Low

Oh I think I'm starting to get this David Bowie thing. This album was so good. The composition, production, and the use of many different instruments and styles was so impressive. In the first half of the record, he was able to get me hooked on the song in such a short amount of time that it didn't feel like the songs were as short as they were. The second half took a major switch towards mostly instrumentals. This was something that I wasn't expecting, but was surprised by how beautiful and interesting they got. This guy's songwriting on this album is so good, and his use of synths and vocal layering is so cool. Breaking Glass has a super farty and fat bass. Sound and Vision is a great song all the way through. I wish this song was another minute longer. Be My Wife: another great song Warszawa is beautiful I think this might be another 5 from me. Hopefully his other albums on this list stack up.

This man must have utterly crushed Berlin in 1977

This is so good. New-wavy but still beautiful. Complex without feeling inaccessible. The album does so much in its 39 minutes. This is my kind of Bowie.

I will sit right down. Waiting for the gift of sound and vision.

Bowie albums are always a group effort, as he was a highly selective and demanding band leader and composer who surrounded himself with top talent (Mick Ronson, Carlos Alomar, Robert Fripp, Donny McCaslin, etc.). Here, he enlists Brian Eno to explore krautrock and ambient, with other sonic and aesthetic contributions from longtime producer Tony Visconti, to brilliant effect. Bowie by this point in the '70s was on another level artistically, coming off the effortless-sounding (and cocaine-fueled) art pop of Station to Station to produce what always sounds to me like the future. Low reminds me of a science fiction movie soundtrack, only with fully realized songs and compositions. Brilliant and still ahead of its time.

Sometimes I just play the album in the background and only give it partial attention while I do other things. I tried that with Low, and after the record finished, I wasn't sure how I felt about it. It was certainly "good", but was it "great"? Are we talking about a solid three stars or five stars? So I listened to it again. And again. And then a fourth time. Holy hell, this is a good record. Wow. I'm, like, familiar enough with David Bowie, but this wasn't full of hits, just Sound and Vision pretty much? But it's a brilliant album, it sounds years ahead of its time. I love this record!

Not all of David Bowie's albums are 5 stars, but this is another one, for me. It is epic while only being 38 minutes long. It has upbeat songs like Sound & Vision (and first half of album) while also having looming, brooding, almost ambient compositions like Warszawa (and second half of album).

You need some balls to be at a... low in your career, yet still pull off a spectacular album where the music dominates, and not the lyrics. I love everything about Low: the muffled drums, the experimentation, the hair. ALWAYS the hair. Oh how we miss him.

Opens with a banger instrumental, followed by some average rock. Comfort-rock from Bowie. Then the second half is a sublime exploration of some ambient grooves. Really saves it in the clutch.

Every Bowie is a different Bowie, but each is so goddamned good. I've definitely heard the guitar line from Breaking Glass and it's killing me trying to place it... What in the World almost sounds like it could be a Talking Heads song in its kookiness. Sound and Vision is fantastic -- just love the dance hop of it and all the layers. The back half of this album takes on a completely different tone than the front. I'm into it, but it is a jarring contrast. Honestly don't know how to review this one, but I loved it start to finish sooo low 5.

This album is absolutely incredible! Atmospheric and catchy

I'll never get to visit space, but at least I've got Low 🚀

Cap 3 1 25.

Loved this art rock album. Its ambient sound perfectly accompanied my hour-long walk across Dublin this morning. The instrumental pieces, the moody lyrics...all of it worked.

A true album. Two sides. Distinct but complementary. This is 1977. Right at the crossroads where one era is fading and the new era just a hazy apparition coalescing. The supernova of punks arrival recalibrated everything. The arrival of keyboards pointed to possible futures. This tabla rasa is perfect for someone like David Bowie. A blank canvas, some new tools and willing collaborators. Singular.

bowie's best

One of my favourite Bowie albums

sorta mentioned this way back when i got aladdin sane but its becoming even more clear that a hurdle ill have to overcome whenever i finally dedicate myself to a bowie run is how difficult i find it to conceptualize many of his records as Cohesive Projects yaknow. even ziggy stardust's rock opera ambitions took Ages to click in my head as more than a collection of songs, idk just a weird problem to have for such an album-oriented artist. again maybe if i had been super into bowie in my formative music period this wouldnt be an issue! anyway, i do have the same struggle with this record (even compared to the similar structure of eno's Before And After Science from the same year) but i also used to kinda bounce off the material itself believe it or not, am thrilled to report that is no longer the case!!! eno's arrangements are the main catalyst of course, he is rock music's great Sculptor and there is as much synesthetic bliss and Sounds That Sound Like Everything But Also Only Like Themselves as u could want. he and visconti assist bowie in hammering out these miniature songs where their enveloping sound qualities almost clash with how economic they are...plenty of places here id like to spend more time (i have a similar experience with eno's another green world). if anything tho it just emphasizes that this is a record meant to be played and sunk into repeatedly, and not just given a couple disinterested one-off listens as a teen and then given another one-off listen as part of a 1001 albums project. it seems v rewarding and i would not be shocked at all to see it skyrocketing even more in my estimation once i do my bowie dive proper

Certainly a side of Bowie that I wasn't familiar with. Great atmosphere, great instrumentals, certainly worth another spin. Faves: Speed of Life, Sound and Vision

Guess I've generally gravitated towards his more accessible stuff, because this is another Bowie album where I was taken off guard by the second half being straight up ambient. I've listened to the Berlin Trilogy a few times before, but obviously not with enough attention, as that fact passed me by. I guess if I got into vinyl that woulda been more readily apparent! I really dug this, and should really put the Berlin Trilogy on repeat a bunch to get it to bed in. Fave tracks - "What in the World" from the more conventional half, "Warszawa" - love that Bulgarian Women's Choir vocal! - and "Subterraneans" from the ambient side!

What hasn't already been said about Bowie or this album? I love everything about this and around it. It's fresh and wacky now as it was then- full of noises and quirks. Iconic without being cliched.

The future is now old man meme but make it an album. Feels like you could you reach out and touch the Berlin wall. 5 stars.

5 stars for the sound alone, amazing!

The second half of this might be my favourite thing of Bowie's I've ever heard?

if you put Sound and Vision on at a party you better WATCH OUT because the Whitest Dance Moves On Earth (tm) are coming at you fast more seriously, I think even the back half of this is really sonically interesting and it's very fun to listen to later work by Eno, et al, and hear (in my opinion) bits and pieces of this album. Music for Airports was shortly after and then we had "ambient music" all of a sudden. my local record store usually has some sort of special heavy-gram version of this album and I'm like "oh I love Low" but then it's $60 and I guess, despite everything I just said, I don't $60-special-release love this album but I do really love this album. The first time I heard "Sound and Vision" it really hit a spot for me that "Starman" did when a friend handed me a burned copy of my first David Bowie album, where I feel like I could leave it on repeat-one and let my mind drift forever. Heroes has "Heroes" and Lodger has "Boys Keep Swinging" which are both excellent, but as a full album this is the peak of the Berlin trilogy in my opinion. It's amazing what consuming more than peppers, milk, and cocaine can do to a body and mind.

Bowie's rejected soundtrack to "The Man who Fell to Earth" is a masterwork, full of German influence and striking uniqueness, as is Bowie's wont. I cannot resist my love for this album. 4.5/5

'I will sit right down / Waiting for the gift of sound and vision.' That's how I think about this album: you can sit right down, waiting for its gift of sound and vision. B/c that's what it is - an aural and visual affair, bravely vibrant, firmly in its own world. I've said before that Ziggy Stardust and Station to Station are his peaks, and I still believe that to be true, but this is Bowie's most interior, self-contained, and self-justified album. In many ways, it's also his most beautiful. It's a true conceptual piece to the extent that the 'concept' is the thing-in-itself. It doesn't allegorize or symbolize, it doesn't create a world for the sake of pointing out the ills of ours. It's a world of its own, plain and simple. And one I'd like to (re)enter whenever I can.

This is very good - benefits from me having heard it before as I think it could be a bit impenetrable otherwise. Sound and Vision is one of the best songs ever. Drums sound amazing throughout.

The first half of this album is, in my opinion, the best collection of music Bowie put out in his entire career. Which is saying something. It would be the greatest EP of all time if that is how it had been released, bar none. It is so far ahead of it's time in terms of sound design and song structure and the writing stay on pars with the sound. The second, ambient half of the album is less intriguing but when judged in a vacuum it is still good. It is hard to reconcile a "good" 2nd half with a "GOAT" first half. So I have never been able to put this as my favorite Bowie album despite my adoration for it's songs. Despite any negativity I may talk about, it remains an undisputable classic.

