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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
My favorite of the "Berlin Trilogy" albums. -- At least I think. I need to relisten to Lodger The instrumental tracks are sublime. Especially Warszawa.
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.
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.
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
Probably my favorite Bowie album. The last half of this album makes feel like I’m in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
An amazing album. I just love the way he moves from his expected (great) pop songs into instrument soundscapes.
Like two different superb albums. Krautrock meeting kraut electronica. The Berlin masterpiece!
Capolavoro. Due lati completamente diversi, il primo di canzoni più tradizionali (senza una vera hit), la seconda più atmosferica. Il secondo miglior Bowie.
Bowie plus Eno. Really hear it on Breaking Glass. I am really feeling this sonic landscape. Warszawa and the second side where this album really stretches out its legs. Need to re-spin it.
Another Bowie album and it's (obviously) great. It's very much an album of two sides. Side one is the poppy stuff that everyone knows like "Sound and Vision"; side two is longer, more pensive and mostly instrumental pieces.
This is tomorrow calling, wishing you were here. Fabulous, defiant, uplifting, the sound of a man reinventing himself. The side of instrumentals is brave and rich.
I haven't listened to the rest of the Berlin trilogy yet, but I really like it's first album, Low. The influence from the Krautrock artists was a perfect fit for Bowie's evolving style as he transitioned away from the fascist cocaine monster called the Thin White Duke. The mythology around Bowie and his personas could only really be meaningful if he backed it up with his music, which he does in spades here. Working with Brian Eno and hanging out with Iggy Pop brought a feel to this album that's hard to describe. Just like Kid A, it seems to come out of no where and go back there after we are allowed to enjoy it. The first half of this album is super cool, the second half is why its one of my favorite Bowie albums 5/5
I don't care what y'all say, this is Bowie's best, and one of the greatest albums ever created.
that was a really, really cool album I’ve listened to a few Bowie albums but I guess this one slipped past me it had such cool instrumentals and production overall 10/10, I look forward to hearing more Bowie
Some great tracks on this album, Bowie shifting styles again. Synths and whispered vocal throughout, guitars a little less to the fore. Top tracks: Sound and Vision, Warszawa, always crashing in the same car
Hi- Speed of Life, What in the World, Sound and Vision, Be My Wife, Weeping Wall, Subterraneans The first act opens up with rapid-fire ditties that we've all come to know and love from Bowie, with some fresh experiments in electronic sounds. What in the World starts off with what should be an annoying bleeping that somehow just works and wouldn't be the same without it. Be My Wife is filled with hard-hitting honky-tonk piano hits and driving beats. The second act (right after you'd normally flip over the record or cassette) features more atmospheric, electronic tapestries; Weeping Wall features marimbas that provide the backing for a moody exploration. Subterraneans is a thickly-layered scored like you'd experience on the big screen, complimented by that classic Bowie baritone sax to remind you what you're dealing with here. Fantastic album, just amazing, you're stupid if you don't love it.
I had high expectations going in and was a little apprehensive that the album might not deliver. But my concern was redundant, the album is fantastic. It’s such a full sounding album, with so many surprises and melodic ear worms. Its pretty experimental in parts but it really showcases Bowie as an artist first and foremost. The second half of the album isn’t as punchy as the first; the pace slows down a bit during the instrumental sound scapes. But they’re gorgeous to listen to, it doesn’t matter that the album isn’t packed with pop hits, it doesn’t need to be, the beautiful art rock is such a pleasant listen. 5/5 - Loved it.
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'.
This album's A-side is perfect, from "Speed of Life" from "A New Career in a New Town", being "Sound and Vision" one of the greatest songs of all time. The B-side is also great, of course, but it's very different from anything else Bowie did or would do, since you can feel Brian Eno's presence everywhere. It's near perfection.
Hi- Speed of Life, What in the World, Sound and Vision, Be My Wife, Weeping Wall, Subterraneans The first act opens up with rapid-fire ditties that we've all come to know and love from Bowie, with some fresh experiments in electronic sounds. What in the World starts off with what should be an annoying bleeping that somehow just works and wouldn't be the same without it. Be My Wife is filled with hard-hitting honky-tonk piano hits and driving beats. The second act (right after you'd normally flip over the record or cassette) features more atmospheric, electronic tapestries; Weeping Wall features marimbas that provide the backing for a moody exploration. Subterraneans is a thickly-layered scored like you'd experience on the big screen, complimented by that classic Bowie baritone sax to remind you what you're dealing with here. Fantastic album, just amazing, you're stupid if you don't love it.
