Customer Reviews

Live: Oy Vey Baby

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

 

 

This is a good live album. It has the edgiest track from the first album. The harsh and abrasive "I can't read". "Heaven's in Here" is anouther great track and its done well here. "Stateside" from the second album just has a great feel to it. Tin Machine seems to be an under appreciated venture by Bowie because it was a band and not just Bowie.

People who complain about Tin Machine will absolutely hate this album, as well as their self-titled debut...which I think was brilliant as well. It's reckless, ballsy, obnoxious, abrasive and amazing, baby! HIGHLY recommended.

In the canon of David Bowie's work, Oy Vey, Baby is not essential. And, if you are a Tin Machine fan, the band's first studio album will probably keep you coming back to listen more than this one (or, for that matter, their second studio album). The songs themselves are better than some reviews might suggest. In fact, in general the songs that Tin Machine recorded in their brief "career" continue multiple levels of meaning, even if musically sometimes they seem like grunge with some undefinable quality missing. Of all the Bowie albums I own (all of them, including compilations of the pre-fame releases), this is the one I play least. If you can find a used copy, or an Amazon affiliate has a good deal on a new copy, it's worth considering, but at full list price, I'd look to Tin Machine's first album, or any one of a number of solo Bowie albums that are much better.

In the many performance art roles of David Bowie, this attempt at post-punk posturing was about a decade too late and ended up stalled like Starz rather than running with the Spiders from Mars.

With two studio albums - and a 1991 appearance on Saturday Night Live, along with gigs at trade shows - Bowie, Reeves Gabrels (g), Hunt Sales (d) and Tony Sales (b) were facing declining chart success, an indifferent audience and growing criticism from circles that helped shape buying habits - and radio airplay - back in the day. The band quickly faded from the scene after these eight tracks - with additional guitarist Eric Schermerhorn - which chronicled five dates from the 1991/1992 It's My Life tour failed to chart in the UK and USA.

But what is lost is the intriguing experimental guitar-work by Gabrels, who superbly was the Keith Levene (PiL) to Bowie's "sophisticated" John Lydon. "Amazing," "Goodbye Mr. Ed" and "You Belong in Rock 'n' Roll" are the highlights, but a pair of longer cuts - "Heaven's in Here" (12:05) and "Stateside" (8:11) - stall out minutes before reaching the end; there is no Wobble on bass or drummer Martin "Brian Brain" Atkins in the house to drive this wall of sound.

Hardly essential Bowie, the live album is interesting for those seeking a complete discography, but does not top the self-titled debut of 1989, which peaked at #3 in the UK and #28 in the USA.

Not the best album Bowie has issued , in fact probably the worst.It took me 15 years to buy this, just to complete my Bowie collection, and I won't be playing it much. But it's a nice cover.

Ok, so David Bowie is a musical genius. I have almost 70 albums / cd's in my collection. The Tin Machine project had good songs (specially on the first release). TM II had some terrible songs. So this is a live album with a setlist made of the WORST songs off those two albums!! And the songs are stretched to even last longer. It's like Bowie's worst enemy recorded it. No wonder the band dissapeared shortly sfter this record (no longer available, by the way)

So everyone hates your new band. Two albums sell 4 copies. What to do, what to do... Put out a live album!