Low

David Bowie

1977

3.54

Rating

26721

Votes

13%

33%

31%

21%

Distribution

Genres: Rock

Album Summary

Low is the 11th studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 14 January 1977 through RCA Records. After years of drug addiction when living in Los Angeles, Bowie moved to France in 1976 with his friend Iggy Pop to sober up. There, Bowie produced and co-wrote Pop's debut studio album, The Idiot, featuring sounds Bowie would explore on his next record. After completing The Idiot, Bowie began recording the first of three collaborations that became known as the Berlin Trilogy with American producer Tony Visconti and English musician Brian Eno. Sessions began at Hérouville's Château d'Hérouville in September 1976 and ended in October at Hansa Studios in West Berlin, where Bowie and Pop had relocated. Grounded in art rock and experimental rock and influenced by German bands such as Tangerine Dream, Neu!, Harmonia and Kraftwerk, Low features Bowie's first explorations in electronic and ambient styles. Side one consists primarily of short, direct avant-pop song-fragments, with mostly downbeat lyrics reflecting Bowie's state of mind, and side two comprises longer, mostly instrumental tracks, conveying musical observations of Berlin. Visconti created the distinctive drum sound using an Eventide H910 Harmonizer, a pitch-shifting device. The cover artwork, a profile of Bowie from the film The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), was intended as a visual pun, meaning "low profile". RCA refused to issue Low for three months, fearing it would be a commercial failure. Upon release, it divided critical opinion and received little promotion from RCA or Bowie, who opted to tour as Pop's keyboardist. Nevertheless, it reached number two on the UK Albums Chart and number 11 on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart. Two singles were released: "Sound and Vision", which peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart, and "Be My Wife". The success prompted RCA to release The Idiot in March 1977. In mid-1977, Bowie played on Pop's follow-up album Lust for Life before recording his album "Heroes", which expanded on Low's musical approach and features a similar mix of songs and instrumentals. In later decades, critics have rated Low one of Bowie's best works, and it has appeared on several lists of the greatest albums of all time. It influenced numerous post-punk bands such as Joy Division, and its drum sound has been widely imitated. A forerunner in the development of the post-rock genre of the 1990s, Low has been reissued several times and was remastered in 2017 as part of the A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982) box set.

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May 06 2021 Author

I've again deferred to my cat named Bowie on this review. When I told him that Low was today's album, he legged it from room to room around our apartment, bouncing off every wall and surface like he was off his tits on catnip. When he finally came down off his Low induced high, he told me "this is Big Dave's finest hour". So there's your review.

Apr 06 2022 Author

"All hail the Berlin trilogy!" I think they should be called Low, parts 1, 2 and 3. This is music that only sold because of his name. I wonder how many praise these albums because they don't want to admit that they wasted their money. I've learned a frightening word since I started listening to 1001 albums: AMBIENT. It is code for plain boring, weird boring, or monotonous pretentious twaddle. This album is just boring because I've heard it before. Back in the day it was weird boring. I assume Lodger is also in the list. I hope not. Yesterday I had Paranoid, more of that ilk, thank you.

Jul 21 2022 Author

This album woke up at 5:45 pm to a house party happening downstairs, and quickly got sick of it, deciding to bar hop and scuttle around town. Never finding what it was looking for, it finally decided to walk the city streets alone through the night, stuck in its own head, until passing out in an alley behind a dingy jazz club. 10/10.

Oct 06 2020 Author

Bowie! It's hard to dislike anything Bowie has done, honestly. He was so alien and ahead of his time that there's always something new and strange to learn when listening to his albums. This was one that I hadn't spent any time with in the past so I hit the wikipedia article for context which was helpful. It's electronic and pop and undeliably Bowie. Is it dated? Yes. But it also feels like it's a decade younger than it actually is. While the rest of the world was making disco pop, Bowie was making electro bangers and synthetic, cinematic dreamscapes.

Jun 04 2021 Author

6/6 First half is avant-garde, second is alien civilization. Standout Tracks: Speed of Life, Sound and Vision, Warszawa, Art Decade, Weeping Wall, Subterraneans

Feb 11 2021 Author

I love Bowie but for me this was too dramatic and artsy with too many random sounds and instruments. It's risky, I just didn't like it that much.

Jul 30 2021 Author

I am a massive, massive Bowie fan, and I think even amongst his pretty great catalogue that the Berlin trilogy is quite near the top. Bowie and Eno. What a dream team. Every one of these songs slaps, but Sound and Vision and Be My Wife are the big standouts. Perfection. We didn't deserve Bowie.

May 02 2023 Author

Okay. Often good, never all that great. The second half is mostly instrumental, concept album kind of thing. Interesting. I wouldn’t go back for it.

Dec 11 2023 Author

Takes the listener to a new world. Neat.

