July 29, 2025 • 30 mins
Low (1977) is David Bowie’s groundbreaking 11th studio album and the first installment in his celebrated "Berlin Trilogy," produced in collaboration with Brian Eno and Tony Visconti. Marking a radical departure from his previous glam rock sound, Low is split into two distinct halves: the first side features fragmented, experimental art rock and electronic pop songs, while the second side dives into haunting, ambient instrumentals. Recorded in the wake of personal turmoil and relocation to West Berlin, the album reflects themes of alienation, dislocation, and emotional numbness. Tracks like “Sound and Vision” and “Be My Wife” showcase Bowie’s minimalist lyrical approach, while Side B’s atmospheric compositions such as “Warszawa” evoke a post-war European desolation. Initially polarizing, Low is now widely regarded as one of Bowie’s most influential and visionary works, paving the way for post-punk, new wave, and ambient music.
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SPEAKER_03 (00:00):
It's just the normal noises in here.
SPEAKER_04 (00:13):
This is Polyphonic Press, the podcast where two
music fans pick a classic albumcompletely at random.
Using the patented random albumgenerator, they are given an
album to review from a curatedlist of over 1,000 classic
releases spanning multiplegenres.
And now onto the show.
(00:34):
Here are your hosts, Jeremy Boydand John Van Dyke.
SPEAKER_03 (00:49):
And I'm John Van Dyke.
And uh let's not waste any time.
We've got the patented randomalbum generator right in front
of us here.
Uh so let's hit the button andsee what album we're gonna be
listening to this week.
And the album we're gonna belistening to is.
SPEAKER_04 (01:05):
The album you will be reviewing is Lowe by David
Bowie.
SPEAKER_03 (01:09):
Oh.
Cool.
Okay, so here is a descriptionof the album.
It says Lowe is David Bowie'sgroundbreaking 11th studio album
and the first installment in hiscelebrated Berlin trilogy,
produced in collaboration withBrian Eno and Tony Visconti,
marking a radical departure fromits previous glam rock sound.
(01:30):
Lowe is split into two distincthalves.
The first side featuresfragmented experimental art rock
and electronic pop songs, whilethe second side dives into haunt
uh into haunting ambientinstrumentals.
Recorded in the wake of personalturmoil and relocation to West
Berlin, the album reflectsthemes of alienation,
(01:54):
dislocation, and emotionalnumbness.
Tracks like Sound and Vision andBe My Wife showcase Bowie's
minimalist lyrical approach,while the side B's atmospheric
compositions, such as uh WarSawa, evoke a post-war European
desolation.
(02:14):
Initially polarizing, Lowe isnow widely regarded as one of
Bowie's most influential andvisionary works, paving the way
for post-punk, new wave, andambient music.
Okay, so yeah, so this album wasreleased on the 14th of January
1977, and the genres are artrock, avant-pop, electronic,
(02:37):
ambient, and experimental rock.
And it was released on RCARecords and produced by David
Bowie and Tony Visconti.
Hang on.
The album is uh there are 11songs on the album.
The first side uh features the Igot what do you call more
conventional songs.
Uh so side one has seven songson it, and side two is the
(03:02):
instrumental uh uh songs thatwere written by David Bowie and
Brian Eno.
So the that's how the album isuh split up.
So if you're listening along,which we do encourage you to do,
the album starts with the songSpeed of Light.
The first side ends with uh theseventh track, which is A New
Career in a New Town.
(03:24):
If you're what we do is we pausehalfway through and uh discuss
the album at the halfway pointor um rather after side one.
And uh just want to remind youto check out our Patreon.
You can go to patreon.com slashpolyphonic press, and you can
get uh lots of cool stuff there.
Like uh you can get these uhepisodes the day before they go
(03:47):
live, and you can request analbum for us to review, and uh
you can join the chat and awhole bunch of things that are
there.
And but without further ado,okay, here is the first song on
the album, uh Speed of Life.
So here we go.
(04:24):
Um yeah, this is really weird.
SPEAKER_02 (04:28):
Yeah, it is, but I'm kinda digging it.
SPEAKER_03 (04:31):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It it it's it's like I it's notwhat I was expecting from David
Bowie.
Um I knew of this album, but Inever heard it.
Yeah, me too.
I'm I was more familiar with hisI guess the glam period, like
the Ziggy Stardust period, but Iknew a lot of his hits
throughout his whole career.
(04:52):
But this album I'd and I hadheard about his Berlin period,
but I never really knew a wholelot about it.
And I didn't know reallyanything about this album, but
it is yeah, it is very weird.
I it's very experimental.
Um It's got Brian Eno all overit.
Well, he we haven't even gottento the Brian Eno stuff.
(05:15):
That's that's the crazy thing.
SPEAKER_02 (05:18):
He's still in this stuff too.
It's it's almost like uh itreminds me a lot of like um Gary
Newman stuff in a lot of ways.
But there's still that glam rockspark in it somewhere.
It's sort of like a crossbetween them.
SPEAKER_03 (05:35):
And it's um i y it's it doesn't like this album it it
was it came out in 1977.
And I don't know if it's becauseyou know they were in Berlin and
they were in a totally differentuh country.
It doesn't sound like anythingit doesn't sound like it doesn't
(05:57):
sound like 1977.
It do but it doesn't sound likeanything from the past or it
doesn't sound like anythinglater either.
It's it's it's its own thing.
SPEAKER_02 (06:08):
Well it almost sounds like glam, but like I
said, there's like the synths init sort of bring it into like
other sorts of a spacey sort ofthing.
And it sort of makes it a littlemore timeless sounding.
Um Yeah, it's very uh I don'tknow what the word is.
It's it's interesting.
SPEAKER_03 (06:27):
It it really is.
What I one of the things that Ilike about it is that they've
created their own sound, andthey've they've sort of stuck to
the sound for the whole album.
It's sort of like there's thisweird effect on the drums that
make it almost sound like a likea Star Wars laser or something.
(06:49):
Um Yeah.
I don't know what what effect isis on it.
It's like a really short uh somesort of modulation.
I can't quite put my finger onit.
But uh uh not just that.
