It would not probably be the best time to write a post, I actually caught flu and a fever at the same time but alright I’ll take some adult cold right away. This Class 6 series on This Winki’s have been outcasts I admit but here’s the third post under this title. You know there are millions of albums we can discuss here but as we go on writing on classics let’s stick to some major items in advance before anything else. And I don't think I'll regret writing about this classic album knowing there have been zillions of words spoken and written around it.
David Bowie’s Low! You ever get the feeling like you’re aware that you’re a music freak but somehow have missed some major albums all your life. That was the feeling I got when I first listened to Low. The marvel fact about it is that it’s technically a 70s album while it doesn’t sound anything like 70s. When we’re debating on '70s music – which in fact many pals still believe the decade won’t repeat again – I’m not quite sure about other corners of the world but in Iran, ‘70s is narrowly limited to a specific range of albums and artists as if it doesn’t even exist out of that scope. Well, that shouldn’t come as a surprise. We Iranians had the Islamic Revolution stone-falling on our heads. Nobody had time to listen to music, to ‘70s rock, people hardly ever found time to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Never mind! ‘70s decade in Iran is recognized by Pink Floyd’s The Wall or The Dark Side Of the Moon, Deep Purple’s Machinehead, Jethro Tull, Eloy (the German band) and a couple of others. Nobody knows ‘70s with The Clash’s London Calling or The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, or Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors. ‘70s is hopelessly defined by those names and a few others. Forget it!
Listen | David Bowie "Always Crashing In the Same Car"
Instead of going through a track by track survey on the album, here are a couple of factors I found in my head that make Low a distinctive immortal album:
I. Apart from the album’s partial commercial success, Low does not see Bowie behind the microphone that much, even on the first side of the disk Bowie utters on some materialistic elements of modern life and does not bother stepping into the chorus cliché (well it was 1977 and chorus being a cliché at that time sounds a little odd).II. In case of being a multi-instrumentalist, Bowie has played with the following instruments in the album: vocals (well!! Don't tell me it's not an instrument), guitar, pump bass, saxophones, xylophones, vibraphones, harmonica, pre-arranged percussion, keyboards: ARP synthesizer, piano, Chamberlin (credited on the album sleeve notes as "tape strings", "tape-cello" and "tape-horns". And as you might have already known the drum sound was too off-the-wall for the time using something called eventide harmonizer.
III. The whole album sounds far ahead of its time. In the era of guitar player rivalism and complicated riffs and melodies, Low sounds as if it was never meant to take part in that struggle. Bowie and Eno were probably thinking of something even more timeless and brilliant. They didn’t think of dealing with epic stories and fairy tales and drugs and LSDs. Although Bowie was on cocaine during most of the recording process, but the album sounds as futuristic and sober as it should.
IV. The record strangely divides into two different sections/phases, the first (starting from “Speed of Life” up to “A New Career in A New Town” is consisted of mostly upbeat tunes having Bowie behind the microphone while the second half is where the real Eno magic happens. Starting from the startling “Warszawa” and stretching on till the end, Low descends marvelously to a strange planet of ambient sounds and soundscapes. (Having listened to next Bowie album Hereos the very incident happens to the album there.) Each side has its own brilliance and beauty.
V. Not many albums dealt with contemporary art at that time. Apart from psychedelic rock and all those Beatles efforts, Low can easily depict a painting or any other form of modern art. It’s quite like a Picasso work, a Francis Bacon sculpture or a Philip K. Dick sci-fi novel.
There has been enough said and written on Low. It’s also declared the best album of the ‘70s by Pitchfork – such a wise decision if you ask me – but we can simply see this post as a reminder or a nostalgic moment.
