Customer Reviews

BLACK TIE WHITE NOISE

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

David wrote this album as a wedding gift to his bride Iman, and he does a masterful job here. This album shows him shaking off the 80's and the Tin Machine project for good, and re-collaborating with longtime associates Mick Ronson and Mike Garson (Spiders era). In his return to solo recording, he continues to play with electronica and newer sounds, and also utilizes his saxophone extensively for an almost jazzy feel throughout. Although not nearly as ambitious as its follow up "Outside", its easy to see in retrospect how BTWN pointed his muse in that direction.

There are several standout cuts on the disc, the most well known of them being "Jump They Say", which also appears on his greatest hits collections. Other great Bowie originals on the disc include the title track, "The Wedding Song", "You've Been Around" and "Miracle Goodnight". He also performs several quality covers, including a version of Cream's "I feel free", Scott Walker's "Nite Flights" and "Don't Let Me Down and Down" penned by Tarha/Valmont. There are 14 tracks total on the disc if you include the bonus version of "Jump They Say", and not a bad one among them.

Overall, "Black Tie White Noise" heralded David's return to the studio, and finds him contented with his life and ready to continue a brilliant recording career. For some reason that I can't fathom this disc is currently out of print, so if you're lucky enough to find it used I strongly reccomend picking yourself up a copy.

This 1993 album is an ambitious project that does not come across as cohesive but contains some great songs. In overall sound, it reminds me of Young Americans but it is even more detached, like his plastic soul style carried to the extreme.

It opens with the semi-instrumental The Wedding, a beautiful lilting melody which is followed by You've Been Around, a song that doesn't go anywhere. The funky texture of I Feel Free makes it a worthy cover and the title track, a duet with Al B Sure, is quite engaging with its complex arrangement.

Jump They Say, Pallas Athena and Nite Flights, the Scott Walker cover, are all interesting but not really emotionally appealing. I like Miracle Goodnight with its rhythmic and vocal variety but the jazzy ballad Don't Let Me Down sounds unfocused and messy. Looking For Lester is a lively jazz instrumental and The Wedding Song is a vocal reprise of the stylish opening track.

The problem with Black Tie, White Noise, is that although pleasant to listen to, the music does not remain with you for long. With a few exceptions like the two Wedding Songs, the songs are not memorable. I recommend this album only to hardcore fans or Bowie completists.

The thing that strikes me most about this misunderstood CD is Bowie's surprisingly great sax playing throughout. I remember really disliking this when it was first released for it's blatant jazz fusion and '90s soul sounds. Times and tastes change, and while I still love "Hunky Dory" and "Scary Monsters" as much as ever, I've come to realize that Bowie had created a masterpiece that no one wanted to hear...at the time.

For afficionados of David Bowie's vocal power and range "Black Tie White Noise" is an album to be savoured over and over again. The ominous opening to "Nite Flights" segues into a dark Gothic-like appel d'amour. "You've Been Around" springs from similar ethereal territory, with its menacing beat and subtle jazz-like undertones and inflections. "I Feel Free" once again allows Bowie to demonstrate the sheer force and dexterity of his unique voice, as does the heart-felt "Black Tie White Noise". The wistful "Looking for Lester" is an instant classic which forces you to hit the Replay button time and time again. For me, a long-time admirer of David Bowie, this album is one of his most impressive projects to date.

This is certainly Bowie's best post-Scary Monsters album. It is a Nile Rogers production, who did such a good job making the superpolished "Let's Dance," but here Bowie is mixing the chic dance music Rogers perfected with Chic with the noise-rock of his later albums. Check it out!

This is an album that needs to grow on someone. The album is filled with catchy and not so catchy jazz sounds.The song that attracted me to this album was "They Say Jump". Not every song was modeled after this track. I still enjoyed the album and it follows the trendy production stylings of Nile Rodgers (also produced "Cosmic Thing" From the B52s and an member of the 70's group Chic) This was an album that displayed alot of brass horn parts. The bad thing about the horns,they are the jazziness tones that polute the album. Although, I do respect David Bowie for this wondering in genres and I feel this makes him one of the most versital artist in the last 30 years. I don't think that the soul and jazz of the 90's really fit him. The duet with Al B Sure(Black Tie White Noise), which at the time was a million dollar artist, was not a match made in heaven.
In contrast,There is some good tracks on this album the wonderfully done instrumental "The Wedding" was one of the songs the jazz feel worked well with. "They Say Jump" is a wonderfully lyrically rebelous track and one of my favorite Bowie songs.
This album also contains a flowing mellowness that is really quite relaxing. This album was not all bad but not his best. Much like most artist,the songs are hit and miss. Some tracks where made to be a single and some wasn't.