Jul 28 2021 Author

Anything Eno touches is electronic gold, and this collaboration with Bowie is one of his best works I've seen. I admit it hardly even feels like a Bowie album. It's a series of avant-garde pop rock tracks that knows how to control the unusual noises it's dealing it. The first side is absolutely perfect and if the whole album were like it I would have no doubt awarded the full score. But I'm mixed about the 2nd side. I've tried looking at what people had to say about it. Some say people only now started to appreciate it while others say it feels dated now... Ok? To me, it's a series of carefully crafted melancholic ambient pieces that are long enough for appreciation with enough variation to prevent us from growing tired of them. They apparently reflect geographic locations like Warsaw and West Berlin. They're excellent pieces that bring a calming feeling to the album, but how should I rate this album? Does it detract from the perfect score I should give? Well it's different and amazing as well but doesn't fit with the other side yet doesn't distract from it either. Maybe I'm hesitant because I already awarded 2 5-stars in the past couple days, and an avant album seems like the perfect excuse for me to break that. But I admit this is a perfect album that I commend Bowie and Eno on. In the end, they deserve the perfect score of this random listener.

Dec 07 2025 Author

Jesu Christo! I just finished my review of a middling soul album and then we get this beast and I convulsed an LOL because of the enormous intensity gap between the two albums. Maybe it's just me and the role this record played during an exceedingly difficult time in my life but fuck me, this is a heavy album. It's an L-shaped one way ride to and through a place most people should never have to visit if they can get and keep their shit together. For the rest of us, well, songs like Always Crashing In The Same Car can make me cry just from the relief of knowing you're not alone in being a fuckup. I'm not above admitting I paused in the middle of the last sentence for a quick cry. Anyway, and the desperation in Be My Wife? Harrowing. Sound & Vision? Blue, blue. Breaking Glass? Fucked up. I don't even want to know what David did to the carpet. Side two's lack of lyrics gives you a shot a putting Humpty Dumpty back together again. His words on side one brought you to the brink and now you get a few minutes to step back and reflect and try to get it together enough to face the world and hope that maybe this time at least it'll be a different car that you crash in. Maybe.

Feb 16 2021 Author

The feeling of exited trepidation I feel before refreshing the page each day to reveal my next musical journey was very much dampened on this occasion when I discovered a David Bowie lp. Not being a huge fan I was still interested to hear what is supposedly one of his best pieces of work. If this is considered one of his best albums then it kinda confirms my long held opinion of Bowie’s music...blandish and boring’ish. David Bowie was universally acknowledged for sounding different, looking different and pushing boundaries in general yet I still find his songs fatiguing and uninspiring. Quit frankly the last three tracks on this album all sounded like instrumental lullabies aiming to set you off to sleep...which was a hazard in itself as I was driving at the time. It’s no coincidence that the only Bowie material I own is a Greatest Hits on vinyl. After listening to this album, that’s not going to change any time soon. 1 Star!

Oct 30 2024 Author

in May of 2020, when I listened to the entire Bowie solo discography, I ranked this album his second best. it's a decision I still stand by! sorry, I just really love Blackstar, but in terms of "classic" Bowie, this is the album I reach for first. it's just such a succinct and perfect encapsulation of this artist (artists, if we take Brian Eno and Tony Visconti into account) at the peak of his powers! it may not have legendary, generationally anthemic songs with roof-tearing vocal performances like Hunky Dory or Ziggy Stardust or Station to Station, but so much of what makes this album special is its understatedness and brevity. the A-side is 7 flawless rock miniatures, all clocking in around 3 minutes or less, all replete with brilliant details in their pristinely engineered instrumentation, with heavy layers of Eno synths masterfully woven into the fabric for good measure. in many ways these songs (and others from the Berlin years) feel the bedrock of new wave and post-punk. even the instrumental songs are full of intrigue! the stakes on these tracks are much lower than they've been on previous Bowie albums, but there's a straightforwardness to the songwriting on this A-side, particularly in the lyrics, which I find really compelling. "Sound and Vision" might be the most "perfect" song in the entire Bowie catalog, and there's quite a few contenders there! then side B transports you somewhere else entirely. Eno takes center stage, with Bowie acting more as an object in the musical scene than a central figure across 4 grandiose slabs of ambient goodness. fuzzy string patches, Steve Reich-esque marimbas, thundering bass tones, droning vocals, and a ton of electronic pads all come together in various flavors. the connection these tracks have to the 7 rock songs that came before them isn't immediately obvious, but they just make sense together. with the rock side, you get terse reflections on David Bowie's state of mind as he tried to kick his various vices to the curb, and with the ambient side, that focus shifts outwardly to his immediate surroundings in West Berlin and the quiet horror of the Cold War. I can't imagine one without the other! this is one of the most transcendent listening experiences you can find in the entire rock music canon. 10/10.

May 21 2024 Author

First half is marvellous, second half is sublime. Alongside the classic Kraftwerk run, this is one of the strongest statements of and for post-war European culture, pop or otherwise.

May 14 2021 Author

When initially listening to Low, you get the sense of it being very David Bowieesque. It seems to have influence from free form jazz in the way that the instrumentation is arranged. The production definitely is the center of each song, as the lyrics are sometimes drowned out by the repetition of the production. There are long pauses in the spoken word, so this album almost becomes an instrumental album. At just 39 minutes in runtime it is an easy listen, an album you throw on a turntable as background music.