Even after hundreds of listens, I am still unseated by the guitar solo in the second verse of Be My Wife, the early fade on Breaking Glass, the out-of-time synth stutters in What In The World. Although I am intimately familiar with every moment of this record, they never feel familiar. It is always juddering, shuddering and coming apart. Travelling at the speed of life, crashing over and over again, and disintegrating in the second half, where words no longer have meaning, are no longer solid in the mouth or on the ear. By Subterraneans, there is no pulse, no presence. Everything disintegrates. You will disintegrate. These five stars that I'm giving Low will collapse, then shoot out in all directions until the atoms of which they were once comprised are millions of light years apart from each other. David Bowie’s finest moment and Brian Eno’s finest moment, both of which is saying an awful lot. Unique and very, very beautiful. The list could be Low 1001 times and it would be a life well spent. 5/5

I had never heard this album, or any songs from it. It rules, love the flute parts.

Really good and understandably considered the standout of the Berlin trilogy. I would say it's a bit 'overrated' when compared to its peers but that's not really a knock against it given it keeps some good company

Always been a Bowie fan, miraculously never listened to this one. Masterpiece. 10/10 Fav tracks - All - 1 Least fav - Sound and Vision

Our first Bowie album is the one in between my two favourite ones! Peak Bowie and peak Eno working together to create an album with two distinct halves. The first side is great pop with some real highlights, not just for the album but for Bowie's whole career (Sound and Vision is easily in my top 5 all time Bowie songs). The end of the first side gives you a preview of what's to come. The first time I heard this album and listened to the second half it felt like the musical equivalent of when they land on LV-426 in the first Alien movie. Really my first introduction to ambient music as a teenager and it still holds up just as well a decade later for me. Highlights: Speed of Life, Sound and Vision, Always Crashing in the Same Car, Warszawa, Weeping Wall, Subterraneans

Full disclosure: I'm unable to be unbiased when it comes to Bowie. Low may not be one of his more commercial ventures, but this is still an excellent atmospheric album that I could listen to on repeat (and have). I don't know what the afterlife is like, but I really hope its soundtrack is written and performed by David Bowie.

This album benefited by popping up on the weekend. I listened to it several times this weekend. Right off the first listen I loved the first half. I was unsure about the second part of this album at first due to it being mostly instrumental. But further listens to it I really grew to appreciate it more than the first half.

top 20 album of all time

Oooh, one of the good Bowie albums. Today is going to be a good day!

10/10. Beautifully-crafted cinematic masterpiece. It blends rock music with ambient music to form a truly unique album. David Bowie was a visionary artist that absolutely deserves each and every one of his nine inclusions in the "1,001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" album compilation.

One of my favorite bowls albums with the excellent experimentation

One of the greatest of the greats.

A classic. What more to say? Sound and Vision goated Bowie song too.

Ein echtes Stück Musikgeschichte!

One of my favourite Bowie albums, so much so that I don't listen to it that often anymore to avoid the songs losing their magic. Although all the songs have a weirdness to them, with some unconventional build-ups and unrecognizable sounds, the first 70% of the album consists of absolute bangers. Then the strangeness diverges into a very ominous final part, which is both a shame and a bold move. Even so, I can appreciate the contrast; it makes you leave the album with a very different feeling than when starting it.

Station To Station and the Berlin Trilogy are where I feel like David Bowie reached his artistic heights. I like his glam rock stuff and recognise how influential those albums were, but I always come back to these albums far more The first half of Low is a bit like some of Bowie's previous catchier work, filtered through Brian Eno's keys. Despite the lyrics about trying to kick his drug addictions, the first half is a nice set of avant-pop. I love the little sounds that are just scattered throughout the album that add a lot of character, like the one in Sound and Vision that I've always thought sounded like a burning log crackling in a fire Brian Eno really comes to the forefront with the ambient second half. There's an eeriness to these tracks, especially Warszawa and Subterraneans, which are desolate and cold, even alien sounding. Bowie isn't even all that present on these tracks, only adding some vocalisations here and there, but that only adds to the atmosphere of the half A perfect album. It's crazy to see just how broad a range of artists this one album influenced Highlights: Sound and Vision, Speed of Life, Warszawa, A New Career in a New Town

Love it

Started kinda upbeat but then I'm dredging up emotions. End is intense and I'm kinda just sitting in silence now thinking.

Two for the price of one: not only do you get a wildly original, weird pop album, but also a great atmospheric suite that somehow fits in perfectly with the other half. By the time one side is over, you'll want to go right back to the other side, until you realise you've played the album five times in a row.

My favorite

What a way to start this project

wow, i was really blown away by the first side of this one. i love the way it sounds! really rough around the edges and quirky but in a really fun and unique way that i haven't really heard before. very uniquely him. really great. the second side is also pretty good but starkly different. very ambient and electronic. i found it pretty soothing and although not something i typically listen to, i enjoyed it. really great stuff!

Merry Christmas all. A wee Christmas treat today. I think this is up there with his best. Sound and Vision is 👌

I used to listen to this album a lot when I was in high school. It had been years since I had listened to the Berlin Trilogy. Today was a great day for that. Bowie is an automatic 5 stars!

Perfect!

while i don't know if this album has my favorite bowie songs, it is probably his most cohesive. the musical theme is so clear and unique. love him so much he can do no wrong.

There are dozens of Media Study degree papers written of Bowie, and his chameleonic growth, and the myriad of albums. However, it is fascinating to compare this album with Ziggy Stardust of five years previous. This album comparatively lacks the brash immediacy of Ziggy, but instead he's grown, and confident in his numerous character growths. It's easy to see his influences, and who this influenced in turn. A fantastic album.

Reminds me of a late night warm summer drive Definitely a soundtrack to an old movie. Warszawa is outta those old movies we used to watch.

Odlican

Speed of life is a fucking amazing opener. Never fails to make me boogie That harmonized drum sound Breaking Glass is a bop, but it’s too short! “You’re such a wonderful person, but you got problems” is a hilarious lyric What in the world is also awesome. Love that Pac Man Synth. Also Iggy Pop Cameo. Nice lead guitar by Ricky Gardiner too. Sound and Vision is an amazing fusion of disco, electronic, and country. Very catchy. That Solina line in Sound and vision tho Also like that white noise cymbal on the left channel of it. Mary Hopkins cameo! Always love it when David plays sax The lyrics of sound and vision are quite sad when you think about it. It’s about Bowie being coked up and depressed and conking up in his room all day. Song and Vision is just a verse and chorus, but it feels longer! I haven’t listened to Always Crashing the Same Car in a while, so this is basically blind. Extremely psychedelic with the phaser stuff. Very sad guitar leads. Apparently some of the songs were inspired by Syd Barret. Makes sense, since he was a huge influence on Bowie. Be My Wife has this thundering piano that’s really intense. Like it sounds like there’s thundering timpani in it. Also this one has lead guitar by Bowie! Reminds me of how on Diamond Dogs he played all the guitars cuz he parted ways with Mick Ronson. George Murray is an amazing bassist. A New Career in a New Town starts out with this synth electronic opening that reminds me a bit of Blue Monday by New Order but then goes to this rocking instrumental with this amazing harmonica. No wonder Bowie revisited it on Blackstar years later on I Can’t Give Everything Away. Here’s the ambient section. Warszawa is fucking beautiful. Brian Eno worked some magic on this one. I just noticed they’re going pretty liberal on the phasers on this album. Not that I’m complaining. I love phaser! Bowie singing gibberish! Also he says Mario. Art Decade has an old drum machine and a bunch of harmonizer effects. Sounds like something from a dungeon level in a Nintendo 64 game. Also there’s some vibraphone! Don’t see that every day. Weeping wall has some Steve Reich style xylophones and pianos, some spooky vocals, and a synth lead that reminds me of Scarborough Fair. And there’s a guitar part too! Finally there’s Subterraneans. Amazing. Backwards electric pianos and guitar, a creeping synth bass line, a haunting choir, a beautiful jazz saxophone solo from Bowie himself and Bowie singing impressionistic lyrics When that saxophone hits on Subterraneans…. MMMMMM SO GOOD One of my favorite Bowie albums of all time.

Way too much Bowie on this list. Also, this album is awesome.

