Lodger in the soul (Lodger - David Bowie)

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Product:	Lodger - David Bowie
Date:	29/01/04 (70 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brillaintly innovative yet not saintly

Disadvantages: The final two tracks

Made after the twin glories of Low and Heroes, Lodger has a tendency to get lost in Bowie?s back catalogue. I?ll admit I bought it at the time because it was cheap and I was a little broke, instead of going the whole hog and buying Heroes. I got home, expecting great things (I?d only recently bought Outside and so was on a real high; if it was Bowie it was gonna be great), got home and:

?In the event that this fantastic voyage, should lead to erosion and the never get home?? I was feeling less than inspired. I let it play, switched it off and probably put Outside on, or some other CD I really wanted to listen to. A few months later I bought Low, Heroes, Scary Monsters and found myself getting into Bowie in ?a big way.?

At some time for some reason I know cannot recall I returned to Lodger.

And something happened. Somewhere in the ethereal meantime I found myself sitting up and listening. Really listening, as a (wo)man does to something that is great. ?**** [insert obscenity of choice, or not if preferred] Heroes and Low,? I thought to myself. ?This is great music.?

Of course it was great music. It always had been. One had only to look at the liner notes to see Brian Eno was involved and Adrian Belew, in the Absence of Robert Fripp, had filled the breach for duties as top guitarist. The first listen, I realise now, was a mistake. I was expecting something with the sheer power of Outside, something that would tear through my senses and shatter my bones. Which is not to say that Lodger is incapable of doing this; no, Lodger is subtle, but it certainly doesn?t lack power.

Surprisingly, Lodger has one clear advantage over Low and Heroes (I compare it with these are Lodger was the 3rd and final CD in Bowie?s Berlin, Kraftwerk inspired period) in that it had a sense of linearity to it. Both Heroes and Lodgers, great as they are, are split into two separate albums, one song based, the other containing progressive
instrumentals that helped to push back the boundaries of what is considered popular music (surely it is hardly curious that Philip Glass would write a Low and Heroes symphony, each movement named after a track from either album). There is a uniformity to Lodger that is not born of lack of creativity, rather from focused musicking.

?In the event that this fantastic voyage, should lead to erosion?? suddenly took on new meanings for me. Those first words, introducing Fantastic Voyage, suddenly presaged not a dull album but excitement. Fantastic Voyage is a subtle song, driven by Bowie?s dead-pan, talky vocals. The song appears to be dealing with deep depression and dealing with its effects and yet there is nothing depressing about the song. True, the music does in many ways mimic a sense of depression; it has the right tones and meters. Again it is one of those songs that are hard to describe because its effects are subtle and difficult to gauge. It doesn?t make me want to get up and dance, but you?re not meant to get up and dance to it, it is intelligent song writing and playing by intelligent musicians. It is a track that grows on you till finally you can see no wrong with it and wonder how you were ever you foolish as to think it bland and disinteresting.

I felt the same about African Night Flight. WHY? This is almost my favourite song from the album. It?s filled with Eno flourishes, the use of sounds, beats and rhythms, lyrics and vocal curiosities. It is a song of nuances. Bowie?s hurriedly sung vocals are timed to reflect the image of his words, flying dangerously over dubious desert airtstrips, dropping off messages for despairing maidens. The lyrics evoke gentlemen explorers but the words are almost unnecessary as it is their sounds that interest Bowie (and Eno). As with so much of Bowie?s work he does his own backing vocals, which complement each other to create layers of sound and beneath it all the music. Eno uses every stra
nge sound known to humanity to create a symphony of whizzes, clicks, buzzes and in his inimitable way fashions something stunning with his understanding of sound. This is sit up and listen music. My ears listen out for every new sound, for the evocation and the delicacy. The sheer enjoyment I get from this sounds so intellectual looking at what I?ve written, like some pretentious individual who never loves anything passionately but ?appreciates? (a sure sign something is wrong). Not true. There is something moving in this and what it is eludes me. That near mythical something. Perhaps it is the sheer creativity of the piece, the unremitting genius on display refined to razor sharp perfection. And now I?m sounding pretentious again.

But who cares? Move on to: Move On. Now this is as close to a conventional rock track as the album ever really lets itself get. My friend finds this a deeply weird, disturbing song. Why? I asked myself. I find nothing weird in it. I?ll confess this is not a filler and I enjoy it but it?s not as good as what comes after it. It is a song filled with energy but never quite takes off. Boffins note: there is a strange distorted vocal in the background which is actually the lyrics from Joe the Lion (from Heroes) played backwards. Maybe that sums up the song, interesting but never quite as brilliant as:

Yassassin (Turkish for Live Long), which is dominated by Belew?s mandolin playing. It encompasses the whole song, never takes over and is yet superb. Again this was a little underwhelming at first but soon it dawned on me that it wasn?t. The mandolin instead of guitar is never tacky and not meant to sound all ethnicy, it?s used cleverly, and it gives the song a sound entirely of it own without making the whole track overbearing. Bowie?s vocals are his usual, curious mix of deadpan brilliance and passion. He sings ?I?m not a lucky guy? almost mechanically and as always the effect is just as you imagine h
e wants it to be, as let?s face it Bowie is not one of the great singers, he just knows how to use his voice, he?s a past-master at intonation, speed of vocals; drifting between mechanical calm and blazing hysteria. Here he?s decidedly low-key, handing over to Belew, a musician Bowie clearly respects, allowing him to practically organise the entire band for his 1993 Sound and Vision tour simply because he saw Belew live after his Mr Musichead album. Also it?s Belew?s song in as much as Fripp would have been out of place on Yassassin and probably Lodger. But how does Yassassin make me feel? Hmm, difficult to pin down, maybe because I was so ambivalent to at first and believe it?s a great track now, though still sometimes I?m not sure, but then that is because it?s followed by:

Red Sails. Now Bowie really let?s Belew go and anyone who?s ever heard an Adrian Belew (or King Crimson, etc.) album will instantly recognise his screeching, psychotic guitar without blinking. Red Sails just has so much energy it?s impossible to put into words. Here is a song that could so easily have been some bad generic rock track but instead it stands tall and defies the critics to become a mammoth (though not in terms of King Crimson?s aptly titled Dinosaur) wall of disorganised organised sound. Now unlike Fantastic Voyage and African Night Flight this really is a get on your feet and dance track. Its energy is infectious and efficacious (and yes I did mean to use that word). It?s really a thinking man?s rock song, Bowie?s vocals really soar, defying Belew?s guitar and Eno?s Synthesizers to out do him and all three meet in some marvellous place in the middle, where I would willingly get on my desk at work, as my headphone burst my eardrums, and dance.

DJ was released as a single and is one of the songs from Lodger that always appears on best of Bowie compilations. Why? It?s certainly not a disco song. The lyrics. ?I am a DJ, I am what I play,? are curiously
odd; it?s Bowie as DJ as lost soul ?I have a girl out there I suppose.? He seems to be implying that the life of a DJ is fragmented, surrounded by reflected musical glory and lived in fragments of meaningless moments. His vocals seem to reflect this, as Eno surrounds him with myriad sounds and Belew and band circle round the edges creating a song worthy of best of compilations (then again so is Red Sails and that never is). Again though it is difficult to say exactly why it is so much fun, but maybe that is it, DJ is just bloody good fun. The enjoyment all involved have slips from the speakers and infiltrates your soul. I find DJ odd affirming and I don?t know why and so it must be good.

But oh, oh, oh, oh Look Back In Anger is the masterpiece, the moment of purest joy and point of highest glory on the album. Bowie?s vocals are notoriously hysterical as he shrieks about an angel of death waiting to take his prey away. This is music par excellence. Energy, vitality, life, beauty, supreme musicality. It just storms out and hits you. How can I explain? Bowie Shrieking: ?Look back in anger, driven by the night, till you call?? is just bliss. The power of it is stunning as it creates such vivid images in the mind. Every word, nuance of vocal is so unspeakably perfect as to defy explanation. And the music that goes with it? ah (imagine Homer Simpson drooling at the thought of some gloriously unhealthy food in front of the TV and multiply by a million and one) it just, well, it just? words defy such songs. It?s almost as good as I?m Deranged from Outside. Listening to Look Back in Anger loud on headphones is a little like disappearing into some perfect time where nothing else matters as the sounds swirl around me and gobbles me up. I need not say more.

Boys Keep Swinging is, as many say, a pop song. Yes, but a Bowie pop song before he made bad pop songs in the 80s. Boys Keep Swinging has a certain affinity with DJ. It is extremely tongu
e in cheek, or in someone else?s cheek ??you get a girl?? Boys Keep Swinging is an incredibly playful, fun song. Once again Bowie is almost talking his lyrics, listing all those great things you can do and get when a boy and become a man. But of course none of that matters one jot. It?s the infectious (that word again) joy of listening to the song. It makes you feel like you?ve not got a care in the world and your whole life ahead of you to life in one great tumult of hedonistic bliss. Also maybe it is such great fun because what comes after Boys Keep Swinging is somewhat lacklustre.

Repetition. Some people love this track. I?m not sure I know why. It?s slightly plodding (maybe it presages Bowie?s 80s creative falloff) and never really takes off at all. It?s obviously meant to be socially conscious as the lyrics are about domestic violence, which is an unusual change for Bowie, which is maybe why it seems plodding, because it is repetitious, as can be domestic violence. Though at the same time it is questionable whether or not this is the proper place for such observations. Arguably it is because through a popular medium Bowie is highlighting an issue that he must feel is important and yet it could also be argued that by turning it into a pop song he is also degrading it. I?m not entirely sure how I feel about this. Perhaps I shall always be ambivalent because I have some experience with domestic violence and realise that bringing it out into the open is a good thing and yet it is easy to make light of it if when it should never be.

Finally, moving away from more serious matters, the album concludes with Red Money, which is? well, to be entirely honest I skip it, it?s just, well, it?s just? um, not dull but sounds a little tired. Like I say, I skip it often as not.

I feel I?ve not managed to get across why I feel the need to get up on my soap box and declare that Lodger is a great album and worth 45 minutes of your life and
a few of your pounds. This is probably because it?s an album that is hard to quantify. More to the point, Lodger is genuinely, despite the weak ending, more than the sum of its parts. It has some moments of sheer genius: African Night Flight/Look Back in Anger, but overall it is an album to be listened to in one go, to be accepted as a whole entity and not in piecemeal. In many ways it is superior to Heroes and Low for its sense of continuity and to Scary Monsters because Lodger is more consistent.

Ultimately I am a convert, converted because I listened to it first at the wrong time with the wrong expectations. Returning to it later, with a more open mind, which I allowed to be filled, I was met with one of those surprises you hope for in art.

Enjoy.

Amazon are selling this for £11.99. I say, bah, to that; look out for it in HMVs sale (or other sales for that matter) and you?ll pick it up for half the price. Though it?s worth every penny of that £11.99.

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