Dec 27 2022 Author

A little shook I gotta come on here and defend Low! Not sure I have the credentials to do so. But this album is groundbreaking! One of the world's biggest rock stars assuredly planting is feet at the edge of the genre's avant garde. This album is so dense with collage. Such an unusual and introspective use of rock and roll; exploring all the ways it might collide with electronic, kraut, ambient, and so on. I can honestly say I've never heard an album from before or after Low that sounds quite like it. Even Heroes, which is, I think, his best album, and was released the same year (!!!), finds Bowie taking his experiments in a tonally different direction. I think it's stunning and inspiring to hear someone who had just released their first "greatest hits" album whipping around and doing something like this. The influence this album had on New Wave, Post-Punk, Indie, and everything after Rock's golden age is evident and essential. Hard to imagine many of our most beloved rock groups up to and including Radiohead existing as they do without Bowie's experimental period and without this album. All that, AND the first half of this album totally bops! "Sound and Vision" is one Bowie's best pop songs!

Oct 29 2022 Author

Split between a side of jittery experimental rock and a side of avant-garde/ambient music, Low is probably Bowie’s most drastic reinvention of his art. Brian Eno joins Bowie on Low and deserves much credit for shaping this album’s sound and style. Recorded in Berlin, the influence of Eno’s ambient work and the German experimental rock scene of the time is fully evident on Low. The A side of the record is more typical of Bowie’s sound at the time: the plastic soul of Station to Station became even more synthetic and angular, with percolating analog synths driving the songs. Think of it as a precursor to Eno’s work producing the Talking Heads a few years later. On the B-Side, Bowie and Eno delve deep into the experimental side of the pool, producing four moody avant-garde soundscapes influenced by Cluster, Kraftwerk, Steve Reich’s minimalism, World music and Brian Eno’s own ambient experiments. Few, if any, of Bowie’s megastar contemporaries were even attempting music like this in the late 70’s. Low and the ensuing two records Bowie recorded with Eno in Berlin are ground-breaking achievements, which successfully introduced the avant-garde and experimental into popular music. For both Bowie and Eno, Low is a high water mark.

Jan 25 2022 Author

Bowie introduces some electronic sounds! I'm a Bowie fan but have never listened to this one, so this was a treat. I enjoyed the exploration of new sounds, and you can definitely see the influence this had on subsequent artists. The second side was particularly interesting and unexpected. My top pick is 'Sound and Vision', but I also really liked 'Be My Wife' and 'A New Career in a New Town'.

Sep 15 2021 Author

It's hard to imagine what modern music would sound like without this album. Bowie and Brian Eno create an album with a satisfying rock front half, and a ethereal, dreamlike, and somewhat menacing back half. The experimental and ambient elements here are crucial to the development of post-punk. I remember when I first heard Blackstar, I thought that it was coming out of nowhere because I had not explored this period of Bowie. This album has given much such a deeper appreciation of this artist and of the history of music in general.

Jul 31 2021 Author

5.0 + I've listened to this album many times over the years. My first listen left me utterly confused. However, being a huge fan of Bowie's more pop-oriented music, I hung in and with subsequent listens that confusion turned to distaste, to understanding, and finally to absolute reverence. My journey to love this album in turn has made me appreciate experimental music and the artists that successfully struggle to present truly original sounds to my ears. I'm grateful for this album, for the supernova forces behind Bowie and Eno that briefly collided, as well as for my being able to finally appreciate the fruits of that collision.

May 13 2025 Author

Coked up and influenced by German bands and his friendship with Iggy Pop Bowie changes directions once again and gives the world The Thin White Duke the MC of all tomorrow's parties. Low is a spacey, electronic epic poem that is often too beautiful for words hence all the instrumentals. It's superior to anything Kraftwerk and Neu! would ever release the two bands who most influenced Low and that's not taking a dig at either band both are essential bands with ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ albums of their own that I absolutely adore but such was Bowies at his prime, surpassing his influences became the order of the day. Low would go on to influence every post punk band worth a second listen as well as the rest of the 20th century - everything from art to music to fashion to you name it. In conclusion, I liked it and think that you will too.

Jan 09 2025 Author

# Album Name: Low # Artist: David Bowie # Rating: 5/5 # Comments: I love a bit of bowie, but i have to admit, i havent heard much of the berlin trilogy era before. My first listen of this album was, well, underwhelming. I think thats the best way to put it. Its a tale of two halves. First part of the album is vocal driven and the second half more electronic experimental/ambient. I decided to give it another listen. The first half has some good songs on it like Speed of life, breaking glass, sound & vision and be my wife. It was a good first half! Real grower. The latter half has Eno written all over it. It should be a Eno album almost. Pretty much from track 7 onwards. And Eno isnt someone who has struck me that well musically. You can feel the german influence. Im sure the electronics were well ahead of its time back in the day, and i can appreciate that, but its hard for me to grab on to. It doesnt connect with me musically. Its not how i know bowie either. However, patience is a virtue. It turns out a few of the tracks on the second half were pretty damn good. I could see how it inspired lots of other artists despite it not being my favourite version of bowie. Sound of vision and Be my wife are the standouts for me. Its a low 5 for me. # Top Tunes: First 6 tracks. Career in a new town, Warswaza and subterraneans. # Would I listen to it again? Yes