It's it's the way the songs arestructured is very unique, and
and I think one of the thingsthat I like about it is I don't
(07:13):
know where it's going.
And it's it I sometimes you knowlistening to to like good rock
and roll is great, but a lot ofthe time you know what you're
gonna get.
And you know, the that's there'snothing wrong with that.
But with this, it's sort of likeokay, I don't know what's gonna
happen next year.
Like, and it that's sort ofkeeping me on my toes.
SPEAKER_02 (07:35):
Yeah, the song structures were very almost like
disjointed, but not in a badway.
I don't know.
The description is thisdescriptive words are not coming
to me at the moment, but uh it'sjust interesting.
SPEAKER_03 (07:51):
Yeah, I know.
It's it's hard, it's really hardto put into words of what yeah
is going on here.
It's sort of like and it's hardto analyze, too, because it's
like, well, yeah, the productionis something that's totally I
wouldn't say well, here's thething.
It's it is avant-garde in thesense that it's it doesn't
(08:15):
follow like conventional popstructures, but it's also not so
way out there that it'sunlistenable.
Like it's still enjoy it, it'sstill uh uh like I you can still
enjoy it when you're listeningto it.
It's not like um uh like it'snot so experimental that it's
(08:36):
it's like an art thing where thethe point is to push the
boundaries of what music is.
This is obviously still clearlymusic and still quote unquote
pop music, but it's on the veryedge of what you could call pop
music.
And th that's what's sointeresting about it, is uh it's
(08:58):
sort of like stretching theballoon, and they're inside the
balloon and stretching it tosee, well, just right to the
edge of where it's gonna pop.
SPEAKER_02 (09:07):
That's a big balloon.
SPEAKER_03 (09:09):
That's a big balloon, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (09:12):
But uh yeah, it's like we said, it's very spacey
in a lot of ways.
And uh a little disjointed andbut yeah, it's still somewhat
cohesive.
Um Yeah, I don't know what elseto say about it.
It's it's uh I was a little bitsurprised w when it first came
(09:32):
on.
I'm like, okay, this isinteresting.
And then, you know, as we'regetting into it, it's still
funky.
SPEAKER_03 (09:38):
Oh, absolutely, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (09:40):
There's nothing really quite like it.
Like I said, like um uh GaryNewman sort of was obviously
influenced by this.
Yep.
And sort of went in thisdirection a little bit, but uh
again, it was a littledifferent, yet again, it's it's
him.
But uh this is pretty unique.
I don't think there's reallyanything quite like it.
(10:03):
Yeah.
Except maybe the other Berlinalbums, I don't know.
SPEAKER_03 (10:08):
Yeah, I I I think Station to Station was one of
those was albums.
SPEAKER_02 (10:13):
I I'm I don't know, Station to Station was uh was
before this one.
SPEAKER_03 (10:18):
Oh, was it?
Oh, okay.
Yeah, I think um this album, Ithink to me, it's it's I I I
really I I uh like I said, Ididn't know much about this
album.
I'd heard of it, and I kinda Iknew the song Sound and Vision.
Um because I'd it I was on somecompilation somewhere.
(10:42):
But that was really the onlything I knew about it.
And I always thought that wasodd because the first like
minute and a half, there's novocals.
It's mostly instrumental with afew vocals in in the middle and
towards the end.
But you know, having that as myvery, very, very loose barometer
(11:03):
for what this album is, eventhat oddity.
SPEAKER_02 (11:08):
It sounded almost conventional next to what the
other stuff going on.
SPEAKER_03 (11:12):
Right.
Well, not even conventional,just like it n that's all the
songs have a very similarproduction, but each song is not
like any of the others, if thatmakes sense.
SPEAKER_02 (11:27):
No, I know.
What I meant by is uh Sound andVision sort of came on and and
to me as soon as it sort ofstarted up, it it sort of took
that in your faceness of some ofthe other tracks and sort of
reduced it a little bit becauseit was clearly supposed to be
the pop song, sorta.
Um It wasn't bad or anythinglike that.
(11:50):
But it was still sorta odd.
Like I could see how it wouldstand out on a compilation, like
what the hell was that?
But on this it sounds like, oh,okay, it it it fits better here
but it's definit it's clearlythe the you know quote unquote
commercial song for the album,which is still pretty out there.
SPEAKER_03 (12:12):
Yeah, and you know, I I always thought the the uh I
wonder if this was an influence.
That song to me always soundedlike Rock Pile and Nick Lowe.
Um Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (12:27):
Yeah.
I I wouldn't be surprised ifthere was a little bit of
influence in there.
I think probably more throughNick Lowe than Dave Edmonds.
SPEAKER_03 (12:37):
Yeah, because the bass playing sounds like his
bass playing.
Um actually Nick Lowe, this iskind of funny.
He actually released an EP uhcalled Bowie with the E left
off, because this is Lowe withthe E left off.
So it was like a response tothis album.
(12:58):
Which I always thought waspretty funny.
SPEAKER_02 (13:00):
I didn't I didn't know that.
That's funny.
SPEAKER_03 (13:03):
So yeah, I'm sure that that that was an influence
on shaping the sound of RockPile.
Like when this album came out,it was not well received at all.
Like it it was a commercialflop, and it was also like
critics didn't really know whatto do with it.
SPEAKER_02 (13:21):
I can sort of see that.
SPEAKER_03 (13:23):
You know, I I can absolutely see that because it's
it's like well, people alwayshad this uh I d I don't want to
say that because David Bo yeah,he had he had he had gone
through the a lot of changes,right?
Uh like he had started out aslike a like a Bob Dylan sort of
(13:44):
singer-songwriter type person,and then he did Ziggy Stardust
with the the glams glam uhstuff, and we had the Ziggy
Stardust character for a coupleof albums, and then he did the
Thin White Duke, and then he didalmost like a uh like a
Philadelphia soul kind of thingwith young Americans, and then
(14:06):
this and what so I was gonnasay, well, people had an idea of
who David Bowie was, but notreally, but I don't think they
were all all of those uhpersonas that he took on,
characters that he made, and themusic that he made was still
relatively conventional andstill quote unquote commercial.