"Low" to jedno z najodważniejszych dzieł w dyskografii Bowiego. Pierwszy album z berlińskiej trylogii jest pełen kontrastów: emocjonalny i eksperymentalny, chwytliwy, a jednocześnie alienujący – tragiczne arcydzieło. Album powstał w kluczowym momencie życia Bowiego – w trakcie jego wyjścia z uzależnienia i przeprowadzki do Berlina. Był spłukany przez umową z managerem i wyczerpany powiązaną sprawą sądową. To osobisty dziennik artysty, który walczył z własnymi demonami, jednocześnie szukając nowego kierunku w swoim życiu i sztuce. Pierwsza połowa to utwory bardziej konwencjonalne, choć nadal eksperymentalne, jak „Sound and Vision” czy „Breaking Glass”. Są to krótkie, intensywne eksploracje dźwiękowe, pełne melancholii i introspekcji, ale też niesamowicie chwytliwe. Z tej części mój ulubiony kawałek to "Always Crashing in the Same Car" - utwór o frustruacji wynikającej z powtarzania tych samych błędów – zarówno w życiu osobistym, jak i twórczym – ale w wyjątkowy sposób nadaje tej frustracji ton niemal stoickiej akceptacji. Nie ukrywam - rezonuje ze mną w bardzo osobisty sposób. Muzycznie utwór jest oszczędny, ale głęboko nasycony atmosferą rezygnacji i refleksji. Hipnotyczny riff gitary oraz powtarzalny rytm perkusji tworzą wrażenie zamkniętego cyklu, z którego nie ma ucieczki. Dźwiękowa metafora tytułowego „rozbijania się o tę samą ścianę”. Kluczowym elementem jest również melancholijny syntezator, który delikatnie unosi się w tle, podkreślając samotność i izolację. Wokal Bowiego, niemal wyciszony i pozbawiony emocji, dodaje utworowi jeszcze większej autentyczności. Druga połowa to niemal całkowicie instrumentalne kompozycje, które budują niesamowity nastrój za pomocą syntezatorów, ambientowych tekstur i hipnotycznych melodii. „Warszawa”, jeden z najbardziej charakterystycznych utworów na albumie, brzmi jak opowieść o samotności i tęsknocie – surowa, a jednocześnie przejmująco piękna. Emocjonalne serce albumu. Utwór wywołuje obrazy zimowych krajobrazów, pustych ulic i samotności, które jednak nie przytłaczają – wręcz przeciwnie, inspirują do refleksji. Jest w nim coś transcendentnego, jakby mówił o czymś większym niż codzienne życie. Myślę, że utwór, jak i cały album, świetnie odnalazłoby się w soundtracku Disco Elysium. Mocne 5, jeden z moich ulubionych albumów.

Fantastic Bowie album, swirling keyboards, under-stated vocals, just excellent

Side A party on dude, side B next morning 3 final songs of side A what a beautiful sandwich

Love Bowie so love all his albums

An easy 5 for me. It's got pretty much everything I want out of an album. Innovation. Emotional depth. Brian Eno. The ambient excursions alone solidify it's impact. Bowie has better hooks and more memorable songs, but this one consistently comes up as the favorite album of other musicians for a reason.

Two fives in a row, but they’re worth it. This is my favorite Bowie album, always has been. Peak creativity and songwriting. I love the ambient tracks just as much as his more traditional pieces. A

One of my favourite albums

Not gonna relisten but this is one of my favourite albums of all time. Eno and Bowie are one of the all time great collaborations and they make something really beautiful here. It's moody, dark, luscious, and melancholy. An album very close to my heart. Best Track: Subterraneans Worst Track: nada

Just what Bowie needed. Eno, Eno and more Eno.

David Bowie is the only thing making Eno relevant

All time great. The songs, the atmosphere, the production, the legend - it's all there.

I mean it was a David Bowie instrumental/prog rock album. I absolutely loved it.

After listening to Aladdin Sane, i did think that David Bowie definitely did have a lot of talent when it came to making music but Low showed that way more. This was just one of those albums that always would do something that i would not have expected and yet, handles it so well that it just clicks so well with me. Nearly every sound here from the regular instruments used in nearly all the tracks, to the more one-off sounds are all handled absolutely amazingly. This album was also just a really beautiful sounding one making me feel like I'm getting one of the greatest views of my life while being at a high surface. This album is a genuinely amazing one that i never expected would be this good. Best Song: Speed Of Life Worst Song: Weeping Wall

I mean, it's David Bowie -- you really can't go wrong. I hadn't heard any of these songs before and I loved them all. I listened to the whole album twice. Five stars.

The song fragments are all fantastic, catchy and intricate in the way that only Bowie could be, and the ambient tracks take the best parts of Eno’s contributions to the genre and expand it with Bowie’s relentless experimentalism and sheer fucking beauty. This is one of those albums that deserves to be listened to all the way through

4.5/5

I really enjoyed this one a lot!

David Bowie was an entertainment genius and has shown that throughout his carreer and life. He always kept innovating his own, personal sound and truly topped himself time and time again. Twisting and tweaking his own sound to truly captivate a large part of the world during the 20th century and beyond

Yeah this album is pretty blatantly ripping off Neu! at times but honestly, who cares when the music is this good

Really enjoyable to listen to. I found myself restarting later in the evening after having listened to it once.

excellent

Classic.

Bowie is a classic!

Sound and Vision is my favorite Bowie track.

One of the favorite periods of Bowie’s career

I've always really loved this album. It's very different from most of the rest of his work but I think it really paints a great picture of his headspace living in France and Berlin with Iggy Pop. What a weird time that must have been. Sound and Vision is probably the best track but I also really like Breaking Glass, that song doesn't ever get the praise it deserves. I particularly like the live version from the Reality Tour album. What in the World is great too. All the songs are great, really. And I love the second side being mostly instrumental. It's beautiful and soulful and experimental and wonderful. Brilliant album, though I wouldn't consider it one of Bowie's top 5. But I love it and will listen to this over and over again for life. 5/5

This has long been one of my favorite albums by Bowie, and a standout example of why he was always at his best when he was experimenting. No one would have expected this turn in his sound back when it was released, and it remains just a revelatory now as it was then.

this album is the definition of a vibe

That's what you get when you own a "best of" album. You get to completely re-discover aspects of an artist when listening to full albums. That was very much the case here. I love Bowie but only knew one song from this album. Loved all of it though, more instrumental than I expected, and esp. the "B side" was unexpected (Brian Eno, good job). Sometimes, as with most art, it's difficult to explain WHY you love it, but I do. A true album that just works, the songs follow each other beautifully.

My second favourite Bowie album. I’ve currently only listened to Ziggy Stardust and Hunky Dory (LOVE Ziggy and not awfully fussed on Hunky Dory) but this sits very nice between them

hugely risky. ambient and eerie. albums to listen to when you want something low-stimulation that makes you feel bad but in a comfy way.

Not only one of Bowie’s best, but definitely one of the best albums ever recorded.

-This is amazing, definitely my favorite release by Bowie I’ve heard so far. Something very alien and gripping about all the sounds, especially Eno’s ambient textures in the second half. This is my second full listen and it sounds even better -Favorites are What In The World, Weeping Wall, and Subterraneans

Absolutely love David Bowie. Absolutely love this album. Definitely up there as one of my favourite albums by him. See my other reviews of his albums to know just how much I love Bowie. He's the G.O.A.T in my opinion.

10/10

Estaba demasiado avanzado pa su época. Su música siempre está en bomba

5 stars. Loved this from the first time I heard it the day it was released.

His best for me personally, he couldn't be touched on this streak from 'Station to Station' to 'Heroes', what a run. I just love the split of the album from weird trippy pop/rock in the first half into the more spacey and ambient stuff in the second half. Shoutout to Eno.

Great

this is an album that I’ve already listened to, and it is already and has been one of my favorite albums by David Bowie of all time this album combines so many genres from art rock to hard rock to melancholic rock and I can keep on going to ambience and it’s really just a phenomenal album 10 out of 10

Interesting that I got Low after Lust for Life. This record is fantastic. Rare that you encounter an artist doing something completely different on side two from side one. This is almost like two different albums and yet the whole thing is perfectly inhabits the same universe. Canadian critic Dave Winnitowy called Low "hideously interesting.” I’ve been listening to this thing for years, and it’s also endlessly interesting. With the exception of pop stunner Sound and Vision, the music on Low is experimental, often very cold, and yet somehow strangely inviting. It sucks you in. Bowie and Eno are geniuses, Low is one of the most influential albums in the history of rock/pop, and the music here is unsettling, lovely, moving, strange, and stunning. I’ve taken many naps to side two, and I mean that as praise. It is a first rate experience, slowly half-nodding off to the soothing, otherworldly sounds of Low and appreciating its beauty with a semi-conscious mind.

I absolutely love this album, and have done since I was 15 (41 years ago, gulp). I don't think I'll ever get bored with it. The short tracks on side 1 are delivered in a throwaway manner, as if Bowie's emptying out some pop stuff that's been rattling around in his brain for a bit, perhaps. Except that every one of those short pop tracks has musical depth and complexity, and brings a sense of darkness in the lyrics. The opening and closing instrumentals on side 1 hint at what's to come: side 2 is epic, and beautiful. Having decided to get on board with the synth thing, and assisted by Eno obvs, Bowie was evidently happy to completely run with it, and create long, filmic soundscapes that perfectly describe post-war Europe. I feel as if I could write a book about this album. Did I mention that I absolutely love it? Never mind 1001 albums, this should be in every top 10, surely, for creativity and importance. I wish he was still here.

I never need a reason to listen to this. One of my absolute favourite albums of all time and it’s not possible for me to be impartial where Bowie is concerned.

I'm a big fan of Bowie, and this is one of his best. Absolutely brilliant and very varied album, where he tries a lot of different things that all seem to work. Fav tracks: Sound and Vision, Be My Wife, Warszawa

cool ambient second half

Classic

Absolute, total and utter masterpiece.