Nov 19 2024 Author

Best Song: Sound and Vision Worst Song: Weeping Wall

Aug 29 2024 Author

Its so good oh my god I'm crying listening to Subterraneans. Crying. This is the third time I'm listening to the ambient closer and I'm crying. OMG. Side A - avant-garde pop Side B - ambient

Jan 05 2023 Author

I’ve always wondered what impression this album made to the Bowie fans at the time it was released. At the time it was only 5 years but 8 albums between this and Ziggy Stardust. Bowie had already reinvented himself a few times since then, but this still had to be a shock to listeners after Station to Station. The songs on side one seem more like ideas than songs. The crazy thing though, is that they work as songs as well and flow seamlessly into each other. As soon as one song is over, the listener is left wanting a little more but then they get hooked into the next song which then starts the cycle all over again until “A New Career in a New Town” brings the listener out of out. Side two , all of which reflects impressions of various locations musically, opens with what is Bowie’s most ambitious track at the time. “Warszawa” is both bleak and beautiful. The track is meant to capture his impressions of a previous visit of his to Warsaw. The final track, “Subterraneans”, is the oldest on the album. It was previously recorded shortly after Station to Station and like the track that came before reflects the mood in Germany surrounding the separation of the country during the cold war. Although this is not my favorite Bowie album it is up there and truly worthy of the 5 star rating.

Jan 13 2021 Author

Had a great time listening to remastered versions of Bowie’s classics plus some new ones that I’d not heard before. It has a psychedelic electro soul which puts me in mind of “war of the worlds musical”. Blooming brilliant

Nov 26 2025 Author

I am a big Bowie fan, and will happily listen to any album from Hunky Dory through Let's Dance. I have favourites, but there is always something interesting and worthwhile and usually a couple of really strong songs. In my record collecting in the 90s, I bought a lot of Bowie albums. Many, many albums. Because they were cheap and around. People were dumping their collections and I was happy to pick them up. I particularly like Bowie from about 1975 through 1980, and so particularly hunted those. But sometimes weird things happen, especially when your collection reaches a certain size and you start losing track of what you own. I could have sworn up and down that I owned all of the Berlin trilogy, because of course I did! I live that period of Bowie! But, it turned out, I didn't own Low. I did, however, own four copies of Lodger, but not Low. How did this happen? I still can't explain it. As a result, Low is the Bowie album I am least familiar with from his late 70s period. That makes it an enjoyable listen for me because it sounds fresh to me. I like the rough and ready production which gives it an energy and immediacy. The more ambient tracks at the end of the record are more structured than the equivalent tracks on Heroes, and it's an enjoyable and interesting listen. Probably doesn't make my Top Five Bowie albums, but still pretty damn great. I told my wife the story about not owning Low, and she bought me a coloured vinyl reissue as a Christmas gift. That's real love.

Jun 25 2024 Author

Wow, what a yawner! Amazing he ever became a star.

Mar 09 2026 Author

Never gets old. "Warszawa" still haunts me after all these years

Feb 19 2026 Author

Never listened to a Bowie album front to back. I know Sound and Vision after going through RYM top 100 singles a few years ago. Trying to get back into my late teen years where all I did was listen to music and watch movies. Also trying to get back into reading. Using art as pure escapism is probably not the healthiest way to live life but it's an improvement from the constant doom scrolling.

Feb 18 2026 Author

Heaven knelt and caressed the earth.

Feb 17 2026 Author

On 170/1089, I got my second Bowie album (first one 23, Young Americans)! This was my second listen to Low This album is really different from the others that I have heard from Bowie, it is really relaxing, an escape with lots of instrumentals going on. It's just so fascinating how much different music this man was capable off 5/5 Standout track: speed of life

Feb 17 2026 Author

muy bueeeeeeeno

Feb 13 2026 Author

160-odd albums in and get my first David Bowie. "Low" is a fantastic album - the production, melodies, atmosphere, instrumentation are all great. Has a unique sound, and the instrumentals to close off the album are all real nice and pleasant, without being complex or ornery. Can't go wrong with Bowie.

Jun 17 2025 Author

Левиафан из глубины поп- музыки.

May 21 2024 Author

Busy day, brief review - this is great!

Jul 05 2023 Author

One of the great Berlin period albums of David Bowie and Brian Eno. The first half consists of eclectic rock songs and the other half is electronica. When comparing it with the Heroes album, the rock songs are more accessible and the electronic songs are fantastic as a whole, but have some weaker parts. The ultimate achievement is having all time classics like "Breaking Glass", "What in the World", "Sound and Vision", "Always Crashing in the Same Car" and "Be My Wife" on one album side. Astonishing!

Dec 07 2025 Author

Although I *really* (really really) wish there weren't nearly as many Bowie albums in this collection as there are, I'm also glad that this one *is* there, as it's definitely a different sound and feel from what I associate with David Bowie across his very varied career. This is mainly due to the very experimental and soundtrack-oriented second side of the album, and especially the haunting "Warszawa", but even the more song-oriented first side is an interesting collaboration between Bowie and Brian Eno (everywhere) and even apparently a bit of Iggy Pop. It's impressive to read how many people and bands were heavily influenced by this album, from Joy Division's entire lifespan as an homage to "Low", to a huge range of artists finding inspiration from songs on both sides of the album. I can also totally see how and why Philip Glass created a symphony based on "Low".