(14:28):
And so when this came out,people didn't really know it's
like they were got used to DavidBowie sort of being a chameleon,
but they didn't really know whatto do with this partic in
particular.
SPEAKER_02 (14:41):
And I think that that takes us back to Brian
Eno's contribution.
Cause he's for a long timepeople didn't know what to make
of Brian Eno.
Cause I mean he put out what, itwas like four or five different
ambient albums that are meant tobe played in like airports or
(15:03):
something like that.
Which I get what he was goingat, but apparently they played
it in a few airports and stufflike that, and people didn't
know what to do with it.
Just this ambient noise sort ofthing.
I th probably would have thoughtit was kind of cool.
Cause I get it, like I kindalike ambient music and stuff
(15:25):
like that, because it creates amood, and especially when you're
like surrounded in like, I don'tknow, Brutus architecture or
something like that.
It's sort of interesting to havemusic that sort of reflects
that.
Yeah.
But uh obviously n it's not foreverybody.
It's definitely an art or anartistic statement more than uh,
you know, a practical solution.
SPEAKER_03 (15:48):
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (15:49):
Very much so.
SPEAKER_03 (15:52):
But uh I did manage to find a few pretty interesting
facts about the album, and thiskind of does make sense and sort
of gives the album a little morecontext.
Is um this was it was partly abreakup album with cocaine.
Um Lowe was uh created as Bowiewas trying to recover from years
(16:15):
of cocaine addiction and mentalhealth struggles during his time
in Los Angeles.
Uh the fragmented and disjointedstructure of the songs mirror
his emotional and psychologicalstate during recovery.
Um so that makes sense, youknow, if you're struggling with
uh with addiction and I've neverI've never been addicted to
(16:39):
drugs, but I I've heard storiesof people of like coming off of
and detoxing and it's painfuland uh physically and mentally
draining.
Um and so that the music kind ofdoes reflect that that feeling.
SPEAKER_02 (16:58):
Yeah, it's almost like being high, but it's more
the withdrawal, I think, is whatand that's where that sort of
clanging nature of some of thesongs probably comes from.
It's a little bit jarring insome some ways, but again, it's
not unpleasant.
It's I guess it's meant to besomewhat unpleasant, but I don't
(17:20):
find it that unpleasant.
I think it's actually kinda cooland interesting, and you know,
like many other Bowie fansprobably think the same way.
SPEAKER_03 (17:29):
Exactly.
And uh so um we haven't gottento it yet, but uh side B is
practically a different genre,and that's where the Brian Eno
stuff starts.
It's uh the second half of Loweis made up of mostly
instrumental ambient tracks,heavily influenced by Brian Eno.
He actually um wrote some ofthem, or one of them at least.
(17:53):
And this was a bold andunconventional unconventional
move in 1977, especially for apop artist, and it helped
legitimize ambient music as anart form.
And the album was originallyrejected by RCA.
Uh RCA Records was confused bythe album's lack of commercial
hooks and its dark avant-gardetone.
(18:14):
They initially delayed itsrelease and were skeptical about
its potential, but it still wenton to become a cult classic.
Yeah, and among um David Bowie,like hardcore David Bowie fans,
this is like one of his uh thisis the album that they they like
the most, and and it's uh it wasvery influential.
(18:37):
And yeah, like I said, Sound andVision became an accidental hit,
uh despite being one of the moreexperimental tracks on the
album.
Sound and Vision unexpectedunexpectedly became a top three
hit in the UK, even though Bowiedoesn't start singing until over
a minute into the song.
SPEAKER_02 (18:54):
I think it's probably because of its softer
edges.
It's still a very experimentaltrack, but it was a little bit
softer, at least initially.
SPEAKER_03 (19:03):
And uh it like you said, it it definitely it uh
inspired generations of artists.
Um Lowe deeply influenced a widerange of artists, uh, including
Joy Division, Radio Head, NineInch Nails, and L C D sound
system.
Its mix of cold, electronictextures and emotional depth
(19:24):
helped shape the post-punk andnew wave movements.
And yeah, I'm like yeah, likeyou you were saying, like Gary
Newman, like Depeche Mode, likeall the sort of synth um bands
that came like the late 70s,early 80s.
Uh this was sort of the theproto version of that.
(19:46):
So yeah, so those were some uhinteresting facts about the
album.
But uh, I guess we'll get backinto the second side of the
album.
But uh before we do that, uhlet's hear from our friends over
at the Astroverts podcast.
Um so check those guys out.
SPEAKER_01 (20:02):
What's up, folks?
It's Jake here from theAstrovert Podcast.
Come join us as we playunderplayed and undershare bands
from across the United Statesand the world.
We've found local bands from theMidwest, Florida, the UK, New
Zealand, and far, far beyond.
Some of our recent favoritediscoveries include Sprawl,
Glitch Kingdom, City of Auburn,Flake Michigan, and so many
(20:24):
more.
We feature Rock News Every RockTrick Again, Rock, as well as
discuss our band's journeytoward finishing our forthcoming
EP.
Our first two singles, Last Calland Tides of Elephants, both out
now.
You can find the podcast onSpotify, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcast.
SPEAKER_00 (20:59):
Thank you.
Here's side two.
SPEAKER_03 (21:02):
Alright, and uh ending the album with
subterraneans.
Yeah, this is the second halfwas totally different uh from
the first half.
Yep um still just as weird, butalso still just as in enjoyable
(21:23):
um, but in a totally differentway.
SPEAKER_02 (21:26):
Uh yeah, um that's it's almost like uh well some
tracks were almost likeclassical in some ways.
Yeah.
Just synthier.
Um Yeah, some tracks remind meof Soviet wave.
SPEAKER_03 (21:42):
Yeah, okay, yeah, I can see that.
Well, I mean, this was Berlin inthe nineteen seventies, so
that's almost well, they didn'tgo to East Berlin, but you know,
it's pretty not necessarilyclose to Eastern Europe, you
know.