1,001 albums... Back in the seventies, the gormless DJ-cum-presenter (who was far more interested in his - it was always a he back then - own fame than the art he pretended to like - that *we* liked) would bid his faux-cheery farewells towards the end of Top of the Pops then the credits would roll as one final song was played but then faded out way before its proper end. One week, when I was still to be a teenager, it was the turn of one of the most extraordinary things I'd ever heard. \"What is this shit?\" I might have wondered, had I not just been told by Bates or Travis or whoever it was that week, just like Charles Shaar Murray famously did - though he in disgust and disappointment rather than the breathless awe I felt. Don't you wonder sometimes? I had a bit of a problem with David Bowie at the time - he looked completely different every time I set eyes on him. It used to really confuse me. Just before Low was released (around the time RCA were refusing to release it, so dismayed by it were they), he'd had his first UK number one with a song he'd recorded and released seven years earlier. In the video he didn't seem to be the same impossibly exotic and otherworldly being as on the covers of his albums. He was quite gawky and ordinary, in fact. Like everyone else but in my own little way, I didn't know who David Bowie was. And neither did he in 1976. Famously, he couldn't even really remember recording the stately Station to Station a few months earlier and so decamped to Europe in a bid to get off the Bolivian marching powder with his mate, Jim. Between them they somehow managed to channel their shared withdrawal psychosis to produce four seminal albums in less than twelve months, each with a slightly different flavour. Of the four, Low, with its artful split personality, its shattered fragments of paranoia-infused recovery and redemption and its icy dislocation, is the greatest. So ahead of its time that even the NME didn't get it - a brutally honest document of Britain's greatest star struggling to straighten himself out before he turned thirty. (Decades later, my Polish wife would hear me playing Low and instantly recognise a fragment of a Silesian folk song that Magpie Dave had nicked from a record he'd bought in Wilsonplatz as he journeyed by train through Warsaw. It amuses me that calling his track \"Warszawa\" was a bit like sampling a colliery brass band and calling it \"London.\")
Low ist eins der besten Bowie Alben mit Abstand, ich mags auch mehr als Heroes. Ultra gut einfach
A bloody perfect album. Love it so much. Atmospheric but with some absolute bangers too
My first full album by Bowie was not a disappointment. More artsy than expected. Pretty good.
A couple cool songs. I get this might have been really influential at the time, but idk. Can’t see myself listening to it a ton over the next few years. Some of the ambient stuff is kinda cool, but not like a great tangerine dream album or anything like that.
Vibey, no words really so we just chillin. Good to listen to while emailing but also could see potential of laying on ur bed high/sober and just contemplating an shit
Cool album. Very blade runner esque (pre BR) lot of ambient sounds. Mostly instrumental but I dug it.
I really liked this. Atmospheric and cool. I would not have listened to this before. Glad I did.
So surprisingly upbeat and felt like a complete album. Hardly a stinker on it. Groovin and then reflect on the groovin'. Don't think I had the patience for the end though.
I've not listened to the Berlin trilogy before. I liked this record. Very Blade Runner-y.
Minimal lyrics, bit Pink Floyd sounding. A new career in a new town added it my liked songs The harmonica part sounds like a tune from Black Star album
Chyba sie zmowili, w poprzednim piku hejtuje pana brajana eno i od razu dostalem dokladke, tym razem z legendarnego lowa bowiego, ktory otwiera berlinska trylogie, ktora tak w ogole zostala nagrana w wiekszosci we francji, o tej plycie mozna smialo powiedziec, ze ma dwie strony, pierwsze 19 minut klasyczny rokowy bowie, mocno walacy po drumsach w tym wydaniu i z epickimi gitarkami, ktore o dziwo atakuja jedynie lewy kanal, jak na traku breaking glass gdzie slychac to najlepiej, bo takie solowki odjaniepwala pan carlos, ze glowa mala, jako ze eno sie czai w produkcji to synthy mocno weszly jak na what in the world, ale na szczescie wokale bowiego ratuja sytuacje i nie daja sie zawannowac, tak mniej wiecej gra pierwsze 19 minut, potem nastaje druga strona i warszawa, jak czlowiek slyszy cos takiego, to sie zastanawia co tam musial bowie zobaczyc w tych latach 70, ze takie post apo zrobil, najbardziej kojarzy mi sie to z bookiem peanatema, pewnie z powodu tych wokali ktore przypominaja zawodzenie mniszkowe, a matematykowe mnichy z tej ksiazki swietnie pasuja do konceptu, przekazywania info za pomoca notacji muzycznej, kolejne traki rowniez praktycznie w calosci instrumentale lecz juz nie o tak przerazliwym klimacie rowniez trzymaja poziom czegos niespotykanego w muzyce popowej, bo przeciez to jest jednak bowie, nie mam plejki na takie instrumentalne, wiec dam do jednego wora braking glass i warszawke, chociaz to jedna z tych plyt ktore warto przesluchac od openingu do endingu, bo traki maja swietne przejscia i stanowia plynna calosc tworzac unikatowy klimat, ktorego u bowiego nie mozna bylo wczesciej dostac na zadnym albumie
Always love Sound and Vision. The other songs on the album take a little more work to get into, but I do like it. Also it's like half-instrumental.