Dec 07 2025 Author

I was a big Bowie fan back in the day and always avoided this album. I imagine someone played it once and it never stuck with me, except for "Be My Wife" and "Sound and Vision" which I didn't like all that much. I missed out! The 2nd half is mostly instrumental and is nice: strong, romantic-sounding. Respect too for the departure from his other music!

Aug 30 2025 Author

So good. I’m not usually down with the experimental especially with no vocals. This just lived in me today. Maybe it’s my mood. I just jammed out to it all day. Also bonus hearing Iggy Pop version of China Girl. I was today years old when I learned he recorded it first. Thanks Spotify! 7.3

Aug 30 2025 Author

9/10

Mar 23 2025 Author

Immediate replay for me. Initial listen while I was getting ready to go out, loved it immediately but I feel it’s an album that needs multiple listens. It’s Bowie being Bowie in the weirdest and best way. I can’t believe I’ve never heard a single track off this record. This was more of a 4.5 for me. Really wnjoyed, definitely will listen again in the future. This is a good one to find on vinyl.

Jan 28 2025 Author

"This is a LOOWWWWWWWWWWW, And it will hurt YOU-OOO-OOO"

Sep 11 2024 Author

Cigs for breakfast vibes Sound and vision Eno good?

May 14 2024 Author

4.5 Kind of a weird coincidence that we went from having two instrumental albums to the closest Bowie’s ever come to writing one, but what better way to send off the trio of like-minded works than with the beginning of Bowie’s own famous musical trilogy. Obviously I’m using “like-minded” loosely here, as this is miles ahead of Barry Adamson and Zappa in every way imaginable - I mean, come on, it’s David Bowie. As someone who just claimed not to be the biggest fan of instrumental music in my review prior, this album is an exemplification of how to do it and make it compelling. I mean, right off the bat you’re greeted with probably the sexiest blast of jazz to ever open an album - you know, the kind of thing only Bowie could pull off. It’s such a captivating, groovy, and inviting way to kick things off, and it transitions into a series of slightly more conventional tunes from there that I really think are among Bowie’s best. I absolutely love the synthesizer on Breaking Glass, the clanging piano on Be My Wife, and the simple, catchy charm of Sound and Vision - these are seriously all tracks that I think need more love within the larger Bowie catalog. The back half is where you get into the meat of the instrumental work, and while I can see how it could lose some people, I really find Bowie’s take on it to be some of the most atmospheric I’ve heard. There’s an incredible ambience established immediately as Warszawa kicks in, and it really doesn’t let up until the album concludes. Supposedly the songs were inspired by Bowie’s time in Berlin, but for me, they’ve always given off this sense of “final level” in a video game (which, to be fair, Berlin was in a sense at a time) They’re all great, but to date, I honestly think Warszawa is my most-listened to instrumental track ever. David Bowie is a legend among musicians and men for a lot of reasons, but I think one of the biggest reasons was his ability to consistently innovate and reinvent himself, and I think this album, denoting the beginning of his next musical chapter, may represent that spirit the best. The Thin White Duke and Ziggy were out - David was back and changing the game again. Bonus points for why Bowie is the man: Instead of promoting this album, he chose to support his friend Iggy Pop on tour as his keyboardist.

May 26 2021 Author

Bowie will always be great. I think this was my first time listening to this one though. It's quite haunting.

Jan 20 2021 Author

My favorite of the "Berlin Trilogy" albums. -- At least I think. I need to relisten to Lodger The instrumental tracks are sublime. Especially Warszawa.

Jan 13 2021 Author

I really liked this. Atmospheric and cool. I would not have listened to this before. Glad I did.

Apr 20 2026 Author

What is this, Bowie album #5 for me? They've been all over the spectrum rating-wise, let's see where this one lands. Low lives in the world of mediocre Bowie. It's a very ok album. Nothing in this album really hooked me and it was a pretty quick in and out adventure. Low lacked the really good lyrical songwriting you see in other Bowie options, and it felt a little phoned in. I get the whole Berlin Trilogy thing, and this is a "piece of art," but it's not doing it for me. It's an album split down the middle and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Standout tracks were "Sound and Vision" and "Weeping Wall" I really don't think this list needs 5+ (because I'm sure there are more) Bowie albums. Damn. It does sound a bit ahead of its time, but that doesn't pull it up from an average 3 for me.

Oct 04 2025 Author

I can definitely say I celebrate the entire David Bowie catalog, and after he died I listened to his entire discography. But when this album popped up, I didn't remember much of it, so it obviously didn't stay that memorable after the first listen. Listening again, I was excited for the experimental synth pop era of David Bowie ... especially with Brian Eno and Iggy Pop ... but there is not a whole lot of experimenting going on. Its a good album, but tend to lose interest with the soundtrack like instrumentals on the second side.

Oct 02 2025 Author

No es de mis favoritos. Demasiada música instrumental.

Sep 01 2025 Author

Like walking through a gallery full of different pieces of art, each song is different but shares a theme. I liked hearing a couple of instrumental pieces though they weren't my favorite. This album is decidedly funky, with an assortment of music forming a colorful bridge between the 70s and 80s and beyond.