Black Tie white Noise is not the usual from Bowie but it has his distinct original flair to it. He enters the Acid Jazz genre and mixes it with the modern urban R/B soul sound. He brings back old songs like a I feel free by Cream and adds an interesting mix of Saxaphone and eclectic styles. Jump they Say is a song based loosely on Bowies brother and is not quite what you'd expect from David Bowie but than again this album isnt what you'd expect from Bowie. Black Tie white Noise track is has an urban feel to it, while Dont let me down & down is a nice slow ballad which harkens back to his mid 80's album Never Let Me down (86). It was not a huge commercial success when released nor does it has the brilliance of later albums like Outside but it is an interesting entry into the bizarre and eclectic discography of David Bowie. Bowie is always interesting to hear hes one of the few old artists that constantly surprises us.

As a Bowie collector, I could almost kick myself for not having acquired this album much sooner. Most Bowie fans know he has gotten "funky" and dance oriented on albums as early as Young Americans and then later with Let's Dance, Tonight, Never Let Me Down with a certain amount of nightclub appeal to his songs. This album seems to be his most danceable album yet, in-line with the late 80's/90's albums he has also released. Yes, it is dark, but it is also very good.
I recommend this to fans old and new, especially if you are into his dance oriented music.

It did take a while for this one to grow on me, but now I love Black Tie White Noise as much as Bowie's others. This one probably has the most saxophone playing, and has the jazziest sound out of all his albums. There are 4 cover songs, but they're all done well and don't detract from the rest of them. The highlights are the title track, "Jump, They Say," "Nite Flights," "Miracle Goodnight," and "The Wedding Song." If your a big David Bowie fan, you definitely don't want to pass this one up. If you don't include his Tin Machine albums, this was Bowie's best since Scary Monsters.

Intended as a wedding present for his bride Iman this album was to be the follow up to 1987'sNever Let Me Down, an album many people didn't seem to like. Teaming up again with Nile Rodgers along with old veterans Mick Ronson and the Art Ensamble Of Chicago's trumpeter Lester Bowie the Thin White Duke re-emmerged here with what amounts up to a 90's reimagining of the "plastic soul" soul sound that he made famous with Young Americansin the 70's and Let's Dance in the decade before this. The lyrics are very romantic and poet and....yes as one reviewer put it a little awkward and detatched in places but with someone as...sexually ambiguous as David Bowie it was to be expected. Songs like "The Wedding" have a pronounced gospel influence and songs like the title song,"Jump They Say" (especially on the JB styled remix in the bonus cuts) and the hooky "Miracle Goodnight" Bowie throws down some very hard and atonal 90's style funk with Lester's atonal trumpet playing added a much appreciated avante garde jazz flavor. The disco-dance flavored instrumental "Looking For Lester" also makes good use of the two Bowie's talents to great affect. The slower "Don't Let Me Down & Down" and the faster "I Feel Free" are the two cuts here with the most pronounced 80's production and somehow they work with the albums normally more up-to-the minute flavors that you'll find on "You've Been Around","Night Flights","Palla's Athena" and the bonus cut "Lucy Can't Dance". The feel of those songs are of disco inspired modelling runaway style grooves. I imagine the inspiration of Iman's career had some play on the nature of the sound. The album ends with a slower version of the gospel soul inspired sound of the opener on "I Know It's Gonna Happen Again Someday". This sounds like one of those albums that's very overlooked and for some reason went mildly ignored in it's day. Perhaps being one of a handful of Bowie's release that shied away from rock n roll and more toward a funk/disco style of music might be part of the reason. But as something of a preview to where Bowie would be going the rest of the decade this album is not only entertaining but has a lot to say on it's own.