David Bowie: Never Let Me Down - 1987
"Never Let Me Down had good songs that I mistreated" - David Bowie
I have never quite understood the bad press this album gets. Yes, I accept that it is no Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane or Low, but I have to admit that I prefer listening to it to either of its two predecessors, Let’s Dance or Tonight.
It brings back happy memories for me of 1987 and I guess that always helps, but I genuinely feel it is a more than acceptable album, given the paucity of classic material being produced at the time.
Bowie's own reaction to it has been changeable, to say the least. Upon its release, he had this to say -
"...I've made about 20 albums during my career, and so far this is my third biggest seller. So I can't be that disappointed, yet, it is a letdown that it hasn't been as buoyant as it should be. ... But I don’t really feel that negative about it. As far as I'm concerned it's one of the better albums I've made. As I've said. Never Let Me Down has been a pretty big seller for me. So I'm quite happy...."
By 1990, he had changed his mind a little -
"....Never Let Me Down had good songs that I mistreated. I didn't really apply myself. I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to be doing. I wish there had been someone around who could have told me...."
and by 1995 he was full-on against it -
"....The great public esteem at that time meant absolutely nothing to me. It didn't make me feel good. I felt dissatisfied with everything I was doing, and eventually it started showing in my work. Let's Dance was an excellent album in a certain genre, but the next two albums after that Tonight and Never Let Me Down showed that my lack of interest in my own work was really becoming transparent. My nadir was Never Let Me Down. It was such an awful album. I've gotten to a place now where I'm not very judgmental about myself. I put out what I do, whether it's in visual arts or in music, because I know that everything I do is really heartfelt. Even if it's a failure artistically, it doesn't bother me in the same way that Never Let Me Down bothers me. I really shouldn't have even bothered going into the studio to record it. In fact, when I play it, I wonder if I did sometimes....".
So, we have an album that its composer sometimes disowns, and the listening public also do to a great extent. Is there anything good about it? Personally, I have always liked it and feel that there is plenty of good material on there.
Time will crawl.....
As mid to late 80s music was dominated by synthesisers and synth drums and so on, it is welcome on this album to hear Peter "Frampton Comes Alive” Frampton’s guitar ring out, especially on the excellent opener Day-In Day-Out and its chunky rock attack. Make no mistake, this is a damn good Bowie track, - killer riffs, killer vocals, killer hooks - no arguments, please.
Beat Of Your Drum is probably not as good as its two barnstorming predecessors, but this lively rocker is embellished by some searing Frampton guitar. It is another with a winning chorus.
Now - one of the album's more criticised numbers. Granted, the slightly twee, frothy and lightweight title track is not quite as good as the opening three, but it is actually perfectly pleasant enough. It is certainly no more or no less pleasant than the highly-rated and popular Kooks on Hunky Dory, let's be honest.
The punchy and enjoyable Zeroes is certainly as good as any other 1987 Bowie rocker too, or from anyone else at the time, for that matter. The lyrical reference to "my little red corvette has passed me by" is a reference to Prince, but I have never read too much into it, refusing to go down the appallingly clichéd 'handing over the baton of creativity' route that many have travelled.
Glass Spider is in the territory of indulgence, I guess, but had it been put on Diamond Dogs it would have been labelled a work of genius. It is full of compelling, moving images. However, it is the spoken-word narration part that doesn't quite work (do such parts ever work?). When it finally breaks out, though, it is muscular, rocky and captivating.
The breezy but maybe over-tinny Shining Star (Makin' My Love), with its attractive scratchy backbeat and poppy melody is perfectly enjoyable, in my opinion. I've always liked it. Actor Mickey Rourke performs the mid-song rap, strangely. The infectious late seventies-ish New York's In Love has real hints of The Velvet Underground's Rock And Roll about it, particularly the "everybody's waiting for the go-go boys" line. Once more, it is a much better track than many have said.
The much-maligned Too Dizzy was eventually left off future releases by Bowie, who hated it (poor old co-writer Erdal Kizilcay). I have to disagree with the great man's decision and opinion. I really like it, so there you go. I'm alone here. It's simply a good eighties-style pop song, as far as I'm concerned. Bang Bang was an Iggy Pop/Ivan Kral song that isn't quite as good as some of the other material on the album, but, again, it is perfectly enjoyable. As I Keep saying, this is a good late 80s album of upbeat pop songs. It serves its purpose. Just enjoy it for what it is, and don’t compare it to Bowie’s best work. It has to be said that Time Will Crawl is a great track, and would grace any Bowie album.