Aug 29 2025 Author

I’m am pretty much entirely unfamiliar with Bowie’s music and had zero expectations for this. Started off kinda meh, not offensive but unimpressive. There were a few moments of conventional songwriting that were pretty accessible. The shift halfway through to ambient, experimental sounds is where it really started to grow on me. The later tracks were did more for me than the first half. I appreciate how nothing on this album stayed past its welcome—every idea was direct and then it moved on. No chance for boredom. I could see this growing more on me with repeat listens. 6/10 Standouts: Be My Wife Warszawa Subterraneans

Jun 24 2024 Author

# Playlist track - Sound and Vision # Notes - Never heard this album before, even though "sound and vision" is one of my favorite Bowie tracks, ever. - Album starts out pretty great. Excellent opening. Fun, energetic, but it something does sideways halfway around. A set of weird experimental tracks takes over and they just feel out of place.

Jun 21 2024 Author

Can't believe I'd never heard Be My Wife before... it sounds so 80s. The ambient sections I find a bit tedious. Didn't hate it but I probably won't revisit the second half of the record. 3 overall, but a 5 for sound and vision

Jun 21 2024 Author

Some moments of genius

Jun 21 2024 Author

Mostly ambient and experimental music. Interestingly odd.

Jun 21 2024 Author

Szerintem olyan közepesen jó volt. Semmi földet indító nem volt benne, de hallgatható.

Apr 22 2026 Author

600 albums in and I’ve realized there are seven phases of waking up to a Bowie album on the generator: excitement; wonder; befuddlement; dismay; indignation; exhaustion; acceptance. I am currently at exhaustion. The Berlin trilogy of albums always sounds to me like what it was - Bowie cleaning up and just playing studio rat with his new friend Brian Eno. The sounds are super interesting. (I LOVE pre-FM synths.) It's just too bad that Bowie, one of the great songwriters of the 20th Century, was taking a break from songwriting during the period. Because imagine if all of these super interesting sounds were packaging Bowie SONGS, instead of just meandering around for the better part of three hours. Or don't imagine, just listen to Heroes - one of the best tracks of his career - buried in the middle of all that cool noise. Alas, I hear nothing here but the cool noise.

Feb 25 2026 Author

2 stars, first few song are ok. The ambient synth shit at the end was crap.

Jan 19 2026 Author

I forgot it was playing. Largely instrumental. I can understand how this was crazy good at the time but now I feel like this is what free tracks from youtube videos sounds like.

Apr 22 2025 Author

Боуи подтвердил этим альбомом, что он внатуре инопланетное ебанько

Nov 06 2024 Author

Not my cup of tea

Nov 06 2024 Author

Weird

Jul 30 2024 Author

Sorry. Just can’t get on with Bowie. Much over hyped, the tunes themselves are pretty good but his voice is awful and puts me off listening

Jul 29 2024 Author

#296. I don't know why there's so much Bowie on here when so much of it is trash. I've learned though that Bowie, like Dylan, should have quit while they were ahead in the early 70s, because there's not really anything particularly good going on after that. It's hard to pick a favorite song here, because none of them were even a little bit interesting. 2/5: please stop.

Jul 18 2024 Author

Unique in the way that I didn't know one could use such experimental instrumentation and still bore me. 2/5

Jun 26 2024 Author

Idk it felt like half the album was missing. Good beats otherwise

Jun 19 2024 Author

Points for trying something different, but never really came together.

Jun 11 2024 Author

This album received higher score because of two tolerable instrumental songs. The other songs were not worth listening to.

Feb 25 2026 Author

I never understood the appeal of Bowie, vocally he's just ok and lyrically he's fine I guess but overall he's very mediocre this album highlights that a lot

May 03 2026 Author

The first, and in my opinion, greatest of the Berlin trilogy, Low is David Bowie's first collaboration with Brian Eno. And I will say, it sure sounds like they hit it off well. As with "Heroes", to which this truly feels like a sister album both artists bring something really special out of each other. Eno pushes Bowie's sound in a more textural, avant-garde direction, and Bowie provides a huge, grandiose, cinematic quality to Eno's more cerebral tendencies. And the result is, as with "Heroes", a side of art rock and a side of textural ambient pieces. The former glisten and mutate, threatening to alternatively become hits, or leave orbit, but never really doing either, and capturing this unique tension in amber. I think the two greatest songs on this side may be Sound & Vision, which is *unbelievably* catchy, and A New Career In A New Town, which kind of feels like a reflection of where David Bowie was at the time; he had fallen apart, changed location and re-invented himself. But the skronked out funk of Breaking Glass, and the fascinating textures of What In The World are also worth noting (although frankly, every song on the side is immaculate). Then side two is the ambient pieces; Warszawa, Art Decade, Weeping Wall, and Subterraneans are all *fantastic*, essential explorations into mood and texture. Warszawa and Subterraneans even make room for some incredibly striking vocals. But this whole side seems to effectively hint at the sadness tugging at Europe in the aftermath of World War 2, and the pieces on this side all have a well-realized, deeply centered emotional core. Low is the kind of extremely detailed, complex album that manages to sound so simple while you listen to it. It all just makes sense, it seems so natural. But what's here is completely daring and fascinating, and Low, as it's own weird little package ends up among Bowie's greatest, and most deeply resonant albums.