SPEAKER_02 (21:57):
One song's called Warzawa, so but uh it just I
don't know, there's somethingabout uh that uh ambient thing,
it's it puts you in another sortof headspace and it can be quite
relaxing and uh Yeah, I was justgonna say I feel very relaxed
right now.
SPEAKER_03 (22:16):
Um Yeah, it's i i you know, I and I think that's
the point of ambient music is tosort of they be this it's this
calm sort of meditative sort ofuh thing.
And it's not really somethingthat you put on well you can,
(22:38):
but it's it's m the point is isit's not really an active
listening sort of thing.
It's it it's background music ina in a good way.
It's it's like you can sort ofmeditate to it or you can just
put it on to relax to.
Um it just sort of creates amood.
Yeah, exactly.
(22:59):
And uh it's uh weird that like iit's great, but it's weird that
it was that they decided to dothat all of that on half of this
album.
Yeah.
And you know, I I can understandthe the record company rejecting
(23:21):
the album initially, uh becauselike how do you what do you do
with this?
Um I and I understand that to acertain point.
It's like you you you want totrust your artist, and I think
you know, in the 70s rca wassort of that they were more uh
(23:43):
excuse me, an um an artistfriendly label, but at the same
time they still need to they'restill investing and in you know
printing the album and andgetting it pressed and
everything like that.
So they have to be able to sella certain certain amount of
units to be able to make up forthe cost of of making them, of
(24:06):
manufacturing them.
So yeah, I don't I d I can seeboth sides of it.
I can see David Bowie saying,Well, you know, this is this is
my album, this is the thestatement that I want to make
and at this you know particularpoint in my career.
Um and I think obviously thisalbum has gone on to become uh
(24:30):
an iconic album and influentialon a lot of a lot of artists.
SPEAKER_02 (24:36):
Eventually they picked it up.
So it it's good that theydecided to take a chance on it.
SPEAKER_03 (24:41):
Um and you know, I c I can see like because upon
initially listening to it, likeespecially in the 70s, and
especially given David Bowie'strack record of putting out, you
know, pretty big selling albums,and then all of a sudden he
gives them this where half of itis instrumental ambient tracks,
(25:05):
and the other half is likeexperimental avant-garde very
short pop songs.
I can see them saying, Okay,well what songs can we put out
as singles to promote thisthing?
SPEAKER_02 (25:21):
I don't hear a single.
SPEAKER_03 (25:23):
So but yeah, like you said, I'm glad that they did
take a chance on it.
And even though it wasn'tinitially a big seller, um I
mean that's that's sometimes youjust gotta take a chance like
that.
The other thing I wanted tomention too, Lake mentioned it
was briefly mentioned, is thereason that he left uh to go to
(25:47):
Berlin was to kick his his drughabit uh for cocaine.
And somebody that actuallyplayed a big role in this album
and traveled with him was EggyPop.
Um uh they sort of wanted to getclean together.
Uh yeah.
(26:08):
And so he he moved to Berlinwith with Bowie, and they were
really close friends.
Uh he sang backup vocals on uhwhat in the world.
SPEAKER_02 (26:20):
But uh Oh that's interesting.
SPEAKER_03 (26:22):
Yeah, okay.
And I think they wrote quite abit of stuff together.
I think he recorded some stuffin Berlin as well.
Yeah, so yeah, um his album Lustfor Life was recorded, which is
his second solo album after heleft the Stooges, uh and David
(26:43):
Bowie played on that.
So it's interesting that um IggyPop had his first solo breakout
pop hit at the same time thatDavid Bowie was going through
his his experimental.
But yeah, Iggy Pop played a bigrole in in encouraging both of
(27:07):
them to get clean and sober andand I'm glad that they did.
Uh yeah, me too.
Although I I think Iggy Popkinda relapsed there.
This album overall, I I I didenjoy it.
I I I enjoyed it in a way thatsort of um I guess I wasn't
expecting to.
Uh 'cause usually I don't rejectunconventional music and I could
(27:36):
but I could easily see myselfnot enjoying it.
Ignoring it.
Ignoring it, yeah, exactly.
Um but uh but I did enjoy it andI d enjoyed the I and I embraced
the weirdness and enjoyed that.
And um and I think this is justa kind of a a really cool sort
(27:57):
of little gem in uh DavidBowie's in his discography.
SPEAKER_02 (28:02):
Yeah, I kinda want to hear the other Berlin albums
as well.
SPEAKER_03 (28:06):
Yeah, I think the next one is Heroes.
Okay.
I think those were the two andyeah, you're right, Station to
Station was But yeah, I guessthat uh s sort of brings us to
the the end.
So what would be your threehighlights on the album?
SPEAKER_02 (28:24):
Hmm, jeez.
I kinda liked uh I I liked howthe album started out.
I thought it was reallyinteresting.
It sort of caught me off guard.
So I think I'm gonna go withSpeed of Life and Breaking
Glass.
And then I I like Borzawa.
SPEAKER_03 (28:39):
Yeah.
Yeah, those were those werereally good.
I I think I would probably go,yeah, Speed of Life.
I think I like always crashingin the same car.
Yeah, I like that one too.
I was considering that one.
Yeah.
And I think I like the closingtrack, Subterraneans.
That was a good one too.
(28:59):
I like that.
Sort of a interesting mix.
Um So yeah, I guess that bringsus to the uh to the question is
would you listen to this albumagain?
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah, I think I would too.
Um Yeah, it's not something thatI typically listen to, but I
(29:19):
definitely I think doing thispodcast has sort of broadened my
uh my taste and uh it'sdefinitely I think I would
definitely listen to this again.
SPEAKER_02 (29:29):
Yeah, it's sort of the same thing, but uh um I mean
it sort of fits into uh whatI've been listening to on the
pop side and a little bit ontothe experimental side.
So it sort of straddles thatline and I I'm all for it.
SPEAKER_03 (29:46):
So Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
So yeah, so I guess we'll uh endthe episode there.
Uh thank you so much forlistening if you made it this
far.