The nineties were where David Bowie changed quite considerably, musically, incorporating contemporary dance beats into his music and giving his sound a deeper, more dense production. Although it is not my favourite phase of his many phases, there is still plenty of material to enjoy. (It was strange how he looked like David Beckham for a while, though, wasn't it?).
There were a couple of songs that were recorded for this album and were not chosen. They were both pretty good and merit acknowledgement.
Julie is a poppy, beaty and enjoyable song that would have been suitable for the album. Its rhythm is quite infectious and the whole thing is strangely carefree for a Bowie song.
Bowie wrote Girls for Tina Turner and it appeared on her Break Every Rule album. His own recording of it dated from the Never Let Me Down sessions and is not a bad track at all. It starts atmospherically, almost in a sort of Lady Grinning Soul mode - piano and vocal, before it breaks out into a big saxophone-driven eighties-style chorus. Some have expressed reservations about that part of the song. Not me. I have to say I really quite like it. It is a quality Bowie rarity and is more than the equal of much of the material on Never Let Me Down (which is also an album that I like a lot more than many do).
The 2018 Remaster
The 2018 remaster of the album takes away some of the eighties production harshness, giving it a big, thumping, bassy makeover. Check out Time Will Crawl or the title track for evidence. Or that Eastern guitar/percussion bit at the end of Zeroes. It has been given new life. These tracks sound great. In fact, the whole album does. It is a truly excellent remaster.
Incidentally, both Never Let Me Down and Shining Star have excellent extended 12” remixes that are available, full of some great saxophone breaks and pounding drums, that in many ways, improve upon the originals.
The 2018 Remix
There is also the 2018 Remix that is included in the Loving The Alien box set, which is revelatory, revisiting and re-tinkering with the tracks respectfully giving you different interpretations of them that I have a feeling Bowie himself may have approved of. Sadly, we will never know. Listening to it is a fine experience. It really does sound like a different album. Obviously, the foundations of the songs are the same, but there are sufficient differences as to render it a most interesting listen. Just check out Shining Star or Glass Spider with their contemporary-style backings for starters.
I'll quickly look at it in a bit more detail.....
So, I was greatly looking forward to hearing this 2018 interpretation of the material from 1987’s much-maligned Never Let Me Down album. Bowie was never happy with the initial recording of the album, and, although I have always liked the album, I do accept that some of the worst excesses of eighties production rubbed off on it - layered synthesisers, programmed drums and the like.
Apparently he gave his permission for his old band-mates, including Tin Machine’s Reeves Gabrels, to tinker around with the material and try to make it sound as maybe it orginally should have done.
Now, the question is - do they achieve that? Yes and no is my considered answer. Yes, they they take a lot of the offending keyboards from the recordings, change a lot of the guitar sound and add a more resonant bass. The problem with that bass is that in many places it is a dance music-influenced thumping, vibrating bass, thus the album just sounds, to some extent, like one of “dance mixes”. They also add sweeping synthesised strings, such as on The Beat Of Your Drum and Zeroes. Some of the songs, like Time Will Crawl begin with a stripped-down acoustic guitar before getting into the kicking rhythm I had grown to love. The title track has a huge muscular bass thump, and sounds very much like the “alternative dance” mixes of it from back in 1987, actually. The song is enhanced appealingly though, as is Day In Day Out, although the latter loses some of its original power, I feel. The same is true of Zeroes, which was remastered superbly on its 2018 remaster from the original album, with the marvellous Eastern guitar and percussion at the end being really enhanced. The version on here doesn’t really give us that.
Glass Spider is the track here given to most obvious makeover, adding several minutes to it and all sorts of different sounds. This is a good one. 87 And Cry is interesting too, although, like Zeroes I feel it has lost some of its “oomph”. Shining Star, New York’s In Love and Bang Bang are all given innovative and lively mixes but, you know, I actually still prefer the original album, warts and all, in its dynamic 2018 remastering, something that I feel gives me even more of a new feeling to the album than these alternative versions do. They do sound, to me, just a bit like dance versions of the songs, however interesting and appealing they are.