First half was ok, but when the sounds started moving i was sold on this album!

Favourite Bowie album for sure. Shows his genius in so many ways, each song a masterclass.

Cet album comporte ma chanson préférée entre toutes de David Bowie, Sound and Vision. Cette pièce est parfaite, tant dans son groove que dans son propos, dans la voix. Quant à cet album, il me semble, comme son titre l'indique, plus feutré dans l'exploration et moins dans l'ego du personnage. On en retire quelque chose d'éminemment intime.

The first of Bowie's Berlin Trilogy and like most Bowie albums it's amazing. It's experimental on both sides with rock and avant garde on side 1 and ambient mostly instrumental in side 2. Speed of Life, Breaking Glass, Sound & Vision, Always Crashing in the Same Car, Be My Wife & Art Decade are all highlights but all tracks are first rate.

Quintessential Bowie album! One of the best!

Great Bowie album

The first of the Berlin Trilogy. I love This album. Not much more to say!

What a coincidence after getting Heroes yesterday. I like this one much more. I think the instrumentals here are much more enjoyable than the slogs found on Heroes. I do count this among Bowie's best work.

it’s free brian eno ambient !! bowie the appreciator of <3:30 songs that u are. thank u. love u pookie.

Love this album. Named for the low profile picture but I feel high listening to this album!

Berlin era gorgeousness, and I have always loved that coat on the album cover

the sax in subterraneans was 🔥

It took me more time to appreciate the first rock side than the second ambient one. Why? Because those songs kinda felt undercooked to me, almost like demos at times. Of course, I eventually loved them for that very reason and now it's my second favourite Bowie album.

My favorite from Bowie's wide discography. There's an exceptionnal feel to it and a hint of electronic experimentations on side B. I just love it!

Geez what an incredible album. This list finally convinced me that Bowie is great and made me sort of a fan. I still think he's featured too much but yeah man's got serious talent. And good move teaming up with Eno, I love the glitchy synth sounds and LOVE the ambient tracks

My second favorite album of Bowie’s Berlin period (third, if you count The Idiot).

One of the big man’s best!

One of the best from the star man. Every track has its place.

One of my favorite Bowie records, if not my favorite. Though that might be due to the Eno contributions. Still, a pretty terrific album in my opinion

I thoroughly enjoy listening to Bowie, and I found with this album that's not his characteristic voice and singing style that makes him the artist I love. I could hear him in every track whether he was singing or not and I think that says a lot about him as an artist. He's unmistakable.

A truly great album. Always inspires. Never gets boring. Lots of variety in the exploration. Sonically profound without being divisive. If you have favorite group that uses electronics, they were likely influenced or affected by this record. "Subterraneans" might be of one the best ending tracks to an album ever. I was fortunate enough to see David Bowie's band perform this track with Trent Reznor on saxophone in 1995, and it was very moving. Favorites: "Speed of Life", "Breaking Glass", "Sound and Vision", "A New Career in a New Town", "Warsaw", "Art Decade", "Weeping Wall", and "Subterraneans".

this album is good

Weird and wonderful Berlin Bowie This must have been something else when it came out. It starts out with a bizarre and incredible instrumental opener that sounds like the end times, and it doesn’t get much less weird from there. It’s weird to say, but I fill like you can almost “see” this album when you listen to it. Maybe that’s Sound and Vision talking, but I think this is such a colorful and full sounding album it almost tangibly stimulates the other senses. It’s one of a few masterpieces by Mr. Bowie, and I wouldn’t argue much with anyone saying it’s his best.

Mit yndlingsbowie-album går frem og tilbage mellem 3-4 stykker og Low er en af dem. Stensikker 5'er

Ville egentlig skrive at mit hot take er at Side A er David Bowies bedste plade og Side B er Brian Enos bedste plade. Men så læste jeg wiki siden og fandt ud af at David Bowie har lavet væsentlig mere af side B end jeg lige troede. Så måske er det hele bare Bowies bedste plade

Awesome

Love experimental synthy proto new wane Bowie 👍

Very different soundscape for the time it got released, still fresh in 2024. 5 stars! Favorite track: Warszawa other picks: always crashing in the same car, sound and vision, be my wife

Lovely

I love this so much! I love the ambient vibes at the end but also the stuff at the beginning a ton too thats more like the bowie that I know and recognize. So great and creepy and cool and awesome

Loved it. It was very short but still excellent and left me wanting for more. Easy 5/5

This is not at all what I expected from David Bowie, and I was very pleasantly surprised by this album. It is atmospheric and manages to feel emotional with very few lyrics. Simply wonderful.

A top 3 Bowie album for me. Very influential on some of my favorite artists, and a 💿 that still stands up 45 years later

ho tirato un urlo quando l'ho visto 5/5 senza alcun dubbio, il suo album migliore non so cosa altro aggiungere perchè davvero è già stato detto tutto

Oh, wow! My very first "1001AlbumsGenerator" album and it's one of my all time favorites! I love Bowie's whole Berlin trilogy, working with Eno and Iggy. In fact, actually this is probably my favorite album of that era. Hard to choose though. I've spent a lot of time with this album previously, but it's Bowie so there's always new experiences. On this listen, "Warszawa" and "Art Decade" are really striking me. They sound like they could be in a brand new David Lynch film, but they're almost 50 years old.

In…I guess mid 2019, I bought my first pair of high-end* headphones - Beats by Dre Pro overhead cans with noise cancelling** By chance, the first song I listened to with them was Warszawa, from Low - an album I had systematically played to death over the preceding quarter century. Reader, I heard things I had never heard before. I burst into tears in the middle of the street. I’m not kidding. * So, I’m cheap. More to the point, in the pre-streaming age, my argument always was: do I want flash headphones or do I want more CDs? CDs always won out. For the record, I now use a pair of Senheisser HD 700s at home. **talking about spending money on CDs. For all the people wondering where the money in the CD market went to - my theory is that the iPod’s white buds (useless aural experience) created a premium headphone market. And so a transfer of consumer purchase interest (and money) from one class to another…do I make sense? Ah, who cares!

Quintessential Bowie

First half: A handful of very unique Bowie songs that were definitely before their time and inspired an entire era of music that followed. Second half: A masterpiece of instrumentals that take you on a wordless journey. Honestly could have taken an entire album of just this and a separate album with the first half. 9/10

AMAZING

I really liked this. It's moody and methodical. It's incredibly economical. Everything is heard. Nothing is wasted. It's a really beautiful set.

This is out of this world. When i was a kid, i didnt like bowie, i founded his voice boring. When i grew up, i didnt really care for him until i heard this and it blew my mind. Thia album is incredible. First of all is a very cohesive album, all the songs are unique and creative, but they still have the same feeling on them. The first half is more energic, has some very cool guitars, killer basslines and i thought it was great. The second half, slows down, the songs are longer, and almost everything is instrumental, i thought i will get bored, but Brian Eno's work in this record is absolutely phenomenal, it creates an ambient that surrounds you and that completely traps you into the music, the synths, bass, and Bowies' voice, which wasnt the protagonist, almost feel like an echoe that is only an element more in this weird orchestra. This album is everything, caothic, peacefull, happy, melancholic, but mainly, its great, and one of the best albums that i've heard

Just listened to this on vinyl yesterday. Bowie's finest work and Brian Eno is brilliant.

Didn’t expect the lyricless songs but I loved it!

Often regarded as Bowie's greatest album, I'm not convinced of that, but it certainly is a magnificent achievement. The unimpeachable first side contains spiky, brief songs which seem to be a huge change from the previous year's 'Station to Station', with only the latter album's 'Golden Years' and 'TVC15' bearing any resemblance to the likes of 'What in the world', 'Sound and vision' and 'Be my wife'. Opener 'Speed of life' and 'A new career in a new town' , embellished by Eno's futuristic synthesiser, mark a revolutionary leap forward in Bowie's work, and Ricky Gardiner's guitar is excellent. My favourite track is 'Breaking glass', short and to the point, which contains mysterious lyrics which, presumably, refer to his kabbalistic lifestyle in LA, the impact of which led to his escape to Berlin with Iggy Pop in tow. Side two is equally excellent, four icy near-instrumentals which contain Eno's dramatic, strange sweeps of neo classical synthesiser. From the chilly grandeur of ' Warszawa' to the frantic rush of 'Weeping wall', these tracks are fantastic, but my favourite is 'Subterraneans' which is melancholy and awe-inspiring'. A fantastic album!

Seriously some of the coolest music I've listened to on this list so far. I've never heard a lot of Bowie so it was surprising to me just how much range he has. Everything he does is weird, but he keeps finding new ways to make weird music on the same album. I liked the instrumentals on this one the best because he makes such deep soundscapes and really transports you somewhere with his music. There are a lot of people who try to do what he does and for the most part it sucks and there's a reason why there is only one David Bowie.

Bowies in space

Pleasantly surprised with how instrumental this is!!

