Low (Enhanced, Original Recording Reissued)

by

David Bowie

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"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".