Not a Starman

I made another Bowie purchase. HMV has a lot of Bowie on sale at the moment, so what the hell. 1997’s Earthling is that rare Bowie oddity: an album I’ve never heard before. Well, now I have.

Before I get on to that: yes, I did really enjoy the new Bowie album, Reality. It seems to me it’s a notch or two better than Heathen, which I liked a lot, but felt was a little flaky around the edges. I appreciated the way most of it had a much harder, colder edge, which recalled Scary Monsters at times. No, I don’t think it’s that good; but it’s closer than most of Bowie’s recent work.

I need a few more listens to decide for sure how well I rate it. So far, very positive.

Anyway, Earthling: David had mentioned he thought it was the best of Bowie’s later work. That helped fuel my interest in finally hearing it, I guess. So what do I think of it now?

Oddly enough… I don’t know. Some of it seems utterly bizarre to me—tracks like Little Wonder come off sounding like the Chemical Brothers, which is a bit bonkers. Sometimes, it sounds like it’s a normal Bowie track with a frantic dance beat stuck over the top, barely in sync.

There are some ‘normal’ tracks on there, relatively speaking. It’s about 50/50. I think I’d like the whole album, without reserve, if those dance beats weren’t thrown in. As an experiment, I’d say: ‘Okay David, fine, but please don’t do it again!’

So, interesting, but weird and unsatisfying. Glad I finally heard it, though.