Had only heard Sound and Vision before, which is a favorite. The whole album has a really nice range from the pop-flavored to the somewhat experimental, with a lot of influence from German synth bands of the 70s. A fun evening listen.
well, there it is, the good bowie album. only ever listened to him as a greatest hits kind of artist. i bet germay was shit in the 80s and that is what this album nicely conveys.
Wenn ich mir überlege, dass es seinerzeit etwas ganz Neues war, gefällt es mir sehr. Ich würde es gerne mit den Ohren der 70er hören und noch mehr die neuen Töne entdecken. Ich mag das dünstere und die Geräusche und das man irgendwie darin verschwinden kann.
Für David Bowie Verhältnisse kam mir das Album über weite Strecken regelrecht garagig und roh vor.
Not too catchy but really good as background music, more instrumental than other Bowie albums I've heard
Good opening track. Wish that Sound and Visions didn't have that hissing noise. The later Eno experimental tracks are interesting, weird but drag on with repeat listens.
Didn't specify 3.5s and 4.5s before now. Previous 3.5s - Sheer Heart Attack, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, The Cars, Dire Straits Previous 4.5s - Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
There might be a reason this isn’t one of the Bowie “canon” albums, but I like it. It’s very different, with electronic instrumental tracks. I think listening to it offers a new perspective on Bowie and a different sort of experience. I approve. Favourite track: “Subterraneans”
Bowie will always be great. I think this was my first time listening to this one though. It's quite haunting.
This is a record that I've heard many times. I think I might own it. But it's never top on the list of Bowie records that I reach for. The sounds are interesting, but in some ways they all feel like short ideas for things that could have become more fully-fledged songs. Because there isn't a lot of change happening in the songs, I'm thankful they are short. I prefer the record before this "Station to Station" and the record after "Heroes." Since this is the first of the Berlin trilogy, I think it gets lumped in with better records. But I guess in the context of the time its pretty remarkable. Highlights: The lead guitar and quirky synths in "Breaking Glass;" The lightheartedness of "Sound and Vision;" The obvious influence of the intro of "A New Career in a New Town" on Radiohead's Kid A (which has to be on this list somewhere, right?); I love how cinematic "Warszawa" is.
Bowie and Eno, why am I not surprised. Good album, has its legacy in ambience and electronic, but not as big an album as Station to Station.
Hadn't realised the second half was all instrumental. I dig it. I think I'd enjoy whatever imaginary film it's a soundtrack to. Also, Sound and Vision is one of my favourites and worth big points on its own. FOUR STARS.
I like this album because it has some classic tunes, but mostly because it loses its shit from track 7 onwards, its as if Bowie finished the album and then left the tape recording and another band came in and recording 5 more tracks onto the end....madness
Initially, I rolled my eyes at having to listen to a Bowie album, and one I'd never heard of at that. Surprisingly, I found myself quite enjoying it, thought it was a 3. Went back for another listen and I think it deserves more than that. Four stars - Bowie, but not as you know it, and all the better for it.
The start of this was a proper bop. Way more chill towards the end, but it still made good background music. I probably won't come back to the last few tracks though.
Absolutely a classic album - who wouldn't want to listen to full Bowie album (answer - me - i'm not sure i've actually listened to anything that wasn't a greatest hits). Minimal 'hits' - i.e. Sound and Vision. It was challenging and fascinating. Look forward to the next Bowie album (must be a few more in the list!)