May 01 2026 Author

Déjà écouté avant. Deuxième album de Bowie dans la liste, deuxième chef-d'œuvre. Au funk rock halluciné de Station to Station, Bowie ajoute, avec la complicité de Brian Eno et Tony Visconti, une dimension plus ambient et expérimentale, comme la bande-son d'un film de science-fiction postapocalyptique est-allemand. Fondateur et essentiel. Top : Sound and Vision Flop : Weeping Wall

Apr 29 2026 Author

Is Low a high point, probably. Not my favourite album of his, but still a work of genius.

Apr 28 2026 Author

wow! beautiful, just him, his soul, his voice.

Apr 27 2026 Author

Not my favorite from Bowie, but possibly his best. I don’t have much to say, the album just rules and I give it 10 or so listens a year.

Apr 21 2026 Author

a masterpiece, specially in the bass department.

Apr 18 2026 Author

Album 168. Low (https://open.spotify.com/album/2de6LD7eOW8zrlorbS28na?si=7nPh9lhHTj2MBoWZ8wDAKw) — David Bowie (1977) That's why David Bowie matters. You're listening to Warszawa and you can't even imagine it's Bowie's music. (Yeah, I must mention Brian Eno, his work as co-producer is undeniable in the whole Berlin Trilogy.) That's his greatness. Throughout his life, he kept going, kept experimenting with everything. Listening to Bowie, you're not just listening to Bowie, you're listening to everything basically, because he, pain in the ass, stuck his nose everywhere he could. This is the first album of the Berlin Trilogy, sober, clear head and ready for experimentation. His first experiment was with electronic and ambient sounds. Low words, a lot of instrumentals. It's a strange choice, unexpected and very risky, I mean, RCA refused to release it initially, but it was worthwhile. Low definitely isn't my most loved Bowie album, I don't really know where to put it in Bowie's album hierarchy, but it's fucking great. Hope to relisten the whole Berlin Trilogy while exploring the city someday. 5/5 Liked: — Breaking Glass — Sound and Vision — Always Crashing in the Same Car — A New Career in a New Town — Warszawa — Art Decade — Weeping Wall

Apr 17 2026 Author

I loved the album!! Some of these were such an interesting listen. Got me in a daze. Would recommend it.

Apr 16 2026 Author

The first of the Berlin trilogy! Low is a classic that needs no further introduction.

Apr 16 2026 Author

Wow

Apr 15 2026 Author

From the upbeat, swinging rhythm of Sound and Vision, to the dark, otherworldly ambience of Subterraneans, the tone shift in this album is absolutely stunning while the tracks stay fresh. Another David Bowie banger.

Apr 14 2026 Author

I have limited knowledge of Bowie, perhaps just four albums I know well, and about the same again for others I have listened to at least once, but this has become my favourite in the last couple of years. Perhaps not quite perfect, but so close I am definitely rounding up.

Apr 14 2026 Author

Heavy, moody, really nice. I loved every part of it.

Apr 13 2026 Author

Side A is arguably Bowies finest hour and goes toe to toe with any other work he produced Side B is groundbreaking, however it is definitely more influential than it is enioyable. An album that would warrant a half star feature, but will round up as I didn't round up for Aladdin Sane and this is better

Apr 10 2026 Author

Que genio 🙂‍↕️👏

Apr 08 2026 Author

I was once walking with a friend to a Bowie tribute show and we started talking favorite albums. He’d been a music writer in another life and he said, “This is where I’m supposed to have a whole speech about how it’s so hard to choose, but who am I kidding, it’s Low?” And it is for me too. There are so many reasons, but the most important one is that it’s the pivot from the many personas of early Bowie to his later career when he could simply be himself (despite occasional costumes and characters). Early Bowie was Major Tom, later Bowie was “we know Major Tom’s a junkie,” but to recover as a junkie, you first have to hit your low. There are plenty of times when I have wondered why any of the songs on this record have words at all. But “Sound and Vision” aside, they are the texts of the junkie trying to make sense of his scattered experiences. “Always Crashing the Same Car” grew out of a Bowie between Bowie and his dealer. “Breaking Glass” is obvious. “Be My Wife” is pretty clearly the words of someone who is going to be unmarried soon. Yet somehow none of those songs are about those topics. The words of Low are as ambient as the sounds. I think the first side is better thought of as one long composition made of fragments, like the second side medley of Abbey Road. They are junkie moments broken down and reassembled like a mosaic. The second side is so transcendent that it’s hard to discuss. It’s a kind of classical music from another reality. I think it’s the final statement of Bowie on being an alien. In “Space Oddity” he imagined being an alien, in Ziggy Stardust and “Starman” and The Man Who Fell to Earth he played an alien, but in the second side of Low he is truly, finally, alien at last. Kraftwerk and Eno inspirations acknowledged, but there is nothing like it. I’ve heard it a hundred times, but giving it the 1001 headphones listen, I still heard sounds I hadn’t heard before. I don’t know if I believe in the legend of the Berlin Trilogy. Most of this album was made in France. It’s pretty different from “Heroes” and Lodger to me, as much as I love them. I see them as closer to Let’s Dance and Heathen and Blackstar, artistic statements of the finally liberated Bowie. But Low is the process of liberation itself. Like Patti Smith’s Horses and the Radiohead oeuvre, it has always been there when I needed that liberation, and I’ve needed it a lot. There are plenty of times I’ve wondered about the value of my life and where it is going. It is incredibly reassuring to know that Bowie felt those things too, and music this great was the result.

