Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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85 of 88 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Sound of Things to Come, February 19, 2000
"Low", the first album of David Bowie's stunning collaboration with soundscape specialist Brian Eno, is easily the most "plastic" of the trilogy -- that was, and still is, the point. Modern music's chameleon, who has changed personas more times than some people change their socks, bent and manipulated the course of music once again with "Low", and the effects are likely never to cease being felt. In a career that has been all about breaking new ground, this is arguably Bowie's finest hour. This album is a fascinating hodgepodge of styles: pure, delicious pop ("Speed of Life", "Sound and Vision"), post-punk ("Breaking Glass", "What in the World"), R&B flavored rock ("Be My Wife"), ambient jazz ("Art Decade", "Weeping Wall"), even classical ("Warszawa"). Despite the stylistic variations, the album is of a piece: a coherent vision wherein each song is treated with a rich palette of sonic coloration. Bowie and Eno utilize multiple synthesizers, layered guitars, colliding vocals, and twisted variations of an instrument's "traditional" sound (check out the honky-tonk piano of "Be My Wife" or the harmonica of "A New Career in a New Town") to produce music unlike any heard before in rock. This album has been cited as the inspiration for countless 80s new wave synth bands and beyond (NIN, Prodigy). But aside from knocking down the door for those new acts, it also lent some serious credence to existing artists like Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream, who had been exploring the kind of music Bowie took to new, unforeseen heights with "Low".
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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bowie + Eno = Match made in heaven. , June 14, 2005
You can keep Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane etc (glam rock generally isn't my thing). This is my favorite Bowie album, and no doubt one of his most innovative. A collaboration with Brian Eno (produced by Tony Visconti), Low merges Eno's ambient and electronic experimentation (as seen on minor classics such as Another Green World and Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy) with Bowie's innate pop sense to create a truly excellent record. Released in 1977, Low proved that David had recovered from his somewhat flatulent "plastic soul" period with ease and was still relevant in the face of rock's new generation (Sex Pistols, Ramones, Elvis Costello, The Clash, Wire etc.). It also established the course he would take on the next 3 albums--Heroes, Lodger (Parts 2 & 3 of the "Berlin Trilogy") and Scary Monsters.
The album is split into two sides--one mostly a platter of electro/art pop with sparse vocals that predated the New Wave movement by a solid 4-5 years; while the other is a deep exploration of Eno-esque ambient soundscapes that still sound pretty cutting-edge. If there's one complaint I can lodge against this album, it may have to do with the pacing; in my opinion it would've been better to sequence the ambient material with the pop, as one side made up strictly of slow-moving soundscapes can get a little dreary. No big deal. That's what the "shuffle" function is for, right?
Side 1 kicks off with the awesome instrumental Speed Of Life, which marries bleepy synths and treated percussion with a classic Carlos Alomar guitar line. The moody, short Breaking Glass has Bowie intoning his dark narrative ("You're such a wonderful person/ But you've got problems/ I'll never touch you") over a similar futuristic backdrop. Sound & Vision was the single, and easily the most accessible song but doesn't suffer for it at all. Nice sax solo. Always Crashing In The Same Car is another interesting electronic exercise with simple but evocative lyrics--it reminds me of Kraftwerk for some reason. Be My Wife has a great honky-tonk piano as a contrast to the synths. The resigned, hopeful instrumental A New Career In A New Town with its moving harmonica closes out Side 1.
In comes Side 2. Warszawa is probably the best-known electronic piece from this album, and its best-realized one with its stirring, mournful feel and solemn chants. The rest of the ambient pieces build on the same eerie, meditative vibe. Low ends with a feeling of resignation and doubt, which makes sense given the state of mind the drug-addled Bowie was in; which in turn precipitated his move to Germany.
This is brilliant, and a must-have for Bowiephiles and Eno fans alike. Also check out Iggy Pop's The Idiot, which was released around the same time, a collaboration with Bowie and also recorded in Berlin; it's very similar in mood and sound to Low and the rest of the Berlin Trilogy.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Modern Classic, January 16, 2000
A lot of people have complained that these reissues do not contain the extra tracks that the Rykodisc editions did. I am interested in hearing rare material too but sometimes it just spoils the enjoyment of the album by making it sound too long and clumsy. This is no more evident than on "Low". Without the extra tracks this sounds superb, as it was intended to sound."Low" is the first of three albums Bowie was to record with Eno in the seventies, the two others being "Heroes", and "Lodger". "Low" is not an instantly accessible album. It demands your patience and attention, but rewards generously. It contains a delightful mix of quirky pop tunes sounding like vignettes of an altered state of mind, and eerie ambient tracks filled with strange alien sounds. A feeling of loneliness and space permeates through this album, not surprising since Bowie had gone to Berlin to lead a quieter life and to keep a "Low" profile. This album was way ahead of its time. Finally the world is catching up. Philip Glass took some of the instrumentals from this album and recorded "The Low Symphony", confirming that this is very much a modern classic.
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by David Bowie 