-I like the melody rhythm in "Breaking Glass" -"A New Career in a New Town" and "Warszawa" have a pretty spooky ethereal vibe to them -Generally pretty good, just never god really epicly
Currently at track 5 - very futuristic for the fact it was made in 1977. Bowie's vocals are good but wouldn't be a repeat listen for me as is. I read some things about this being the first of the Berlin Trilogy: I'm very excited to hear the other 2 albums because the ambiance of Subterraneans is fantastic. The general "soul" of the track, the feeling it carries with it is very good in execution. I'd rate this album a 7/10 on first listen, but I can imagine some of these tracks really growing on me soon. Looking forward to listening to the first 3 tracks of the album as I didn't like those at first.
I did not know this album from him, but again, Bowie did not disappoint! I did not like the last song though...
Really good album and the one before Heroes. So it's interesting to see how he developed a sounds on this album already.
a Bowie album that hits my spot a bit, but I can't help but think 5 Bowie albums in this list is a bit much... pick a lane!
Good album, I only knew Sound and Vision (which I like). Warszawa has some serious Twin Peaks vibes. As many have said: not my favourite Bowie, but still enjoyable.
-chill and funky but good to do homework to -not too many words which was unexpected -first time listening to David Bowie 6/10 -2 skips
David Bowie is a weird dude. But as I got into this album, I realized how hard I was vibing with it. Loved how instrumental it was, more listens on the way.
Could this be the Bowie album for listeners who are not Bowie fans? I've tried (admittedly not *that* hard) over the years to like Bowie, or even "get" him - but aside from a few cuts (mostly Ziggy Stardust) here and there I never enjoyed him and if I could pick only one reason it'd probably be his voice. No getting around his voice, really... unless... he recorded an album that sounded a lot like a focused Brian Eno record (hmm...) and he didn't sing a lot on it and when he did it was mixed down low with every other instrument.... Low! Eno worked on this record with him a lot which after listening to 3 early Eno records over the past few months it's not hard to pick out the similarities. But as referenced above, this is more focused (at least on the first half!). The first "half" (7 songs) are tight songs that are nonetheless not predictable; a lot of which has to do with lack of vocals or even just not having them come in when one might traditionally expect. That second half is weird and I love it - put on some headphones and turn out the lights and you can lose yourself in the sounds; I'd hesitate to call most of these "songs" but there is melody and depth to them. Shocking to me that this is the same guy that sang "Fame" or "Young Americans" - at any rate, the 2nd side is like a different album entirely, yet still fits under the same experimental melodic umbrella. A lot can be read about the production techniques on the album; especially the drum sounds on a few songs; they have a crunchy gated effect that suits the music really well. I enjoy the mix as well (again: headphones). This one surprised me - I saw David Bowie and thought "meh" but what a great surprise and a keeper. 8/10 4 stars.
It wasn't the best David Bowie album but it was in fact a David Bowie album which means it was still pretty darn good. I did love the instrumental tracks.
Listened to this for the first time when I was 15, after Bowie had passed away. Most recent time was this past Saturday. The album dips a bit towards the end with all the instrumentals, but I've never been big on instrumental music anyway. It took a second listen to really appreciate and feel the emotion of all of them. Tracks like Be My Wife, Sound and Vision, Speed of Life and What in the World are brilliant, and for me it made sitting through Warszawa worth it. Bowie's Berlin period (and the album Station To Station, which preceeded it) was fantastic and it broke ground for the genres of post punk, new wave and 80s indie music. It also appeared to be necessary for Bowie's life in general as it was this period in his life that helped him overcome his crippling addiction to cocaine.
Second track, I'm looking in the mirror lol Be my wife is sweet I like the synth, very alien along with the cover of the album. Evokes curiosity and exploration a lot of instrumentals which makes for ambient bowie noise Subterraneans interesting, kind of ominous and like a death march on Mars. would make a great soundtrack
mais ou menos, boazinha mas não é algo que eu vou pensar “nossa tava afim de ouvir um low by david bowie”
My brain may be addled, because I find it impossible not to hear Dune in Warszawa and Blade Runner in Art Decade. And in that light, Low is a slightly disjoint effort by Bowie. The goofy hair weirdness is gone from this music, vocal shrieks replaced by guitars. It's a wonderful choice, as the abstraction and applied effects are only really effective on instruments. I am sure that there is a sample or quote of New Career on Blackstar. The weirdness here is more outsider, more Trout Mask Replica. I love it, and the instrumentals somewhat less. Low's a better album than many 4s on this list.
