Description
David Bowie – Never Let Me Down / Disky Audio CD 2002 / VI 795622
UPC 0724357956222
Never Let Me Down is the 17th studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 20 April 1987 through EMI America Records. Co-produced by Bowie and David Richards and featuring guitarist Peter Frampton, the album was recorded in Switzerland and New York City from September to November 1986. Bowie's goal for the project was to record it differently following his disappointment with 1984's Tonight. Musically, Never Let Me Down has been characterised as pop rock, art rock and hard rock; Bowie himself considered the record a return to rock and roll music. The cover artwork features Bowie surrounded by numerous elements from the songs.
Released with different runtimes on vinyl and CD, Never Let Me Down was commercially successful, reaching the UK top 10; its three singles all reached the UK top 40. Despite this, the album was poorly received by fans and critics, primarily criticised for its production. Bowie supported it on the Glass Spider Tour, a world tour that was at that point the biggest, most theatrical and elaborate tour of his career. The tour, like the album, was commercially successful but critically panned. The critical failure of the album and tour were factors that led Bowie to look for a new way to motivate himself creatively, leading him to create the rock band Tin Machine in 1989, halting his solo career for six years.
In later decades, Never Let Me Down is generally regarded as one of Bowie's weakest releases. The track "Too Dizzy" has been deleted from subsequent reissues due to Bowie's dislike of it. Throughout his lifetime, Bowie was critical of Never Let Me Down, distancing himself from the arrangement and production of the finished album. He expressed a desire to remake it numerous times, eventually remixing "Time Will Crawl" for the career retrospective iSelect in 2008. Its remixer, Mario J. McNulty, brought Bowie's idea to remake the whole album to fruition in 2018. Released as part of the box set Loving the Alien (1983–1988), Never Let Me Down 2018 features new production and instrumentation over Bowie's original vocals. Reviewers consider the new version an improvement over the original album.
Tracklist:
| 1 | Day-in Day-out
Written-By – David Bowie |
5:35 |
| 2 | Time Will Crawl
Written-By – David Bowie |
4:18 |
| 3 | Beat Of Your Drum
Written-By – David Bowie |
5:03 |
| 4 | Never Let Me Down
Written-By – Carlos Alomar, David Bowie |
4:03 |
| 5 | Zeroes
Written-By – David Bowie |
5:44 |
| 6 | Glass Spider
Written-By – David Bowie |
5:30 |
| 7 | Shining Star (Makin´My Love)
Written-By – David Bowie |
5:04 |
| 8 | New York´s In Love
Written-By – David Bowie |
4:31 |
| 9 | ´87 And Cry
Written-By – David Bowie |
4:18 |
| 10 |
Bang Bang
Written-By – Iggy Pop, Ivan Kral |
4:30 |
- Alto Saxophone – Stan Harrison
- Backing Vocals – Diva Gray, Gordon Grody, Loni Groves, Robin Clark (2)
- Baritone Saxophone – Steve Elson
- Bass – Carmine Rojas
- Guitar – Erdal Kizilcay (tracks: 2)
- Guitar, Guitar Synthesizer, Tambourine, Backing Vocals – Carlos Alomar
- Guitar, Keyboards, Mellotron, Harmonica, Tambourine, Backing Vocals, Producer – David Bowie
- Keyboards – Philippe Saisse (tracks: 2)
- Keyboards, Drums, Bass, Trumpet, Backing Vocals – Erdal Kizilcay
- Lead Guitar – Peter Frampton, Sid McGinnis (tracks: 1 - 2, 10)
- Mastered By – Bob Ludwig
- Mixed By – Bob Clearmountain
- Percussion – 'Crusher' Bennett
- Piano – Philippe Saisse
- Producer – David Richards
- Rap – David Bowie (tracks: 7), Mickey Rourke (tracks: 7)
- Tenor Saxophone – Lenny Pickett
- Trumpet – Laurie Frink
- Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Earl Gardner
- Violin – Erdal Kizilcay (tracks: 10)