The beginning part of the legendary Berlin Trilogy shows off both Bowie and Eno's musical skills to their (at-the-time) peak.

It’s a 4.5 that I’m gonna pretty easily round up to a 5. First Bowie album to get a 5 out of me during this experience. I can’t exactly explain how I feel after listening to this, mainly because it’s unlike any Bowie album we’ve gotten yet, or anything Bowie that I’ve ever listened to, really. I don’t know what crack Brian Eno put into these collaborations with Bowie, but something just clicked perfectly for me with this album; the synth work, the instrumentation, Bowie’s vocals in the first half, the moodiness of the second half, and really, just the sort of strange mix of melancholy and brightness that I had wavering throughout this album. It’s very hard to describe it, but I know that I’m glad I listened to this album, and I know that I’d recommend it as an experience. It is not a traditional David Bowie affair, and I’d argue it’s more of a Brian Eno album that happens to have David Bowie on it for a strong chunk of the album, but regardless, I feel pretty good about bumping this up to a 5.

Albums by Bowie that would need a comment because they are less than five stars and there are things to say about them: Space Odyssey, Man Who Sold The World, Pinups, Young Americans, everything from Lodger onwards. This is not one of those albums.

Haven’t always been the biggest DB fan but this album surprised me a bit. Didn’t realize how many of his songs were just instrumentals. Was a fun listening experience.

The best way to describe this album is a fantasy adventure movie from the 80s. Just fantastic.

Loved it. Whole album is a vibe

One of my favourite albums of all time. I love the chill vibes

Listening to this Album for the first time. I was surprised by all the non-vocal songs on this album. But when there is vocals, definitely Bowie.

Peak Eno collaboration. I love the electronic and kraut rock influence here.

It's fair to say, however, that this is very much for me. Bowie is surely unmatched for his ability to combine something so weird and experimental with objectively great songs like Sound and Vision. I love the whole second side to this record to be fair, despite the fact that Dave's single greatest weapon - his voice - is barely used. People talk a lot about production and sometimes maybe too much, but credit has to go to Eno on this record; he really makes it.

Really a collaboration with Brian Eno, this is a fantastic album with real depth for repetitive listening.

One of my all time favourite albums, but I think I discovered it in a sort of roundabout way. I was already into Bowie, but hadn't branched out much beyond Ziggy Stardust and the Greatest Hits. Then at the tender age of 17, I got into Nine Into Nine Inch Nails in a big way. I read somewhere, probably on Wikipedia, that this was Trent Reznor's favourite Bowie album and, if I remember correctly, that he played it constantly during recording of the Downward Spiral. This led me on a mind-opening journey into Berlin-era Bowie, as well as Brian Eno's back catalogue. Thanks, Wikipedia! Maybe I should actually donate someday.

It is nice and very different from his earlier ones.

This is one of the good ones!

The 1st Bowie album that I owned

My favorite Bowie album. Strange, cold and obviously influenced by krautrock, Eno and copious amounts of illegal substances, it is the pinnacle for me of this period of Bowie's career. Put it on at a party and watch the chaos ensue.

короче, план такой: 1. надо забыть о том кто такой боуи 2. можно кайфовать алкоальбом: хтонический виски под сигару

YAYYY BOWIE TIME. And Bowie on the Berlin Trilogy, which is probably one of my favourite moments of his career. I'm going to be super biased because I ADORE Bowie (I'd need bigger caps for that word, as I believe this guy is the GOAT of solo artists, and even counting bands he's top 3 at the very least). Speed of Life: God I really really really love the instrumentals of this era, both the ones in here and Heroes (I don't think I've listened to Lodger entirely in a few years so I won't mention it) are amazing. I usually don't enjoy instrumental music that much but this track is great. Breaking Glass: I don't know what I like more, the bass or the guitar, all I know is that my only issue with this track is how short it is. What in The World: Maybe a bit overloaded, but good nevertheless. Sound and Vision: The steam noise is kind of tiring, but I can't say I don't like the song. Bowie's low note singing is always great and the reason for my forgiveness of the steam. Always Crashing in the Same Car: The guitar is insane, other than that a pretty normal song. Be my Wife: The guitar tone in the solo always reminds me of the tone of why my guitar gently weeps, and the whole piano as well. Great song. A New Career in a New Town: Another instrumental song that breaks my usual opinion on instrumental songs, the harmonica is good, the drum beat, albeit a tad repetitive has a cool sound and the piano is simple but effective. Warszawa: I like ambient (Even if I never really had an ambient phase where I actively searched for the genre like with other genres, I always like hearing a good song and this fits my criteria for such) and I think it's a great song, I don't like it being in the middle of the album and not the end or the beginning. I do get it works as an interlude and it connects with the final songs pretty well but still, it's way too epic to be in the middle. EDIT: Just googled and realized this was the b side on the vinyl, things make way more sense now and I love this album even more now. Art Decade: I think after this the album isn't as good as the first part, don't get me wrong I like this, but the first part is definitely better. Weeping Wall: I love every synth on this song and I believe it's one of the highlights of the whole album, would probably be my favourite if it wasn't instrumental but I also don't know how could this song work if it wasn't so. Subterraneans: I'd watch a movie if this was the soundtrack just to hear this song. RATING: 5 STARS BEST SONG: BREAKING GLASS WORST SONG: ART DECADE (Still a great song, and a testimony of how good this album is)

Uhh

more like david lowie am i right Here we see a tastefully confusing piece of art that's surprisingly grounded for someone recovering from drugs. The synths and especially the drums are most notable, instrumentally, on this album. The drumming has a very loud, distorted sound that probably isn't to everyone's taste, but I think it sounds fantastic. And it's front-and-centre in every track on side 1. The tracks themselves on the record's first side are short, catchy, thoughtful, and... I can't really explain how, but they're so darn artistic. Speed of Life, the opening track, is the iconic opening to a new electronic era of rock music. Immediately following that, we get an electric, bass-driven interludey number with Breaking Glass. What In the World is a wobbly, synth-laden, two-chord ball of energy. Sound and Vision, with its simple chord I-vi-V-I progression, manages to be one of the most satisfying standalone tracks in Bowie's discography. Always Crashing In the Same Car and Be My Wife are a one-two punch of moody tracks driven primarily by synths – and both are great. Finally, we close side 1 with a return to simplicity in the fresh, upbeat instrumental track A New Career In a New Town. Then we get to side 2 – arguably what the album is most known for. It's pretty brilliant, again incorporating several layers of synths that flow rhythmically in and out of the mix. The four tracks on this side are all quite distinct from one another, and yet share that indescribable Bowie creativity. Warszawa in particular creates a cool, yet very grim, atmosphere. 5/5

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.

I really liked this album. so much better than Hunky Dory.

The first of Bowies' Berlin Trilogy being recorded in Germany with Brian Eno. Further experimenting with sound and electonica in music. Front end of the album has more vocals and as it progresses it goes more fully into instrumental. Sound and Vision is probably the most recognized song off the album, but it has tons of high points that are more ambient driven. Bowie, ever the changeling in his career, gives a mood setting piece that plants seeds for his future recordings. A wonderful album to sit in a dark room and enjoy with a glass of wine.

LP

♥️♥️ perfect

Played this to death when it came out, genius album

Outstanding

Possibly my favorite Bowie album, definitely in the top three or so. If I could give it more than five stars, I would. I remember seeing him on the Reality tour in 2003 and he played several deep cuts from this, like A New Career in a New Town. I couldn't believe it. I was in heaven.

The most Berlin of the Bowie's Berlin albums. This is not the Bowie of Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust, or Let's Dance. It's experimental and much of it is unstructured. The Bowie album for Neu! fans.

Strangely this took a long time for me to get into. The reason is mostly lost to time but it may have had something to do with every penny ante indie band in the mid '90s claiming it to be the main inspiration. Plus pre-streaming it was near impossible to find a copy (at least that is what I found). Brilliant album, possibly David Bowie's best work.

https://youtu.be/lPk_zyRKs1Q?feature=shared

ethereal and beautiful. pairs well with psychedelics, 10/10.

This album starts off a little bit hokey but ends up in some absolutely epic instrumentals ! Bowie seized the synthesizer revolution. Faves: Sound and Vision Always Crashing Subterraneans

I got into David Bowie in his later years, so I'm only familiar with the bigger hits of his earlier work. I'm sure glad he went to France to kick the drugs because this is a fantastic album! Certainly a contender for my favorite Bowie album!

