Never Let Me Down [ECD] [Enhanced, Original recording reissued, Import]

David Bowie | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 28, 1999)
• Original Release Date: 1987
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced, Original recording reissued, Import
• Label: Virgin Int'l
• ASIN: B00001OH81
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,603 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Never Let Me Down is enhanced, digitally remastered and contains previously unseen or rare photographs in addition to many used in the original album with full lyrics. ***NOW AT BUDGET PRICE!!***

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 80s music is not for everyone., November 15, 2005

By 

spooky lightup "whirlpool2" (Revere, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Never Let Me Down [ECD] (Audio CD)

Reading the reviews on this album, you'd think Bowie had chosen New Kids On The Block to collaborate with. Or Hitler! Not so. Most people here were expecting Low II or something. And that's not what this is. This is just really really good pop music. While it's not indicative of Bowie's work as a whole (no single album is), honestly it's not a bad jumping off point if your only exposure to him is as Jareth in Labyrinth. If you like that music, or 80's music in general, chances are you will like this.

Bowie has nothing to be ashamed of here. If the music is not your cup of tea, that's one thing. But to say that he was stealing money from fans by releasing a grand pop album is unfair and untrue.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I was thoroughly surprised: This album didn't let me down., October 9, 2005

By 

Bryan Backas (NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Never Let Me Down [ECD] (Audio CD)

As most reviewers have mentioned, this album gets a bad rap, with many even pointing to it as Bowie's worst. I don't know exactly why it gets such a bad rap, but I'll take a shot: Bowie didn't release quite as much great work in the 80s as he did in the 70s, and what he did put out was all in a completely different sound. Never Let Me Down was, I believe, his 4th album from the 80s. It wasn't glam-rock, and it wasn't paticularly experimental. It was more popish. By the time "Never Let Me Down" came out I guess fans of the older Bowie just gave up hope. "Tonight" was a let down, and this wasn't moving him back in the direction of his glory years. Hence, this album is disliked by many fans.

As modern Bowie fans though, looking back, we have the priveledge of taking in all his work at one time. And from this perspective, there's truly nothing wrong with "Never Let Me Down". If you don't like 80s rock, you may not like this, and that's perfectly fine. However, as a person who grew up as a child listening to 80s music and who loves theatrical rock music, Bowie does it as well or better than anyone. Heck, I'd say that "Day-In Day-Out", "Time Will Crawl", "Beat Of Your Drum", and "87 And Cry" are downright brilliant! Bowie has so many interesting instrumentations going on. You have guitars, horns, synths and some really energetic vocals. Bowie's voice sounds incredible on this album!

There's a reason Bowie has lasted and is going strong well into today, and it's because his music evolved. This was a step on the evolution. Don't listen to the naysayers, give the album a chance and I'm sure you'll be surprised about the bad press.

As a side note, keep in mind that the beloved cult-classic "Labyrinth" came out around the same time as this album, and the song-writing isn't all that different from Labyrinth on "Never Let Me Down".

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Definitely weak, yet has it's moments, June 28, 2004

By 

Johncagebubblegum (Holland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Never Let Me Down [ECD] (Audio CD)

There's always something to like on every David Bowie-album, but on some it's pretty hard to find some redeeming qualities. 1987's "Never Let Me Down" is one of Bowie's weakest efforts; that's a thing mostly everyone will agree about. Bowie's creativity was supposed to turn on him during the eighties, but apart from this album, I absolutely don't agree. 1980's "Scary Monsters" is a masterpiece, 1983's "Let's Dance" was very good, very slick and very catchy, and 1984's "Tonight" isn't half as bad as everybody wants you to believe (I actually like it a lot). Plus that, some of his most beautiful singles were written in the eighties ("This Is Not America", "Absolute Beginners").

"Never Let Me Down" on the other hand, is a definite and clear lowpoint; it's like Bowie just didn't care so much anymore, and just wanted to make another album to satisfy the crowd, the record-company, and himself (money-wise). It's mostly exchangable eighties-pop/rock, with typically loud drums, color-by-numbers guitarsolo's and straightforward, uninspired songwriting. That doesn't mean that all of it is completely abysmal, "Day In Day Out", "Time Will Crawl" and "Beat Of Your Drum" are all very ok songs, but compared to other mid-eighties Bowie-achievements like "Blue Jean" and "Loving The Alien", they simply pale in comparison, although I really like "Beat Of Your Drum" very much for it's dramatic vocal-delivery and mysterious melody. It is a little ruined by a mediocre 80's chorus though.

There's only one song that *really* bad, which is "Glass Spider". Starting out as a pompous spoken-word thingy with a silly story about -indeed- glass spiders, it suddenly segues into a completely uninteresting and melodyless song. There's no excuse for it, and my advice is to skip the whole thing. The rest of "Never Let Me Down" is consistently mediocre, or pretty ok, but never special. It's an album that could have been done by any interchangable eighties-artist (Robert Palmer, Paul Young) and because it's Bowie it makes us look for some hidden qualities.

"Never Let Me Down" has, although they are spare, it's moments. They're scattered all over the record, and are sometimes nothing more than an interesting chord-progression or guitar-melody. And, if you cherish good memories towards the eighties, this one will be satisfying for you, if only for it's eighties 'feel'. The advice is to get this thing used, as it is interesting to hear the changes in Bowie's career, also if they weren't that succesful at times. Bowie wouldn't really make a decent album after this one until the mid-nineties, and started making very good to great ones since 2002's beautiful "Heathen" and 2003's colorful and inspired "Reality". Especially with that in mind, "Never Let Me Down" isn't a depressing listen, it's just an interesting one.