Uh we would love to hear fromyou if you uh go to the website
polyphonic press.com.
dot com where you can get lotsof updates and listen to all the
past episodes and all uh you canget in contact with us if you
(30:07):
want to go to the contact pagejust go to polyphonicpress.com
slash contact or just in the topmenu go to the contact page and
drop us a line and uh we wouldlove to hear from you and maybe
read some of your uh yourthoughts uh on a future episode
and um and yeah like I said uhbe sure to f give us a follow if
(30:30):
this is your first timelistening and uh check out the
Patreon if you want to help usout but uh yeah I think that
just about does it uh I'm JeremyBoyd and I'm Don van Dyke take
it easy
It's just the normal noises in here.
SPEAKER_04 (00:13):
This is Polyphonic Press, the podcast where two
music fans pick a classic albumcompletely at random.
Using the patented random albumgenerator, they are given an
album to review from a curatedlist of over 1,000 classic
releases spanning multiplegenres.
And now onto the show.
(00:34):
Here are your hosts, Jeremy Boydand John Van Dyke.
SPEAKER_03 (00:49):
And I'm John Van Dyke.
And uh let's not waste any time.
We've got the patented randomalbum generator right in front
of us here.
Uh so let's hit the button andsee what album we're gonna be
listening to this week.
And the album we're gonna belistening to is.
SPEAKER_04 (01:05):
The album you will be reviewing is Lowe by David
Bowie.
SPEAKER_03 (01:09):
Oh.
Cool.
Okay, so here is a descriptionof the album.
It says Lowe is David Bowie'sgroundbreaking 11th studio album
and the first installment in hiscelebrated Berlin trilogy,
produced in collaboration withBrian Eno and Tony Visconti,
marking a radical departure fromits previous glam rock sound.
(01:30):
Lowe is split into two distincthalves.
The first side featuresfragmented experimental art rock
and electronic pop songs, whilethe second side dives into haunt
uh into haunting ambientinstrumentals.
Recorded in the wake of personalturmoil and relocation to West
Berlin, the album reflectsthemes of alienation,
(01:54):
dislocation, and emotionalnumbness.
Tracks like Sound and Vision andBe My Wife showcase Bowie's
minimalist lyrical approach,while the side B's atmospheric
compositions, such as uh WarSawa, evoke a post-war European
desolation.
(02:14):
Initially polarizing, Lowe isnow widely regarded as one of
Bowie's most influential andvisionary works, paving the way
for post-punk, new wave, andambient music.
Okay, so yeah, so this album wasreleased on the 14th of January
1977, and the genres are artrock, avant-pop, electronic,
(02:37):
ambient, and experimental rock.
And it was released on RCARecords and produced by David
Bowie and Tony Visconti.
Hang on.
The album is uh there are 11songs on the album.
The first side uh features the Igot what do you call more
conventional songs.
Uh so side one has seven songson it, and side two is the
(03:02):
instrumental uh uh songs thatwere written by David Bowie and
Brian Eno.
So the that's how the album isuh split up.
So if you're listening along,which we do encourage you to do,
the album starts with the songSpeed of Light.
The first side ends with uh theseventh track, which is A New
Career in a New Town.
(03:24):
If you're what we do is we pausehalfway through and uh discuss
the album at the halfway pointor um rather after side one.
And uh just want to remind youto check out our Patreon.
You can go to patreon.com slashpolyphonic press, and you can
get uh lots of cool stuff there.
Like uh you can get these uhepisodes the day before they go
(03:47):
live, and you can request analbum for us to review, and uh
you can join the chat and awhole bunch of things that are
there.
And but without further ado,okay, here is the first song on
the album, uh Speed of Life.
So here we go.
(04:24):
Um yeah, this is really weird.
SPEAKER_02 (04:28):
Yeah, it is, but I'm kinda digging it.
SPEAKER_03 (04:31):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It it it's it's like I it's notwhat I was expecting from David
Bowie.
Um I knew of this album, but Inever heard it.
Yeah, me too.
I'm I was more familiar with hisI guess the glam period, like
the Ziggy Stardust period, but Iknew a lot of his hits
throughout his whole career.
(04:52):
But this album I'd and I hadheard about his Berlin period,
but I never really knew a wholelot about it.
And I didn't know reallyanything about this album, but
it is yeah, it is very weird.
I it's very experimental.
Um It's got Brian Eno all overit.
Well, he we haven't even gottento the Brian Eno stuff.
(05:15):
That's that's the crazy thing.
SPEAKER_02 (05:18):
He's still in this stuff too.
It's it's almost like uh itreminds me a lot of like um Gary
Newman stuff in a lot of ways.
But there's still that glam rockspark in it somewhere.
It's sort of like a crossbetween them.
SPEAKER_03 (05:35):
And it's um i y it's it doesn't like this album it it
was it came out in 1977.
And I don't know if it's becauseyou know they were in Berlin and
they were in a totally differentuh country.
It doesn't sound like anythingit doesn't sound like it doesn't
(05:57):
sound like 1977.
It do but it doesn't sound likeanything from the past or it
doesn't sound like anythinglater either.
It's it's it's its own thing.
SPEAKER_02 (06:08):
Well it almost sounds like glam, but like I
said, there's like the synths init sort of bring it into like
other sorts of a spacey sort ofthing.
And it sort of makes it a littlemore timeless sounding.
Um Yeah, it's very uh I don'tknow what the word is.
It's it's interesting.
SPEAKER_03 (06:27):
It it really is.
What I one of the things that Ilike about it is that they've
created their own sound, andthey've they've sort of stuck to
the sound for the whole album.
It's sort of like there's thisweird effect on the drums that
make it almost sound like a likea Star Wars laser or something.
(06:49):
Um Yeah.
I don't know what what effect isis on it.
It's like a really short uh somesort of modulation.
I can't quite put my finger onit.
But uh uh not just that.
It's it's the way the songs arestructured is very unique, and
and I think one of the thingsthat I like about it is I don't
(07:13):
know where it's going.
And it's it I sometimes you knowlistening to to like good rock
and roll is great, but a lot ofthe time you know what you're
gonna get.
And you know, the that's there'snothing wrong with that.
But with this, it's sort of likeokay, I don't know what's gonna
happen next year.
Like, and it that's sort ofkeeping me on my toes.