I love this period of Bowie....the Berlin period. And Low is generally regarded as the masterpiece from the Berlin period. But I actually prefer both Station to Station and Heroes. I acknowledge that Low is the more unconventional and atmospheric of the three, but I find myself wondering what the point of songs like; Art Decade and Weeping Wall. Having said that Low is one of the greatest post-punk / New wave albums of all time. Considering that it was released in 1976 three years before post-punk was invented that's something. 4 5 🌟
Really enjoyed this. I like Bowie but I enjoyed the instrumentals and wouldn’t necessarily known it was him. Some were contemporary symphonies. 4*
Not the most accessible album by Bowie but an interesting sonic exploration - this one needs more than a day to savour but clearly a lot of pedigree
This album (along with Heroes, Lodger, and Lou Reeds’ Berlin) was responsible for me hitchhiking across Europe to Berlin in the summer of 1984.
What a jam! Fairly straightforward rock on this album (with a couple strange signature Bowie tracks). Loved Breaking Glass! Not his best album ever, but I liked it.
I've always listened to Bowie's earlier eras of music - though, of course, I've heard this album or at least many of the songs on it. This is an interesting transition from the earlier, glam stuff. I love the moody, atmospheric stuff on here. Seems fitting for the soundtrack of Bladerunner. It's a great album that continues to show Bowie's musical depth
7/10. Pleasant album, but a bit boring, at least for driving. So far, definitely a low for David Bowie albums on this list.
Love it, its not what I listen to normally, but I will definetely get on vinyl when my record player arrives. Its an incredible album and I will definetly be listening to the whole thing again.
More of a dramatic cinematic soundtrack than album but not in a bad way. Again not my favourite Bowie but still incredible enough to justify his placement on the wall with the other gods of good tunes
Crazy how all of David Bowles album sound ahead of their time, futuristic, and emblematic of the time it was made all at once
this is the second time this has given me a Bowie album, and the second time I've been impressed. But before listening to these albums, every song I'd heard from him (I guess all radio hits ofc) was kinda shit. would have given 4/5 but the last few songs were kinda pointless spacey not-quite-synthwave ambient duds.
Nyt oli jo vähän parempaa Bowiee, pari kertaa pysty putkeen kuuntelee tuskastumatta ja tahtiakin tuli naputeltua menemään paikoin.
More disjointed than I typically enjoy Bowie albums but he still fits the album sound to his personal style well
Not really Bowie hits I had heard before, but it had the original sound and vision which I enjoyed since I had only heard the cover. I can definitely hear how this album may have influenced future artists. It definitely has some elements that feel more modern than I might expect from an album from 1977.
As with most Bowie, I liked it... OK. I actually love his voice, but his music is pretty often on the "too weird to listen to regularly" side. However, I like this better than the Waits album. Still, can't give it 4 stars.
Ironically had recently added this to my private list of albums to “check out later”— an ongoing never-finished project- so I was glad to give this one a listen. The beginning of the “Berlin trilogy”, so I added all three incl. Heroes and Lodger. Bowie was newly sober for this record, which makes me think of my own ongoing relationship with substances. It’s forward-sounding, extremely unique stuff clearly influenced by loads of other music. I like this one a lot, 4 stars on its own but 5 in the grander context of these three records
Very "artsy". OK album but will probably not put on when I feel like listening to some David Bowie.
Good album, with the single Sound and Vision. The lasts tracks are more « ambient » music
A good, not great Bowie album. I don't understand why people think all Bowie albums have to be great just because Ziggy Stardust is so amazing.
No conocía este disco de Bowie y veo que ninguna de sus canciones está entre las más famosas de él. Me ha sorprendido lo moderno que suena siendo del año 1977. La electrónica que incluye me gusta y está Brian Eno, capaz de lo mejor y de lo otro también. Tiene un aire Talking Heads interesante. Canciones como What in the world o Sound and vision están bien. La cara B del vinilo tiene temas sorprendentes como Warszawa, Art decade o Subterraneans experimentales y más parecidos a New Age o banda sonora que a algo que relacionemos con Bowie.
Not my favorite Bowie album but I do appreciate its inventiveness and I think if it I wasnt already in love with Bowie's other work I would probably like it more. I knew sound and vision but not any other song. I thought this might be one of the albums he worked with Brian Eno on and I'm right! It's the first one. I believe they used some of Enos Oblique Strategies to develop the songs.
