[joethelion]

...try not to rant... try not to rant....


hahahahaha

so yea - "Heroes" is one of those albums that you'll never say is better than Low, basically because Heroes starts off soooo strong - then the whole second half is more like background music, until you're caught off guard w/ Secret Life of Arabia. Although Heroes is still a great album. I originally only liked the title track and Moss Garden, then that was it... it was only after a few more listens that I liked more and more. Although - there are still songs on the album that I can't get into...

It's just got this very grey feel to it. And it was also a very transitory album. Lodger (the next of the 'berlin trilogy') sounds closer to the Talking Heads than anything else.

You kinda can't listen to the album in the same mentality as a compact disc, know what I mean? Like a lot of Bowie's albums from the 70's had a distinct 1/2 mark, where either the sound, the vibe, or the perspective distinctively changes. I can't remember off the top of my head, but I think that either V-2 Schneider or Sense of Doubt is the first track of the second half (probably Sense of Doubt)

but I've probably not answered any of your questions at all about the album (or Low) but if you want more of the sound f/ these two albums I'd get:
• David Bowie - Station to Station (basically a transition between Young Americans and Low... so it has this weird Low-ish melancholy mixed with a sense of Philly Soul [like YA])
• David Bowie - All Souls -> a compilation of instrumentals by Bowie, which I think has some tracks that were only previously available on the Ryko re-release versions of the albums - but I never bought the cd, as I already had everything on it
• Bowie - 1.Outside -> this is actually the only album of bowie's produced by Brian Eno (and it's also only co-prod. credits) it was recorded in 1994, but didn't get released 'till '95... which really sucks, as the album was ahead of the curve - and it kinda has a mani-depressive take on U2's Zooropa-vibe
• if you liked the first half of Heroes, then go ahead and buy Scary Monsters, and Lodger too... maybe Scary Monsters first

...and of other people's albums
• U2 - Achtung Baby. They recorded in the same studio as Low, in hopes to conjure up some of the 'old ghosts' f/ when Bowie was there... and you definitely can hear it. Zooropa is also a good album, but some of the songs haven't aged nearly as well as on Achtung Baby
• Depeche Mode - Songs of Faith and Devotion & probably also "Ultra"
• Tricky - Pre-Millenium Tension
• Nine Inch Nails - Downward Spiral -> "A Warm Place" is actually a cover of Bowie's "Crystal Japan" an instrumental made during the Scary Monsters era for a Japanese Sake commercial
• basically anything and everything ever done by Joy Division and the many bands that continually rip off "their sound" (interpol et. al)

there's also, of course the Kraftwerk connection
and you might want to check out Neu!'s album "Neu 75" which influenced bowie too

and Brian Eno really didn't have much of an influence until Heroes where he's credited as a co-writter, so if you really like the 2nd half of low - check out stuff like "Apollo Atmospheres & Soundtracks"


...I'll probably post more later