SPEAKER_02 (07:35):
Yeah, the song structures were very almost like
disjointed, but not in a badway.
I don't know.
The description is thisdescriptive words are not coming
to me at the moment, but uh it'sjust interesting.
SPEAKER_03 (07:51):
Yeah, I know.
It's it's hard, it's really hardto put into words of what yeah
is going on here.
It's sort of like and it's hardto analyze, too, because it's
like, well, yeah, the productionis something that's totally I
wouldn't say well, here's thething.
It's it is avant-garde in thesense that it's it doesn't
(08:15):
follow like conventional popstructures, but it's also not so
way out there that it'sunlistenable.
Like it's still enjoy it, it'sstill uh uh like I you can still
enjoy it when you're listeningto it.
It's not like um uh like it'snot so experimental that it's
(08:36):
it's like an art thing where thethe point is to push the
boundaries of what music is.
This is obviously still clearlymusic and still quote unquote
pop music, but it's on the veryedge of what you could call pop
music.
And th that's what's sointeresting about it, is uh it's
(08:58):
sort of like stretching theballoon, and they're inside the
balloon and stretching it tosee, well, just right to the
edge of where it's gonna pop.
SPEAKER_02 (09:07):
That's a big balloon.
SPEAKER_03 (09:09):
That's a big balloon, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (09:12):
But uh yeah, it's like we said, it's very spacey
in a lot of ways.
And uh a little disjointed andbut yeah, it's still somewhat
cohesive.
Um Yeah, I don't know what elseto say about it.
It's it's uh I was a little bitsurprised w when it first came
(09:32):
on.
I'm like, okay, this isinteresting.
And then, you know, as we'regetting into it, it's still
funky.
SPEAKER_03 (09:38):
Oh, absolutely, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (09:40):
There's nothing really quite like it.
Like I said, like um uh GaryNewman sort of was obviously
influenced by this.
Yep.
And sort of went in thisdirection a little bit, but uh
again, it was a littledifferent, yet again, it's it's
him.
But uh this is pretty unique.
I don't think there's reallyanything quite like it.
(10:03):
Yeah.
Except maybe the other Berlinalbums, I don't know.
SPEAKER_03 (10:08):
Yeah, I I I think Station to Station was one of
those was albums.
SPEAKER_02 (10:13):
I I'm I don't know, Station to Station was uh was
before this one.
SPEAKER_03 (10:18):
Oh, was it?
Oh, okay.
Yeah, I think um this album, Ithink to me, it's it's I I I
really I I uh like I said, Ididn't know much about this
album.
I'd heard of it, and I kinda Iknew the song Sound and Vision.
Um because I'd it I was on somecompilation somewhere.
(10:42):
But that was really the onlything I knew about it.
And I always thought that wasodd because the first like
minute and a half, there's novocals.
It's mostly instrumental with afew vocals in in the middle and
towards the end.
But you know, having that as myvery, very, very loose barometer
(11:03):
for what this album is, eventhat oddity.
SPEAKER_02 (11:08):
It sounded almost conventional next to what the
other stuff going on.
SPEAKER_03 (11:12):
Right.
Well, not even conventional,just like it n that's all the
songs have a very similarproduction, but each song is not
like any of the others, if thatmakes sense.
SPEAKER_02 (11:27):
No, I know.
What I meant by is uh Sound andVision sort of came on and and
to me as soon as it sort ofstarted up, it it sort of took
that in your faceness of some ofthe other tracks and sort of
reduced it a little bit becauseit was clearly supposed to be
the pop song, sorta.
Um It wasn't bad or anythinglike that.
(11:50):
But it was still sorta odd.
Like I could see how it wouldstand out on a compilation, like
what the hell was that?
But on this it sounds like, oh,okay, it it it fits better here
but it's definit it's clearlythe the you know quote unquote
commercial song for the album,which is still pretty out there.
SPEAKER_03 (12:12):
Yeah, and you know, I I always thought the the uh I
wonder if this was an influence.
That song to me always soundedlike Rock Pile and Nick Lowe.
Um Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (12:27):
Yeah.
I I wouldn't be surprised ifthere was a little bit of
influence in there.
I think probably more throughNick Lowe than Dave Edmonds.
SPEAKER_03 (12:37):
Yeah, because the bass playing sounds like his
bass playing.
Um actually Nick Lowe, this iskind of funny.
He actually released an EP uhcalled Bowie with the E left
off, because this is Lowe withthe E left off.
So it was like a response tothis album.
(12:58):
Which I always thought waspretty funny.
SPEAKER_02 (13:00):
I didn't I didn't know that.
That's funny.
SPEAKER_03 (13:03):
So yeah, I'm sure that that that was an influence
on shaping the sound of RockPile.
Like when this album came out,it was not well received at all.
Like it it was a commercialflop, and it was also like
critics didn't really know whatto do with it.
SPEAKER_02 (13:21):
I can sort of see that.
SPEAKER_03 (13:23):
You know, I I can absolutely see that because it's
it's like well, people alwayshad this uh I d I don't want to
say that because David Bo yeah,he had he had he had gone
through the a lot of changes,right?
Uh like he had started out aslike a like a Bob Dylan sort of
(13:44):
singer-songwriter type person,and then he did Ziggy Stardust
with the the glams glam uhstuff, and we had the Ziggy
Stardust character for a coupleof albums, and then he did the
Thin White Duke, and then he didalmost like a uh like a
Philadelphia soul kind of thingwith young Americans, and then
(14:06):
this and what so I was gonnasay, well, people had an idea of
who David Bowie was, but notreally, but I don't think they
were all all of those uhpersonas that he took on,
characters that he made, and themusic that he made was still
relatively conventional andstill quote unquote commercial.
(14:28):
And so when this came out,people didn't really know it's
like they were got used to DavidBowie sort of being a chameleon,
but they didn't really know whatto do with this partic in
particular.
SPEAKER_02 (14:41):
And I think that that takes us back to Brian
Eno's contribution.
Cause he's for a long timepeople didn't know what to make
of Brian Eno.
Cause I mean he put out what, itwas like four or five different
ambient albums that are meant tobe played in like airports or
(15:03):
something like that.