I enjoyed it, but it didn't particularly move me. Frustrated by Spotify turning everything into a radio station. I just want it to stop when the album is over. Almost thought Rebel Rebel was on this album.
Great album but some of the tracks just drag for a bit too long. The album has great peaks, Warszawa is an incredible, chilling track. 3.5/5.
Interesting? Yes. I don't know how important this is as a stand alone album, other than that it's hard to say how his later works would have turned out without this period. It's definitely a different listen...
Nicht mein Lieblingsalbum von Bowie, mir gefallen seine Glamrock-Songs besser. Aber allein die Vorstellung, wie er durch das Berlin der 70er spaziert und neue Sounds ausprobiert, ist toll.
Bisher kannte ich Bowie nicht so instrumentell. Man verfällt schnell in Trance bei dem Album. Kann man sich anhören.
A more mainstream and poppy sound than what I was expecting. The last couple of numbers are more experimental but I enjoyed it all.
Is it artsy? Yeah! Is it good? Debatable. I love me some ambient music, but after listening to this I don't really care to hear it on the regular. I think it's a neat album and can see why Bowie fans praise it since it expands his already wide range. It just isn't catchy and isn't memorable. It's cool as hell, but I wouldn't want to purchase it or anything. Sorry you had a bad time, Bowie.
First half is meh 70s rock. 2nd half is epic/atmospheric synth music. I love the 2nd half
I have listened to some Bowie before but I hadn't listened to this particular album. It's a good album but to be honest nothing really special about it at the first listen atleast. For now I would rank it a weak 3.
Of course I know David Bowie, but I think every track on this album was new to me. It was different than what I've heard from Bowie before. "Weeping Wall" almost sounds like Prog Rock. I have no idea what "Warszawa" was supposed to be (weird). "Sound and Vision" came up as the favorite from this album, but overall this album gets an official "okay".
Just the right amount of weird for me. I appreciated all the instrumentation, both real (bass lines were rocking through most of the album) and synthentic. Most of the songs were between 2-3 minutes, which I think was perfect - it was just long enough for me to think "hey, this is pretty cool" and then it would end before I got bored. Last few tracks lost me though. In general, I wish I would have heard more of Bowie's voice - most of the time I felt like I was listening to a movie score.
Very interesting - seemingly mostly instrumental (didn't keep track of how much), there's a mix of ambient sounds with straightforward beats. It still sounds like Bowie even without the voice.
While this Album still has great innovation and Bowie's mastermind, the end result from a music standpoint is just not my cup of tea
Great album with awesome instrumentals, it’s clear this album has tons of artistic merit. As good as it is, I don’t see myself coming back to listen to it for fun very often, but still a good listen.
I love the first half of the album with all of it's spiky post punk attitude but the soundscape instrumentals though should be applauded by someone of Bowie's level to try new avant garde ideas, they are just lacking something. Maybe I need to do loads of blow and listen to them again... Best Tracks: Breaking Glass; Sound and Vision; Always Crashing In The Same Car
Worth listening to as a whole album. Most tracks are familiar, but together they really feel on that Low feeling. If you are listening to this regularly, you probably need to take up a team sport or something to get you out of the house.
Good listen, musically. The album seems incomplete between the short and fading out tracks, general lack of lyrics, and different concepts on each side.
My first time listening to this album and my first impression is squarely on the "meh" side of things. There's something about it, though, that makes me think it becomes better the more you listen to it, so I'm going to give this a slightly higher score than my gut says I should.
Good background, probably wouldn’t seek it out on it’s own. Decent within-album variety.
My stance on this one is the same as for Heroes: I really like the typical David Bowie, but the synth-ambient Bowie just doesn't do it for me. First half 4 stars, second half 2.5 stars.
The songs are great, but the synthy stuff at the end is all Radiophonic Workshop outtakes - tuneless noodling.
Soucieux de bien comprendre la musique de chacun des artistes du générateur, ainsi que leur histoire, robpenitencier n'hésite pas à se rendre sur les lieux ayant marqué la confection des albums du jour. Nous le retrouvions par exemple il y a quelque jours au Panama pour l'ecoute de Willie Colón et Rubén Blades. Aujourd'hui, c'est à Berlin qu'il se trouve. Malgré une empreinte carbone désastreuse, on ne peut que saluer la perseverance et la passion de rob, qui je l'espère, saura trouver grâce auprès de Robert, qui ne lui a toujours pas pardonné l'épisode Kiwanuka.
