Bowie in Total 4: The Music is Outside

On to part four (!) of David Bowie's substantial discography where he reunites with some old comrades and tries some new tricks. The 1990s were definitely one of the more interesting periods in Bowie's career as makes more of an effort to follow musical trends while being as iconoclastic as he's ever been. Overall, a good decade where his worst album of the era, 1999's Hours..., is still better than most music put out at the time.

Black Tie, White Noise (1993)

This album serves as a wedding album of sorts for Bowie, who had recently wedded supermodel Iman Abdulmajid, as the first and last songs are "The Wedding" and "The Wedding Song" respectively. Bowie reunited with producer/guitarist Nile Rogers and, as such, I like to imagine this album as the sequel to Let's Dance, with the intervening ten horrible years erased. In fact, I find this record to be much more enjoyable than Let's Dance, and to be a much more successful fusion of Bowie's disparate styles. He dives headfirst into early 90s dance music with greater success than one would expect while contributing an impressive amount of his distinctive saxophone playing. He continues his trend, dating back to Let's Dance, of including cover songs on the album, though of a far superior variety than those on albums previous. A cover of Cream's "I Feel Free" has Bowie reuniting with Ziggy-era guitarist Mick Ronson for a track that fuses dance-funk with a bit of classic rock jamming. His cover of Scott Walker's "Nite Flights" captures the eerie, driving feel of the original while including some Happy Mondays-style production. My favorite tracks are "Jump They Say", a superficially upbeat pop song with unsettling lyrics detailing the disorientation of living with schizophrenia, and "Pallas Athena", a mostly instrumental dance track that foreshadows the material that Bowie would put out later in the decade.

The Buddha of Suburbia (1993)

A soundtrack of sorts to a BBC miniseries of the same name, this album is often ignored but is a surprisingly good low-stakes effort by Bowie. He played most of the instruments himself, making this album the closest to a true solo effort for Bowie. Despite this, the songwriting is very good and the sound of the album, while somewhat dated, is consistently interesting. Many of the tracks are either instrumentals or have minimal, repetitive vocals. The only track I would omit would be the reprise of the title track at the end, featuring a superfluous guitar solo from Lenny Kravitz. My favorite songs are "Sex and the Church", a mostly instrumental mix of dark dance beats and free jazz, as well as "Dead Against It", a poppy track with a backing reminiscent of Neu! and late period Cocteau Twins.

1. Outside (1995)

Easily one of my favorite Bowie albums, this is his longest and strangest. It is a somewhat confusing though detailed concept album about a child murder in a near future of interest drugs and self-mutilation art. This album absolutely must be listened to with the accompanying booklet, which has amazing artwork and detailed narration on the plot and characters. Bowie reunited with Brian Eno, Tin Machine guitarist Reeves Gabrels and his 70s keyboardist Mike Garson to make for one of his best bands. The songs were largely formed from extended jams inspired by the various themes and characters of the album. The album fuses elements of jazz, avant-garde and industrial to create a wholly unique sound, exemplified by lead single, "The Heart's Filthy Lesson". There are a number of spoken-word interludes where Bowie portrays the various characters with surprising skill for a terrifying effect. I don't think it would be fair to pick my favorite songs since the album works so much better as a whole. If you're looking for a challenging and engaging listen, check this album out!

Earthling (1997)

Stylistically, somewhat of a continuation from Outside, this album is simpler and more immediate. As one of the major elements of the album is Bowie's interpretation of Drum and Bass, I thought this album would sound very dated but, surprisingly, it feels as fresh and contemporary as when it came out. Using many of the same musicians as Outside, this album is probably Bowie's loudest and heaviest. Somewhat less successful are the lyrics, which were largely composed using a William Burroughs-influenced cut-up technique. Even the songs where the lyrics and melody fall somewhat flat, such as "The Last Thing You Should Do" and "Looking for Satellites", are still enjoyable due to the strong musicianship and general enthusiasm of the process. To me, the best tracks are "Dead Man Walking", which has both the Drum and Bass influence and a strong lyric and melody, as well as "I'm Afraid of Americans", one of Bowie's better, more provocative singles from this era.

Hours (1999)

After a string of excellent albums, this one proved to be a bit of a let down with impressively ugly cover art. Originating as a soundtrack to the video game Omikron: The Nomad Soul, these songs lack the coherence or power of his previous few albums. Hours has a quieter, more contemplative mood that contrasts with the heavy, intense material of previous years. I see this album as a somewhat cynical attempt to cash in on the adult contemporary sound that was popular at the time with TV stations like Much More Music and VH1. Lead single "Thursday's Child" perfectly exemplifies this with a middle-of-the-road beat, wispy strings and soft, generic backing vocals. Despite this, the melodies of most of the songs are still strong, certainly way ahead of his 80s material. Also, Reeves Gabrels contributes some solid guitar playing for what would prove to be his last collaboration with Bowie. My picks for this album are "Something in the Air", a fairly adventurous track that involves a sickly funk groove and unhinged, digitally distorted vocals, as well as "If I'm Dreaming My Life", a classic rock epic with great guitar playing and a solid energy. After this comes the far more interesting Heathen and the beginning of the most recent phase of Bowie's career.