Which I get what he was goingat, but apparently they played
it in a few airports and stufflike that, and people didn't
know what to do with it.
Just this ambient noise sort ofthing.
I th probably would have thoughtit was kind of cool.
Cause I get it, like I kindalike ambient music and stuff
(15:25):
like that, because it creates amood, and especially when you're
like surrounded in like, I don'tknow, Brutus architecture or
something like that.
It's sort of interesting to havemusic that sort of reflects
that.
Yeah.
But uh obviously n it's not foreverybody.
It's definitely an art or anartistic statement more than uh,
you know, a practical solution.
SPEAKER_03 (15:48):
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (15:49):
Very much so.
SPEAKER_03 (15:52):
But uh I did manage to find a few pretty interesting
facts about the album, and thiskind of does make sense and sort
of gives the album a little morecontext.
Is um this was it was partly abreakup album with cocaine.
Um Lowe was uh created as Bowiewas trying to recover from years
(16:15):
of cocaine addiction and mentalhealth struggles during his time
in Los Angeles.
Uh the fragmented and disjointedstructure of the songs mirror
his emotional and psychologicalstate during recovery.
Um so that makes sense, youknow, if you're struggling with
uh with addiction and I've neverI've never been addicted to
(16:39):
drugs, but I I've heard storiesof people of like coming off of
and detoxing and it's painfuland uh physically and mentally
draining.
Um and so that the music kind ofdoes reflect that that feeling.
SPEAKER_02 (16:58):
Yeah, it's almost like being high, but it's more
the withdrawal, I think, is whatand that's where that sort of
clanging nature of some of thesongs probably comes from.
It's a little bit jarring insome some ways, but again, it's
not unpleasant.
It's I guess it's meant to besomewhat unpleasant, but I don't
(17:20):
find it that unpleasant.
I think it's actually kinda cooland interesting, and you know,
like many other Bowie fansprobably think the same way.
SPEAKER_03 (17:29):
Exactly.
And uh so um we haven't gottento it yet, but uh side B is
practically a different genre,and that's where the Brian Eno
stuff starts.
It's uh the second half of Loweis made up of mostly
instrumental ambient tracks,heavily influenced by Brian Eno.
He actually um wrote some ofthem, or one of them at least.
(17:53):
And this was a bold andunconventional unconventional
move in 1977, especially for apop artist, and it helped
legitimize ambient music as anart form.
And the album was originallyrejected by RCA.
Uh RCA Records was confused bythe album's lack of commercial
hooks and its dark avant-gardetone.
(18:14):
They initially delayed itsrelease and were skeptical about
its potential, but it still wenton to become a cult classic.
Yeah, and among um David Bowie,like hardcore David Bowie fans,
this is like one of his uh thisis the album that they they like
the most, and and it's uh it wasvery influential.
(18:37):
And yeah, like I said, Sound andVision became an accidental hit,
uh despite being one of the moreexperimental tracks on the
album.
Sound and Vision unexpectedunexpectedly became a top three
hit in the UK, even though Bowiedoesn't start singing until over
a minute into the song.
SPEAKER_02 (18:54):
I think it's probably because of its softer
edges.
It's still a very experimentaltrack, but it was a little bit
softer, at least initially.
SPEAKER_03 (19:03):
And uh it like you said, it it definitely it uh
inspired generations of artists.
Um Lowe deeply influenced a widerange of artists, uh, including
Joy Division, Radio Head, NineInch Nails, and L C D sound
system.
Its mix of cold, electronictextures and emotional depth
(19:24):
helped shape the post-punk andnew wave movements.
And yeah, I'm like yeah, likeyou you were saying, like Gary
Newman, like Depeche Mode, likeall the sort of synth um bands
that came like the late 70s,early 80s.
Uh this was sort of the theproto version of that.
(19:46):
So yeah, so those were some uhinteresting facts about the
album.
But uh, I guess we'll get backinto the second side of the
album.
But uh before we do that, uhlet's hear from our friends over
at the Astroverts podcast.
Um so check those guys out.
SPEAKER_01 (20:02):
What's up, folks?
It's Jake here from theAstrovert Podcast.
Come join us as we playunderplayed and undershare bands
from across the United Statesand the world.
We've found local bands from theMidwest, Florida, the UK, New
Zealand, and far, far beyond.
Some of our recent favoritediscoveries include Sprawl,
Glitch Kingdom, City of Auburn,Flake Michigan, and so many
(20:24):
more.
We feature Rock News Every RockTrick Again, Rock, as well as
discuss our band's journeytoward finishing our forthcoming
EP.
Our first two singles, Last Calland Tides of Elephants, both out
now.
You can find the podcast onSpotify, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcast.
SPEAKER_00 (20:59):
Thank you.
Here's side two.
SPEAKER_03 (21:02):
Alright, and uh ending the album with
subterraneans.
Yeah, this is the second halfwas totally different uh from
the first half.
Yep um still just as weird, butalso still just as in enjoyable
(21:23):
um, but in a totally differentway.
SPEAKER_02 (21:26):
Uh yeah, um that's it's almost like uh well some
tracks were almost likeclassical in some ways.
Yeah.
Just synthier.
Um Yeah, some tracks remind meof Soviet wave.
SPEAKER_03 (21:42):
Yeah, okay, yeah, I can see that.
Well, I mean, this was Berlin inthe nineteen seventies, so
that's almost well, they didn'tgo to East Berlin, but you know,
it's pretty not necessarilyclose to Eastern Europe, you
know.
SPEAKER_02 (21:57):
One song's called Warzawa, so but uh it just I
don't know, there's somethingabout uh that uh ambient thing,
it's it puts you in another sortof headspace and it can be quite
relaxing and uh Yeah, I was justgonna say I feel very relaxed
right now.
SPEAKER_03 (22:16):
Um Yeah, it's i i you know, I and I think that's
the point of ambient music is tosort of they be this it's this
calm sort of meditative sort ofuh thing.
And it's not really somethingthat you put on well you can,
(22:38):
but it's it's m the point is isit's not really an active
listening sort of thing.