I LOVEE BOWIE. Though I haven't listened to an album fully I always liked his style, sadly or not I know only sound and vision from this album and even that is from 2017 remaster, I'm gonna try the 1999(this) remaster, because it might sound better, I will maybe listen to the 2017 one to compare idk. First song, loud and fast paced start with the instruments. It is progressing, and I'm loving that. I like the unique melody he creates here. I think it's the interlude intro so, that is just repeating over and over, until it progresses. Is there a transition? This was quite nice, I hope that it's not mostly instrumental, but I don't mind that either. Second song, short it is. I like his voice here, it's raspy(?). The lyrical delivery is fun too. The instruments are in great fusion, guitar on the left and drums on the right, I think. Third song, finally a full song. Ohhh I love his voice here. It's chaotic with the guitar, and some instrument on the right. It's so fast, it's already a instrumental break, ohh I loved that guitar slamming. It's going veeery good. It's fun, I suppose catchy too. Next ones better be better than this. 4th song, not much lyrics here, but the song is 3 minutes, which is the longest he has done here for now. Pardon me, he moaned rn, he did it again. The "doo doo"s came in. Ohh he has a deep voice now. I love that sound in the left side, it sounds like fire burnt out, but repeating that sound once in a while, that's the best part here. OMG I'M SO DUMB, THIS IS THE SONG I KNOW, I haven't listened to it for a long time I forgot, and I was too caught up writing here to realise what I was listening too, well definitely good it was. 5th song, this one's more glam rock. It's progressive a little. The instrumental break is faster than the way he said lyrics before it. The drum beat is basic, but catchy. It's mostly guitar here, but it's vibey. The outros here were, as usual, the songs slowly fading. 6th song, oooh a little faster this one is. The pre chorus is catchy, nvm THE chorus is catchier, or is it verse, I'm confused, but I know that I mean so. Half the song is instrumental I think. It ended on the best lyrical delivery, I wish that continued. 7th song, spooky and downtempo start. It got progressive and now many instruments create an ordered chaos, I hear Bob Dylan's magic instrument here(flute(?)). Now it's only beat, with some violin like sound. And the chaos comes back again, it's giving western, but if it was a happy place. This song has the best instrumentals in my opinion, it was funky, fun, kind of ghostly too at the start. 8th song, ohhh 6 minutes, and it's instrumental choir rn. There is a weird alien like sound of an instrument. It's getting vikingy. Violin came in, nice touch, love that. It's spooky and a veery fascinating intro, wonder how he says the lyrics. It's permanent wave now, but I still like that longness, it's melancholic too, there could be a meaning behind this, but lazy to check it. Ohh the lion king scar sounds. Then he sang in a different language operatically. Now a woman voice, a vocalist she is, and from some culture I don't recognise, it's gypsy vibes low key. The growling voice was fantastic. Now they're gone and back to melancholia. Felt like a movie scene, after some dramatic thing happened. Impressive I'd say at the end. 9th song, weird space like sounds, I do love those. What is this instrument, also the constant beat that thing is making in the background. Mischievous vibes, but also not, because it's quite slow and not that villainy. Another constant sound came in, it progressed, it got downtempo and isn't the main attraction anymore. Pink Floyd vibes, if only it was a transition too. 10th song, it's an instrumental, I do wonder that the original song is with lyrics, because I LOVEE THE INSTRUMENTAL FUSION HERE, it's kinda giving Björk. Fully different sounds this one has, it's childish in the best way possible. The constant beat that I hear from right and left are perfect. Operatic vocals came in, and it's folky now, whistle sound has been going on for a looong time now. This just seems artistic, idk in what way though. Pluss it's quite unique with the flow of the sounds. 11th song, the vibe is veery different from what is was before, which was rock and roll mostly, now it feels like another album. This one's long too. The mentioned lion king scar voice returned in an opera way. Ohh the jazz I hear now, why would he do that only now. This is, not as a degradation, a background music, I would use for when I'm doing something that needs concentrating yk. The lyrics came in, and it's very folky and vikingy, if only there was this constant growl, then that would be more like it, but this is more Bowie cored. Outro is jazz mostly, nevermind Scar came back. I'm very confused, I didn't expect this from Bowie, the too much monotonousness, though I was gonna rate this 4 stars, since it's Bowie, and I love her, I'm gonna be subjective and give him 5 stars. I'm sure there'll be other albums of him here, can't wait for that.

Hell yeah, I love this album. "Sound and Vision" is one of my favorite Bowie songs. This is the first of the Berlin trilogy, and like the sequel, "Heroes", it is divided into an a-side of art rock singles and a b side of instrumental pieces. I like this album better than "Heroes" (which is still great) the a-side is more consistent and the b-side is more cohesive. It was interesting to read the background on Wikipedia- particularly about the production effects used on the drums that became highly influential to music in the following decade.

something i'd listen to on a speeding car to nowhere. this feels like the part of youth i had never experienced--the yearning to see the world and only getting disappointed after the exploration. the instruments on this album SLAP. it's GREAT

I've been enjoying this. A first time hearing this album. Started with some fairly straight forward Bowie pop tunes, but then migrated to instrumental tracks and synth ambient. Mellow.

How do you get a better than remastered Bowie ? Clean, crisp, classic. Beautiful

Admittedly, never listened to much David Bowie growing up - this was my entry point. And holy shit, dude, I was missing out.

Low Don’t look at the carpet, I drew something awful on it. This is top 3 Bowie for me, it’s often my favourite but even if not no 1 at any particular time, t’s always up there. The first side’s songs are all among my favourite Bowie songs, Speed of Life, What in the World, Sound & Vision, Always Crashing in the Same Car, Be my Wife. I love the band and the playing, the arrangements, the instrumentation and I love the sound of the drums and the bass. I also love side 2. In most people hands a side of ambient music could be truly appalling, but this is is great, moody, atmospheric, occasionally sinister but never dull or ponderous. Knowing a bit about the inspiration for the 2nd side does help, but it really does evoke what I imagine 70s East and West Berlin to be like. And the two sides complement and work along side each other, the slightly on edge ‘pop’ songs followed by the comedown and sadness of the 2nd side. It’s a masterpiece, would be a six if I could, but of course it’s a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

groovy

vibed with this one. such a sick atmosphere with the slick eno production combining with the perfect evolution of bowie’s sound. would’ve been his best if it wasnt for heroes and station to station.

Last few songs are great instrumentals. First part of the album is catchy

Germany art pop at its finest.

Love it 8.9/10

This is one of his best. The audio work was game changing when this one first came out and is still so unique. Listen to this one a few times a year.

Good album cover. First time hearing this album. The mixing is great, even on a track like What in the World that is more chaotic you can hear everything. Sound here is kind of timeless, on the ground floor of a sound style that kept growing. The music on Be My Wife rocks me. Nice harmonica on A New Career In A New Town. The more instrumental stuff is so cinematic. Warszawa, Art Decade, Weeping Wall and Subterraneans got me daydreaming of art by Moebius Great album overall.

Why does this sound so familiar? Oh, yeah, 'cuz everybody everywhere followed in Bowie's footprints. Great album.

One of the greats 4.6

YES

Neuer Look. Neuer Sound. Bowie hat sich wieder einmal neu erfunden. Tolle Songs. Mein Favorit: Always crashing in the same car.

As with many Bowie albums, this is otherworldly, experiemental and unique while remaining catchy and filled with pop melodies. This album has a haunting, cold edge to it which I've always found fascinating. It also clearly had a huge influence on the wave of post-punk which was to follow. Incredible production, songwriting and instrumentaiton all round. It's a masterpiece.

What a great piece of art. Definitely hearing the krautrock influence on this number

While I’m not an ambient fan, my favorite ambient songs are on Low. The first half is flawless. Since I’m not always in the mood for ambience I’m tempted to go 4 stars, but that first half is just too good to deny.

I was very optimistic going into this album as someone who’s grown up with parents who are fans of David Bowie and of course how widely acclaimed an artist he is, it seemed impossible that I would get nothing from this album, so what was even better was that I got a lot more than nothing from this album. I always recognised Bowie as a rock and roll superstar but I never realised how much art/glam rock was incorporated into his music and how incredibly forward thinking his music is. This is instantly shown through the opening track “Speed of Life” which is covered in piano synths and slick guitar riffs, a very solid opener to really set the tone of the album. “Breaking Glass” follows as a groovy rock and roll track which I can only say I wish was way longer than it is cause it’s so damn good. Other songs I have to mention in the first half of the track listing are “Sound and Vision” which has a lovely laid back instrumental with some beautiful orchestral synths mixed in, it’s a fantastic track, and not to mention “Be My Wife” who’s piano led instrumental and ripping guitar in the background makes it nothing less than a banger. Now what really surprised me was the 2nd half of the album is mainly filled with instrumentals but I can’t say there is a dip in quality at all, “Warszawa” being one of my favourites, sounding like it’s just been lifted from an early era sci-fi movie it really takes the album deeper into space. Finally, the gorgeous closer that is “Subterraneans” gives a very similar feel with some great brass accompaniment. The only song I wasn’t a big fan of was “What in the World” with its quite muddled and glitchy instrumental however it’s a small blip in this grand feeling album. I was initially going to give this album a 3 or 4 on first listen but as I kept going back to listen I realised I must’ve heard the album 3/4 times in the past couple of hours and that’s when I knew that I really enjoyed a massive portion of this album and that I appreciated the sound it achieves. In my eyes it would be disrespectful to call Bowie anything less than an icon and I believe this album can only support that statement. 5/5

this album is a following to bowie's invention of the 80s on the previous heroes and station to station, although he was not aware, (i think) he was creating the next decade sound with his crazyness. because of this berlin era, bands like the talking heads appeared and consequently influenced the 80s to become what it is. a shame some bands of the decade ruined it, because this late 70s sound of bowie's is awesome. not a big fan of the instrumental tracks because c'mon its david motherfucking bowie, i want to hear what he has to say with his weird alien voice. but they still manage to be interesting. its an easy 5 to me, as any bowie album will be.

