie. It is confident and self-assured.

It is quite evident that while this is a competent album that is light years ahead of any of his work since 'Let's Dance', it is by no means on a par with his albums of his golden age, but perhaps nor should it be. We should be instead thankful that Bowie has made a return to the music he does best and is no longer embarrassing himself with desperate attempts to be relevant. Bowie is just being Bowie, doing his own thing, and the result is Bowie's best album in many years. This is not to say that the whole album is a smorgasbord of brilliance, as there are a number of weaker links, most notably on the embarrassing, awkward (and rather pointless) covers of Neil Young's 'I've Been Waiting For You' and the Pixies' 'Cactus'. 'Cactus' is especially bad, a pompous, bloated mess which leaves you with the impression that somehow Bowie missed the point.

You do also get the sense that Visconti is a much more important figure than perhaps he has been given credit for. Perhaps Visconti is the figure who has reined Bowie in after years of bad career moves, hopeless attempts to fit in with the groove of whatever musical style is prevalent at the time rather than being the innovator he once was.

These faults aside, it is a welcome return to form for an artist whose career, in terms of acclaim, was thought to have died many years ago with limited chance of a revival. This isn't necessarily Bowie returning like a phoenix from the ashes (to ashes), but at least Bowie has shaped up significantly and started recording material like the artist that he once was.

'Heathen' is available from Amazon.co.uk for £6.97 

...less