I'm feeling tragic like I'm Marlon Brando

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts

02/10/83 : Let's Dance - David Bowie

Yes, I know it's not the trendy option but this was my gateway album to Bowie - all the other stuff was just too early or too cool for me (yes, too cool - even for me!).  It was mostly the singles that got me there - I even bought "Modern Love", although, with hindsight, I think it's the one I like least out of all of them. I'm looking forward to revisiting the album though.

And yeah, I enjoyed it - although I thought a lot of the songs were at heart pretty average funk numbers, thankfully elevated beyond their inherent worth through the interesting vocal performance of Mr Bowie.  I still like "China Girl" and "Let's Dance" though (although a lot of that involves me mentally playing their cool videos in my head).  Of the non-singles, I think I like the quirkiness of "Richochet" best - it has some weird talkie bits on it.  I also like "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" and I knew this was a reworked version but realised I'd never heard the original (from all the way back in 1982!), so I checked it out and it's interestingly different.  I enjoyed listening to the album as a whole though - it's still his one I know best and I've got no idea how anyone could go about ranking Bowie albums, so I'll just say it's in the mix somewhere.  This is an album I had a taped copy of - I think I considered buying it a few times but never quite got round to it, so we maintain our 50% rating at 6.5/13.  

We're at #4 in the charts this week in its 25th week into a 50 week initial run (with the first 3 weeks being at #1) - adding another 11 weeks on 5 separate occasions, with it last being seen in August '20 (and I've no idea why, unlike the run in January '16 😢).  Above it in the chart this week were Paul Young, UB40 and Big Country - with just the one new entry in the top ten this week, Kiss at #7 which I'm perfectly happy to have avoided (and am amazed it was that high).

Wikipedia is going to have heaps on this I reckon - oh yes, 349 milliPeppers, which is the most we've had in quite some time.  It told me or reminded me (I can't remember which) that "China Girl" was a cover (Iggy Pop from 1977) - I didn't know "Criminal World" was also a cover (Metro - also from 1977, when it was banned by the BBC for sexual content).  It also tells me that, for the first time, David doesn't play any instruments on the album - although he did produce it (along with, obviously, Nile Rodgers).  

The critics had mixed views on the album, uncertain as to whether the man was selling out or not and David himself also wasn't convinced with where it lead - "It was great in its way, but it put me in a real corner in that it fucked with my integrity".  To be honest, I'm guessing sales of 10 million globally are going to fuck with anyone's integrity - I'm happy to act as a test case if required.  It's Bowie's biggest selling album to date (and unlikely to be overtaken now, I guess) - although it "only" got to #21 in the US.

"Customers also listened to" Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Soft Cell and Duran Duran - three thoroughly understated acts.  Maybe.  After having listened to quite a few of Bowie's "masterpieces" as part of the Rolling Stone exercise and (in several cases) not particularly enjoying them, I feel somewhat conflicted by this - it's not as "good" but it may well be "better".  And it's certainly the one I know best and I was happy to revisit it.

25/09/83 - A throwback - even back then
09/10/83 - One of my all-time favourites