Apr 08 2026 Author

zo grappig dat ie dit niet eens getourd heeft en gewoon als toetsenist bij iggy pop ging chillen. god ja de berlin trilogie... alles van bowie is eigenlijk gewoon goed. deel van de inspiratie is dus neu! wat we al geluisterd hebben. kijk je moet geen cocaïne doen. maar als je dan eenmaal gaat stoppen met drugs en met je homoerotische bestie twee albums gaat maken (bowie produceerde in deze tijd ook iggy pop's solo debuut), dan is dat toch wel wat waard heerlijke sfeer dit 10/10. if the berlin trilogy has no lovers assume i am dead

Apr 08 2026 Author

Classic.

Apr 06 2026 Author

I've been aware of how Bowie never had any limits to experimentation when it came to his entire discography, although I can't say I found everything he created to strike my interest in full. However after listening to this album in full, I think this might be one of my personal favorites from him. The song 'Sound and Vision' I've heard multiple times beforehand and made me believe this wasn't going to be too different from his more accessible albums. Surprised by how simplistic yet oddly mixed the first few tracks are, the distorted snare and guitars grabbing my immediate attention. Then the vocals appear and fit in oddly well with the rest of the instruments. Gave me an unusual feeling of both relaxation and anticipation. Lots of instrumentals than expected, then the later part of the album started playing. Not sure how to describe it, but it was nothing that I could have predicted. Soothing synths and chanting's that could work well with some early 80s fantasy setting. The entire album was full of surprises and can't believe I missed this marvelous piece of music. Highly recommend to those who want to witness some beautiful yet surreal composure of rock and ambience.

Apr 02 2026 Author

5/5 banged Michael in the back seat of my car today to this album. Easily my new favorite Bowie album😍

Apr 02 2026 Author

The first album of the Berlin Trilogy. This takes place in a challenging period for David Bowie's life, he had recently quit cocaine even though he was a full-on addict he still managed to see how badly it was affecting him (especially during the previous album, Station to Station) he also decided to leave the U.S. on top of quitting. Which I'm sure the withdrawal symptoms had a heavy influence on the sombreness present. He brought some friends along, like for instance Brian Eno who had a big hand in the creation of this album, mainly the ambient stuff. For the A-side has these simple-minded rock and pop songs with new wave, krautrock and electronic elements and it even has instrumentals, which I'm sure was very shocking for contemporary casual listeners of Bowie as well as for the critics. For the B-side it focuses more on instrumental, wordless vocals (if there are ANY vocals present,) full on ambient music, stuff that you might hear in a soundtrack album and not something you would expect from a big name rockstar like David Bowie. Literally everything about this album I love, the tone, the emotions, the bleakness, the execution, etc. Definitely safe to say this is my favourite album ever. Possibly because it exemplifies Bowie's left-field nature and him always trying to re-invent himself, which I like the mentality of and all of the above which I just mentioned. Highlight Song/s: "Breaking Glass", "Sound and Vision, "Warszawa" and "Subterraneans"

Apr 02 2026 Author

I’m surprised, didn’t think I would like this much as I do. Really was not a fan of heroes, but this one’s being in the same trilogy, it’s awesome. All of the ambient tracks are great, five stars.

Apr 01 2026 Author

Eno!!! my favorite. This is my jam. Subterraneans sucked me in as I was working. Stopped, rewound, soaked it up.

Mar 31 2026 Author

I’ll admit that after recently listening to “Heroes” and Station to Station I was worried that while I really enjoyed Bowie’s discography outside of the his most famous works, they didn’t inspire in me the same level of intense enjoyment as Hunky Dory or Ziggy Stardust. It turns out I didn’t need to worry, as Low might be his best album. Low is a completely different kettle of fish. Bowie takes us on an incredible journey with no weak spots. It’s astonishingly free and melodic, only snapping into a more organised shape when you reach the big single Sound and Vision. It stretches itself into something even looser, smoother and abstract on the back end, which is where some of the biggest and most satisfying surprises are. Closing track Subterraneans completely reshapes my image of Bowie and what his music is capable of. A masterpiece.

Mar 31 2026 Author

Going an *ahem* Low 5 for this Bowie - sometimes its higher for me but generally i think him and Eno nailed what Eno tried to do with less success on Another Green World (unpopular opinion). The songs here are great and the soundscapes are great, but I could do with just a dash more cohesion to make it a solid 5. Sound and Vision is my favourite Bowie song 🙏

Mar 28 2026 Author

Genius

Mar 28 2026 Author

Has some of the best instrumental tracks of all time

Mar 26 2026 Author

Bueno, que decir de esto, inconmensurable Bowie, creado ambientes etereos, tremenda obra de arte, de principio a fin, te amo David

Mar 24 2026 Author

Rich imagery, excellent music, somewhat dark