Love his voice, which makes me wish there was more of it on this album as there were a lot of instrumental songs. No song particularly stood out as one that I'll go back to again but I enjoyed listening the whole time!
I do think it was really interesting but it was also kinda boring. There wasn’t singing which is fine but made me lost interest and not pay complete attention. i did really like the overall sound though.
It's very interesting to know a little bit more of this so famous "Berlin phase" of Bowie. Actually, I didn't enjoy it too much, however, it's impossible not to note how it influenced modern songs after it.
Quite good as background music and a departure from what I would usually expect. Nothing particularly standout though.
As usual with Bowie, appreciate the talent but I’m not into it personally. Not this one at least - waiting to find the Bowie album I can fall in love with!
More interesting than the usual Bowie. Loving the space oddessy vibes, but not the album overall.
A really interesting listen. I've always loved how unique his albums sound, unfortunately has never really clicked for me.
First half is really good particularly enjoyed breaking glass and sound and vision which I already knew. Second half is utter shit. Completely different ruins the album really. 3 stars for the good first half but must try harder David Bowie
I first heard this over 15 years after it was released. Didn’t much enjoy the lauded second side. Still love Be My Wife. Every time I revisit it grows on me more. This time it’s clear that my problem is that all the new music since 1977 has probably been informed by this LP, so it doesn’t sound new or innovative to me. However, we do now know that it was thoroughly new music at the time of recording. The synths, the drum effect, mixing more conventionally crafted songs on one side and instrumental textures on the other. Yes, it’s really influential and boundary-pushing and side one keeps up with the better mid 70s Bowie material. Not quite good enough for 4*
This album definitely loses me in the second half. Some excellent tracks though. 3.5/5 stars
Better than expected, A lot of the songs fell into the background but none really stuck out as being awful.
While I am not the biggest Bowie fan, I was impressed by how modern this album sounds.
From the get go the sound of this album let’s you know that it’s pushing the boundaries. I’ve never heard anything like Speed Of Life with the harmonizer creating an industrial electronic high pitched sound. One of my favorite aspects of the album is the prominent bass guitar. It is in the driver’s seat for several songs, like Breaking Glass & Sound and Vision. The video game like feel to What In The World is fun. I have two main issues with this album. First, too many of the songs feel short and unfinished. It feels like the full concept for each song was not fleshed out. Second, the back half of the album is mostly instrumental, which I enjoy here by the way, but it feels like a different album. It’s the Brian Eno effect. The two halves do not go together for me. This album is exciting. I listened to it several times. The sound is incredibly interesting. And yet because of that excitement, the album also incredibly disappointing due to its incompleteness and change in style.
I can appreciate the talent, not into the apparent experimentation that was this album
Low is the 11th studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 14 January 1977 by RCA Records. After years of drug addiction and personal instability living in Los Angeles, Bowie escaped to France in 1976 with his friend and singer Iggy Pop to become sober. After meeting musician Brian Eno the same year, Bowie began recording the first of three collaborations with Eno and producer Tony Visconti later named the "Berlin Trilogy". The music on Low is grounded in art rock and experimental rock, and features Bowie's first explorations in electronic and ambient styles. It is influenced by the German music scene, particularly bands such as Tangerine Dream, Neu!, Harmonia and Kraftwerk. Side one consists primarily of short, direct avant-pop song-fragments while side two consists of longer, mostly instrumental tracks. Retrospectively, Low has received critical acclaim and is regarded as one of Bowie's best works. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic writes that with the album, Bowie "confirmed his place at rock's cutting edge". Considering it "dense [and] challenging", Erlewine concludes "the record is defiantly experimental and dense with detail, providing a new direction for the avant-garde in rock & roll."
Yep.... Still not a Bowie guy, maybe after this list makes me listen to the entire discography it will click with me. tesla out of 5
An unavoidable widow of his legacy, I assume this was a dark time for him. Not my favourite
Mercifully short. Sound and vision is a decent track. Apart from that it was too experimental for me. 2 albums in and I still don't get Bowie.