It's it it's background music ina in a good way.
It's it's like you can sort ofmeditate to it or you can just
put it on to relax to.
Um it just sort of creates amood.
Yeah, exactly.
(22:59):
And uh it's uh weird that like iit's great, but it's weird that
it was that they decided to dothat all of that on half of this
album.
Yeah.
And you know, I I can understandthe the record company rejecting
(23:21):
the album initially, uh becauselike how do you what do you do
with this?
Um I and I understand that to acertain point.
It's like you you you want totrust your artist, and I think
you know, in the 70s rca wassort of that they were more uh
(23:43):
excuse me, an um an artistfriendly label, but at the same
time they still need to they'restill investing and in you know
printing the album and andgetting it pressed and
everything like that.
So they have to be able to sella certain certain amount of
units to be able to make up forthe cost of of making them, of
(24:06):
manufacturing them.
So yeah, I don't I d I can seeboth sides of it.
I can see David Bowie saying,Well, you know, this is this is
my album, this is the thestatement that I want to make
and at this you know particularpoint in my career.
Um and I think obviously thisalbum has gone on to become uh
(24:30):
an iconic album and influentialon a lot of a lot of artists.
SPEAKER_02 (24:36):
Eventually they picked it up.
So it it's good that theydecided to take a chance on it.
SPEAKER_03 (24:41):
Um and you know, I c I can see like because upon
initially listening to it, likeespecially in the 70s, and
especially given David Bowie'strack record of putting out, you
know, pretty big selling albums,and then all of a sudden he
gives them this where half of itis instrumental ambient tracks,
(25:05):
and the other half is likeexperimental avant-garde very
short pop songs.
I can see them saying, Okay,well what songs can we put out
as singles to promote thisthing?
SPEAKER_02 (25:21):
I don't hear a single.
SPEAKER_03 (25:23):
So but yeah, like you said, I'm glad that they did
take a chance on it.
And even though it wasn'tinitially a big seller, um I
mean that's that's sometimes youjust gotta take a chance like
that.
The other thing I wanted tomention too, Lake mentioned it
was briefly mentioned, is thereason that he left uh to go to
(25:47):
Berlin was to kick his his drughabit uh for cocaine.
And somebody that actuallyplayed a big role in this album
and traveled with him was EggyPop.
Um uh they sort of wanted to getclean together.
Uh yeah.
(26:08):
And so he he moved to Berlinwith with Bowie, and they were
really close friends.
Uh he sang backup vocals on uhwhat in the world.
SPEAKER_02 (26:20):
But uh Oh that's interesting.
SPEAKER_03 (26:22):
Yeah, okay.
And I think they wrote quite abit of stuff together.
I think he recorded some stuffin Berlin as well.
Yeah, so yeah, um his album Lustfor Life was recorded, which is
his second solo album after heleft the Stooges, uh and David
(26:43):
Bowie played on that.
So it's interesting that um IggyPop had his first solo breakout
pop hit at the same time thatDavid Bowie was going through
his his experimental.
But yeah, Iggy Pop played a bigrole in in encouraging both of
(27:07):
them to get clean and sober andand I'm glad that they did.
Uh yeah, me too.
Although I I think Iggy Popkinda relapsed there.
This album overall, I I I didenjoy it.
I I I enjoyed it in a way thatsort of um I guess I wasn't
expecting to.
Uh 'cause usually I don't rejectunconventional music and I could
(27:36):
but I could easily see myselfnot enjoying it.
Ignoring it.
Ignoring it, yeah, exactly.
Um but uh but I did enjoy it andI d enjoyed the I and I embraced
the weirdness and enjoyed that.
And um and I think this is justa kind of a a really cool sort
(27:57):
of little gem in uh DavidBowie's in his discography.
SPEAKER_02 (28:02):
Yeah, I kinda want to hear the other Berlin albums
as well.
SPEAKER_03 (28:06):
Yeah, I think the next one is Heroes.
Okay.
I think those were the two andyeah, you're right, Station to
Station was But yeah, I guessthat uh s sort of brings us to
the the end.
So what would be your threehighlights on the album?
SPEAKER_02 (28:24):
Hmm, jeez.
I kinda liked uh I I liked howthe album started out.
I thought it was reallyinteresting.
It sort of caught me off guard.
So I think I'm gonna go withSpeed of Life and Breaking
Glass.
And then I I like Borzawa.
SPEAKER_03 (28:39):
Yeah.
Yeah, those were those werereally good.
I I think I would probably go,yeah, Speed of Life.
I think I like always crashingin the same car.
Yeah, I like that one too.
I was considering that one.
Yeah.
And I think I like the closingtrack, Subterraneans.
That was a good one too.
(28:59):
I like that.
Sort of a interesting mix.
Um So yeah, I guess that bringsus to the uh to the question is
would you listen to this albumagain?
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah, I think I would too.
Um Yeah, it's not something thatI typically listen to, but I
(29:19):
definitely I think doing thispodcast has sort of broadened my
uh my taste and uh it'sdefinitely I think I would
definitely listen to this again.
SPEAKER_02 (29:29):
Yeah, it's sort of the same thing, but uh um I mean
it sort of fits into uh whatI've been listening to on the
pop side and a little bit ontothe experimental side.
So it sort of straddles thatline and I I'm all for it.
SPEAKER_03 (29:46):
So Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
So yeah, so I guess we'll uh endthe episode there.
Uh thank you so much forlistening if you made it this
far.
Uh we would love to hear fromyou if you uh go to the website
polyphonic press.com.
dot com where you can get lotsof updates and listen to all the
past episodes and all uh you canget in contact with us if you
(30:07):
want to go to the contact pagejust go to polyphonicpress.com
slash contact or just in the topmenu go to the contact page and
drop us a line and uh we wouldlove to hear from you and maybe
read some of your uh yourthoughts uh on a future episode
and um and yeah like I said uhbe sure to f give us a follow if
(30:30):
this is your first timelistening and uh check out the
Patreon if you want to help usout but uh yeah I think that
just about does it uh I'm JeremyBoyd and I'm Don van Dyke take
it easy
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