Word: albums
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...assumes a persona--that's become one of the cliches of rock journalism, but it's true. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars defined a hard-hitting, loud, fast rock sound four years before the Ramones hit the road. To make that album in 1972, Bowie set himself up as the glittery, self-destructive androgyne Ziggy. More masks followed, dizzingly, along with more fine albums--Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs, Station to Station, and a popular if antiseptic excursion into Philadelphia funk, Young Americans. Then it was off into the beckoning electronic void...
Lodger is striking not just because Bowie assumes many characters on it, but because he draws on the different musical styles of his past to find the right sound for each. The album has straight rock and roll, some R&B-influenced pop, some ballads and anthems, and a lot of the electronically treated avant-garde rock a la Low. Eno's role in the preparation of Lodgeris considerably narrower than on the previous albums; Bowie apparently called the shots here, with Eno simply finding the perfect sound to match Bowie's ideas...
...ballad decrying the possibility of nuclear war called "Fantastic Voyage," the sound is gloppy and sweet--Eno is responsible for providing "ambient drone," the record jacket tells us. For the next track, a weird patter-song called "African Night Flight," his contribution is "prepared cricket menace." Elsewhere on the album he offers work on the Eroica horn or the horse trumpet...
Whatever combination of electronics. tape, and his own inspiration Eno uses. the sounds he concocts never stray from the musical demands of Bowie's songs, and the sheer multitude and variety of these sounds makes Lodger a fascinating album almost as fascinating efforts. Lodger can claim its own identity because of Bowie's flair for personification--he takes each of Eno's abstract noises and weds it to whichever character he's playing at the moment...
...number of songs on Lodger take the album title's cue and present tales of travel. "Move On" is Bowie's paean to the vagrant life, his infinitely more urbane version of the Who's "Going Mobile." He uses his dramatic, declamatory singing style to good effect here as in "Heroes," reminding us that he's got one of the great pop voices of our day. "Red Sails" has obscure lyrics--witness...