One of his best albums, way ahead of its time.

El comienzo de la trilogía de Berlín y el primer álbum que consolida a David Bowie como un artista Avant Garde que rompe los esquemas del pop y de las expectativas que hasta ese entonces se tenían de él. El trabajo de producción de Brian Eno es sencillamente sublime, y Bowie, llegando de colaborar con Iggy Pop y saliendo de las drogas, se nota sumamente enfocado en buscar un nuevo sonido.

Love David Bowie

Un David Bowie experimental instrumental

'Low' may be the most striking of all of Bowie's transformations. He'd already managed to move effortlessly from glam rock to plastic soul, which was a commercial success but drove him into a coccaine-fueled frenzy. To escape both addiction and fame, he took Iggy Pop and Brian Eno to Berlin. Bowie and Eno were heavily influenced by Krautrock artists, as well as Eno's own ambient style for the start of this incredible era. Combined with the paranoia of a divided Berlin, there was really nothing quite like this album before. His record label refused to release it for 3 months for fear of failure. 'Low' has gone on to be massively influential for post-punk, industrial and synth pop artists in particular. It's not everyone's taste but for many, this is will always be Bowie's masterpiece.

5/5

okay so i have recently settled on this being my favourite bowie album of all time. however, i’m worried that the fact that my favouite song ever is on the album might mean that i am a little biased. when comparing my listening experience with my recent hunky dory listen (an album that i didn’t even consider to be in my top 5 bowie albums, but has since definitely moved into my top 3), i found with the latter that i had so much to say about each individual song, whereas with low i think my appreciation lies in its overall sonic coherence and the movement of the album as a whole and i don’t know whether that means hunky dory is better to me. but some of the musical ideas in low are unlike anything he did before this and they truly defined a lot of his music from then on - i notice echoes of this album in blackstar (which makes sense as that’s solidly the other album in my top three). this album is absolutely a five-star for me, which not every bowie album is at all, so this review isn’t serving to justify my rating, only to voice my crisis over whether it deserves top spot.

Instrumental. I like

perfect

Innovative, ingenious... This album is Bowie's Way of being free. Experiment. Investigate. Try. Dare. Something like, 'let me show you the world in my blood...' Song 'Art Decade' is a very emotional on a Bladerunner way. 'Weeping Wall' is instrumental but with a lot of space for personal projections (almost psychoanalytic). Also, this is one of those when first hearing is like nothing special, sound seems even very pretentious for those who are not familiar and listen this for the 1st time (because we have to adjust on Bowie's perception....) 2nd time, is - hmmm, I think I like this song... 3rd time - wait what! omg this is so good. This is not an album, this is storytelling all the time... Thanks, I never listened full album before. Mine of diamonds.

David Bowie instrumentals? Surprisingly love this. I've always heard about this album but never listened to it, and I get it now. "Speed of Life" and "Sound and Vision" are probably my favorite songs from this album. I love how different it is, yet is still very distinctly Bowie. I got this album right after Young Americans, and it's so interesting to hear the contrast of the two.

So Bowie. Immense talent from the get go.

I always struggle to write reviews for albums that are so masterful, but I just want to say Low is one of my favourite albums of all time and my favourite Bowie album. The trick with this album is that, even at its most deranged and frankly odd, Bowie manages to slide an excellent hook in there. All the songs on the first half are excellent and have exquisite performances (notice the drum sound on this in particular), each of the tunes have a unique identity and the songwriting is so good that Bowie doesn't even need to extend most of these songs past 3 minutes. And then there's the instrumental back half undoubtedly masterminded by Eno. The set takes you from the denizens and back alleys of Berlin to starkly showing the clarity and starkness of Bowie's mind. Each song has powerful melodies and is completely brought to life by the instrumentation and production choices. The album is perfectly paced as well, with the joyful train ride around Europe of A New Career in a New Town to the downbeat, spiritual nature of Warszawa (a song so ridiculously good that joy division almost named themselves after it). Never has a Bowie album felt so alive, so realized through every aspect of its creation. This review of course sounds like total dickriding, but come on, this is one of the greatest of all time.

Sound and Vision stands out from side 1. Side 2 is weirder, very interesting. 10/10

BLUE BLUE ‘LECTRIC BLUE

Bowie rocks. His music is almost timeless

No wonder there's a mural of David Bowie down the street from me. Sonic exploration in an attempt to redefine music. I was going to give this 4 stars in an effort to be critical with my album journey, but then I had a dream that I had to recommend one album to somebody that didn't believe in good music anymore and I recommended this album.

No okeeeeeei. Onhan tää vitun kova. Tiukkoja synasoundeja ja ambientmenoa.

amazing

Grooovy

This album is an absolute masterpiece and I hear something new every time. The entire second side still blows me away and is just beautiful.

Sound and Vision is a neat little package of everything that is so great about Bowie.

5/5 Masterpiece

I was certain I'd had this already, but it turns out I'd just listened to it several times in the past two years! It's up there in the best Bowie albums (above Ziggy, below Hunky Dory for me). Breaking Glass, Sound and Vision and Subterraneans are highlights from an album that is largely highlight

Great

Favorite Bowie album for years. I haven’t really come back to it in a while so my tastes might have changed a bit but regardless it is a 5/5 no question. The despair and feeling in some of these songs are incredible and I feel like I’m staring down the wall in east Berlin. Wild how art can achieve so much with so little. Bowie is one of the greatest artists of our era without a doubt. Constantly pushing the boundaries of what is deemed “acceptable” and blasting through the norms without hesitation. A true hero and pioneer for weirdos and eccentric individuals. Not to mention breaking countless gender norms. Rip.

The best album of Bowie's Berlin Trilogy. Each side of the album shines on its own. Every single time I've listened to Low, I find something new. Bowie and Eno are geniuses.

Originally thought to be aggressively non-commercial, "Low" today sounds like a satisfying, endlessly interesting rock album, which I think speaks to its influence over and foreshadowing of modern rock sounds and sensibilities.

Wowwowwewow. Great album, a little Bowie, Eno going nuts with ambience. Probably objectively a 4, but I loved sound and vision too much to not drop a 5

Bowie al suo meglio, rivoluzionario e avant garde ma anche semplice di essenza, c'è qualcosa per tutti e il fatto che funzioni così universalmente è prova della qualità dell'album. Wow

5/5. It's honestly hard to describe this album. The best way is an alien coming to experience earth for the first time, excited to move, and realizing the place is a lot more depressing and sad than you were expecting. There isn't a bad song on this one, but it's hard to listen to not all the way through. It is an experience and an enjoyable one but also you come out of it sad and wondering what this world he is living is in, but then you look it up and realize it is just Berlin in the late 70s. The first half of the album feels like thoughts about moving away, anxiety and excitement mixed in one. This one is truly an experience and must-listen to album.

I've met someone who doesn't like Low.

Breaking Glass Sound and Vision A new Career in a New Town are 5/5. Album is probably 4/5 overall, but I already gave 4/5 to some albums that were trash compared to Low, so I'll get 5/5

Legendary

A rich tapestry of 70's funkadelic songs. Speed of Life is a slow build track that is almost a prologue for the entire album.

Cool

How are there people giving this 2 or 3 stars? Maybe the Eno-heavy side 2 puts them off? Anyway, Sound & Vision alone would be enough to merit 5 stars, even if the rest of it (both sides) weren't also fantastic.

All time favourite

Urban loneliness and regrets fill the soundscape of this album, and it is executed perfectly. It is easily one of Bowie's best project.

One of my personal favs.

Without a doubt one of the hallmarks in David Bowie's career. There are great instrumentals that work well with the sometimes dark lyrics.

Really good, see the way he paved stuff

Surprise, surprise. I've fallen in love with another Bowie record. Favorite tracks: What in the World (with lyrics), A New Career in a New Town (instrumental)

Bowie was ahead of time by 10-15 years. When disco fever hit the world, he made this brilliant experimental/avantgard record. He was one of a kind.

Glorioso

Big time Bowie fan. Was never gonna be any other rating for this one. Solid album from start to finish, even the Eno instrumentals. Up there with the Dame's best.

9/10 legend

A challenging listen because it's about 10 years ahead of its time. Incorporates everything from pop, to krautrock, to electronica, and even movie soundtrack ambience. Not my all time favorite Bowie album, but it might be him at his most creative and groundbreaking.