Like the previous Bowie albums I've already tried, this starts off quite promising from a musical viewpoint but then quickly becomes somewhat tiresome and flat. Best track: Speed of Life
Below average album. Several songs are just instrumentals. Sound and vision is a good song that stands out but the rest just drones along without much value. 5.1/10
While some of the individual tracks impress with their strong instrumentation and influences, the album as a whole reads more as a grouping of demos than a cohesive product.
Not an album I've listened to before and I'm not likely to listen to it again. Left me feeling cold. Other than Sound and Vision (which is great and earns the album a second star) I found the entire experience a bit boring and a slog to get through
-I enjoy David Bowie but I haven't listened to most of his stuff -Songs are upbeat, mysterious, adventurous -Wish he sang more especially towards the end -Ending half of the album sounded more like a movie soundtrack because it was mainly instrumental -Last half of the album kind of made it seem incohesive to the first half of the album -Favourite songs are What In The World,
I like Bowie. Hadn't listened before. Odd album. Opening instrumental, very short 2nd track, I like "Sound and Vision", although fade out endings generally bug me. The last few (mostly) instrumental tracks felt otherworldly. Most likely an album I'd need to listen to many times to get the appreciation that bigger Bowie fans have.
The only song that I really liked from this album was Always Crashing in the Same Car, which I guess is enough to give it 2 stars.
I thought this album was alright in the beginning but then started getting really instrumental. Not spectacular and why I feel David Bowie is very hit or miss. 4/10.
David Bowie has some iconic songs and I guess this particular album would be considered an iconic sound with a lot of synth. However, I found this album to be rather boring with a lot of repetitive noises playing. It’s not something I would listen to again.
Breaking Glass has a great groove. Warszawa was very trippy. All in all just not for me
I have a hard time enjoying anything from the late 70s or the whole 80s. This experience was once again a proof of that 😂 really don't like this kind of music, but it was interesting to listen to this entire record, since ive never listened to anything by bowie besides his biggest hits. Still, not for me though
Great title for this LP, Low. An apt description of my general disposition following its conclusion, not to mention the percentage of possibility that I’ll listen to this recording again. Admittedly, I’ve only been a casual fan of Bowie throughout his varied incarnations. I understand he’s a rock god. I’m just usually worshiping at another altar, that’s all, and so don’t have much to contribute to the litany. For what it’s worth, only two brief observations: 1) Listening to a Bowie LP with over half the tracks as instrumentals is like listening to a Hendrix LP minus the guitar solos. What’s the point? The primary reason I listen to Bowie is to hear him sing, damn it! I feel gypped. 2) This would make a wonderful soundtrack to a movie, a genre Bowie happened to be already familiar with at this point in his career. The only obvious problem, though, is there’s no accompanying film! Again, gypped. Straight up, I loathed side one: a sloppy, clunky, shrilly mess of a recording. Bowie’s lyrics aren’t much better, either, including a lame marriage proposal on track six?! Not that my displeasure took that long to coalesce. I wasn’t a minute into the second track before I started looking for some glass of my own to break. Side two was a little more tolerable. I am a fan of Brian Eno, and could definitely hear the influence he was already having on Bowie. Perhaps the musical ideas on the LP just needed to stew in the crockpot a little longer to get as tender and tasty as they would on later recordings. Or could it possibly have been the effects of Bowie’s new sober lifestyle, following years of prodigious cocaine abuse in the city of the fallen angels? That would cover a multitude of musical sins. Nothing much good has ever come from the union of LA and (B)'Low.' I’m just thankful Bowie survived it all; and, that this wasn’t his only recording. That said, (B)'Low' blew, for me. Would it have been too much to have allowed Bowie just a little bit of cocaine, purely for recording purposes? (He deserves one star just for his Bowieocity.)
A great artist with less to show for it than he ought to have, he's never not experimenting. yet on the four Bowie albums that have come up so far, none of the experiments have worked spectacularly. Still, I'm pleased he gave them a shot.
"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.
This is my least favorite album from Bowie. Can't wait for the other albums of his on this list.
Bowie certainly seems to have captured some sort of zeitgeist here. I'm not sure if it's the zeitgeist of 1977, or some Blade Runner-esque 2177 dystopia, but it's got a vibe. Not my vibe, granted, but a vibe. Some of the songs could make for some interesting sci-fi or fantasy movie soundtrack material, but I wasn't feeling it as an album to listen to in 2022.
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!
Vo ouvi
Some electro touches. Great atmosphere Proto Post Rock
2nd is ok Sound of vision's vibe is grade A