My favorite David Bowie album.

when i first heard this album as a teenager i thought it was half baked. would’ve been perfect if it had full lyrics and a normal structure. listening to it as an adult i realize now it’s perfect. nothing over stays its welcome. i love that growling bass tone in the first track UGH so sexy. the synths are amazing. everything compliments each other. i love the sparse, cryptic lyrics. the first half of the album is very upbeat while the second half is very gloomy, yet relaxing. this album is absolutely perfect and i wouldn’t change a thing.

Heroes has more going on. This is okay but they're isn't enough happening for me to really get into it. Having said that. It's Bowie... So it's amazing in any case.

Many things that I want to say about this album but what I will say is this: Low is, without question, David Bowie's sole masterpiece. Yes, he crafted Ziggy Stardust and rebelled while swaying with the soul on the way to being the Thin White Duke. But, at some point, push will come to shove and things would happen that are either unexplainable or just outright unpleasant. Thankfully, France and West Berlin was next on the agenda and what came from the tango was perhaps the most emphatic nail in the coffin of what was and a forward glance towards what will later be. This is the kind of record that shapes a person upon listening. One feels as though they would be drenched in a fresh coat of paint or draped in a new leather jacket or reinvigorated with a fresh new mindset. Sharp, angular, welcoming yet distant, cool, disembodied, refreshing. For a low profile, this is as high profile as it gets. What in the world can you do?

Ahh. Tää se vaan paranee. Sanoisin, että Bowien top3 on Ziggy, tämä ja Station to Station.

The opening act of Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy features few lows and many highs thanks to the art rock atmospherics created in collaboration with Brian Eno and Tony Visconti.

greatest bowie album. side 2 is the best music bowie ever put out and that’s really saying something

This is another one I struggled to rate. It is a brilliant album — it creates a landscape of some sort of future dystopia, or at least an alternate, detached, cold reality. Musically interesting, lyrically obtuse, defiant, strange, it's not what you might expect from a pop star, which is what I love so much about Bowie. He wasn't on a linear path, and some of the points along the way may not have landed, but on this release, it does. The Eno-ish soundscape is great. So many albums from the '70-80s sound old and dated, but the really good ones manage to get the synths just right, the sounds don't weigh the album down — they perfectly fit the songs and the atmosphere Bowie and Eno had set out to create. The struggle to rate this is only that it's hard to score this as "perfect" because it seems so blatantly designed to be difficult, but I'm going with it because I think Bowie achieved his ambitious goal and created some of the strangest popular music of his day in the process.

This album is so strange. 2 minute long tracks that sound really great and then the back half is longer experimental electronic stuff. I wonder if people immediately liked this when it came out or if it took time to become a classic. The 2nd half is beautiful and I wanted more of it. Very easy add to the playlist Score: 90 Art: 80

Absolute genius from start to finish

I get it. This is Bowie. This is awesome. This is weird and beautiful and I finally love it like I've always wanted to love it. Would listen again.

You get the impression that this is going to be a different album when the first song starts mid-note on a quasi-fade-in. There’s a slew of catchy potential hits on side 1, like “Be My wife”, “What in the World” or “Breaking Glass”, whose 1:52 minutes includes a 30 second fade out! But the overall sound is so dull and muddy, apparently due to Tony Visconti pitch-shifting the drums and tinkering with Bowie’s voice. Side 2 is pretty innovative for ambient stuff and better with repeated listening. Knowing we’d get this album, I pegged it as a 4 in my mind, however…

This is one of those albums that is hard to talk about, because you feel like you have to say something smart about it. But that's really not necessary, because the album speaks for itself. Suffice it to say, Low is a powerful work, just about as fascinating an album as David Bowie ever made. Disjointed, dreamy and strange, this is an album that could have killed Bowie's career. Instead, it's a big part of why we still talk about him today. It was a creative leap for Bowie that really cracked open like an egg our ideas of what music can and should be. It's also the gift that keeps on giving, with new things to discover every time I hear it. Fave Songs (All songs, from most least favorite): Sound and Vision, Always Crashing in the Same Car, Art Decade, Warszawa, Be My Wife, Subterraneans, Weeping Wall, A New Career in a New Town, What in the World, Breaking Glass, Speed of Life

Шедевр!

Brilliant.

Easiest rating so far

How the fuck was this main stream music ever? It's so weird and lovely and deep and beautiful that it doesn't makes sense that the masses would enjoy it in any way.

Decent 9/10

Bowie at his most free. Eno helped him bring an artistic statement to fruition.

Classic. 2nd side a tougher listen. Maybe a 4.5. However when I recall all the 60s crap, this has to be a 5

An unstoppable Bowie meets an immovable Eno.

Rating: 9/10 Bowie created Low after months of crippling drug addiction and bad management in LA. He moved back to Europe (Berlin) and created Low in his attempt to break out of his addiction and express himself as himself. Bowie sells his ego on Low and creates himself a new one. 1) Speed of Life - Instrumental opener, brilliant guitar, lovely synths 2) Breaking Glass - If David Byrne and Jimi Hendrix had a child and he made a song, brilliant guitar riffs again 3) What in the World - Strange arcade like sounds in the background throughout, not the hugest fan 4) Sound and Vision - 10/10 song, incredible from start to finish 5) Always Crashing in the Same Car - Simplistic song, but very Bowie and pretty enjoyable, vocals very monotone for majority of song 6) Be My Wife - Recognise it from the off, love the bassline, build up to chorus is terrific, very very enjoyable song 7) A New Career in a New Town - Nice use of harmonica at start of song, another instrumental song, preferred Speed of Life 8) Warszawa - Much darker sounding than rest of album, not a song I would listen to alone, works well with the album 9) Art Decade - Instrumental again, believe this half of album is all instrumental 10) Weeping Wall - Instrumental again, Bowie plays every instrument, only time this happens on Low, written about the divide in Berlin and those on the communist east side of the city 11) Subterraneans - Instrumental

Criminally underrated

Never listened to the full album before, but definitely a Bowie fan. Enjoyed it very much.

its a toss up between low, station to station, im leaning low right now. light 5 to compensate for the missed 5s on other albums

criminally underrated album, way ahead of its time 10/10

It feels wild giving this five stars on the basis that, essentially, Low has a wonderful audio 'mouthfeel' - but there we go. As a soundscape, it's absolutely stunning. Plus, this is a prime example of Bowie's true strength as an artist, which is to take popular music to interesting places whilst remaining accessible. 'Warszawa' reminds me of nothing more than a video I once saw of a Georgian Orthodox choir singing the Paternoster in Aramaic. 'Sound and Vision' might be my favourite Bowie track of all time.

Perhaps the most experimental record David Bowie ever released. I still rank this among his best, even though it only spawned one hit single, it features a lot of great songs! And the Eno influence is excellent, even having Iggy Pop around lent it's inspiration. This is Bowie as good as it gets!! Favorite lyrics: - Sometimes you get so lonely. Sometimes you get nowhere. I've lived all over the world. I've left every place. Key tracks: Speed Of Life, What In The World, Sound And Vision, Always Crashing In The Same Car, Be My Wife, A New Career In A New Town, Warszawa, Subterraneans 9 out of 10

I hear Gary Numan. I hear OMD. I hear Depeche Mode and Joy Division. I hear NIN; I hear Radiohead. Hell, I even hear Taylor Swift. There are some albums that trigger a seismic wave. Plus, it’s my wife’s favourite Bowie album. I love my wife.

Classic

his best

Fucking banging album , didn’t consider Bowie in the same regards to Pink Floyd

This is my favorite Bowie album & era. I learned of this album when reading that Trent Reznor listed to it heavily while recording The Downward Spiral. Since then, I've learned a ton about the two artists and their tour in the 90s. I credit Reznor for getting me into Bowie. The first half of this album is soul-funk with my two of my all-time favorite songs - Sound and Vision & Be My Wife. The piano on Be My Wife is spectacular & grabs you right away. Sound and Vision is the diary of a despondent loner sung with just a touch of humor. The second half is the Eno-Bowie ambient alien sound & I'm all for it. I could get lost in it and float away...it's beautiful. I genuinely like the weird stuff. This album, and Station to Station, are my two favorite Bowie albums. 5 stars.

Brilliant

Oh wow this is definitely one of my favourite Bowie albums!! It's really an album of two halves, with the first half being punchy avant-pop bangers with artful lyrics which portray Bowie's state of mind, and the second half of electronic longer instrumental tracks. I can see the influence of this album in so much of my favourite music. It's exciting, punchy, fresh even in 2023, innovative, and above all fun.

Wunderbar

An album of 2 halves and I love them both. One of the first ambient stuff I listened as I loved Bowie and got me in to it

There's not much to add to all that's been said before. Side A and B are different sides of the same story. This is a masterpiece

A proper headphones album. Beautiful music and not what I was expecting. however get's a bit too experimental and tiresome right at the end, but the rest is very good. 4.5

One of the greatest albums ever made. Bowie is one of a kind

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