Black Tie White Noise (studio album) by David Bowie

This album is a lot further down in this chart list than I would expect it to be. Surprisingly it opens with an instrumental, the whole album is very melodic, sitting with toes in soul, funk, jazz and slightly rockier pools. The Nile’s Rogers influence is clearly evident. I particularly like the sax and trumpet interplay on side 4 (vinyl). I’ve only just bought this but already know I shall listen to it a lot.

I liked this album at the time after the challenging mid 80s and Tin Machine phase (although starting to like Tin Machine more than at the time). Although perhaps a pop-ish album, and maybe a bit dancey, it is a relatively up-beat album (Nile Rogers influence no doubt) but the brass elements including Lester Bowie, I think elevate it from pop. It is hard to pin point an actual genre as there are quite a few in there - so although maybe not his greatest works or most cutting edge, it is interesting enough and not quite as mainstream as initially thought

Some people said this was a return to form by David Bowie, especially since he teamed up again with Nile Rodgers who had produced Let's Dance. However, for me it's a more of a miss than a hit. Bowie was never particularly good when he was trying to capture the zeitgeist: he was much better at driving the zeitgeist, and Black Tie White Noise smacks too much of him having cast around with what's popular with "the kidz" and then trying to Bowie-fy it.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a disaster (that honour belongs to Never Let Me Down), and there are some interesting moments on this album. Jump They Say is the most Bowie of all the tracks on this album, especially with its lyrical references to outsiders and mental illness. Musically, though, it sounds too much like he and Nile Rodgers have tried to make a 90s dance track - and they were really both too old for that nonsense by then.

Yeah, I really don't know what David was going for on this one. Easily my least favorite of his records so far.

Not the greatest Bowie album, but not as bad as you may have heard. The Wedding is a great opener, and Pallas Athena is good too.

Decent album.

the most underrated bowie album.lets face it after never let me down album and the unforegiveable tin machine hisstock wasn't high.but imho this deserves better,much better.i love it.

From Sandrof1969 02/18/2018 17:29

David Bowie torna a rimettersi in gioco e, se non proprio ad indicare nuove vie musicali, almeno ad interpretare creativamente certe tendenze del periodo. Lo fa in una maniera abbastanza insolita, mischiando cioè il jazz ( "Looking for Lester", ad esempio, con Lester Bowie ) con i ritmi house ( "Pallas Athena" ). Disco più che discreto...

From Brandon8 01/07/2018 01:56

This is definitely better than its current ranking. It incorporates the most jazz sounds until Blackstar. I Feel Free is a fine cover. The title track is a great tune. Jump They Say is a lesser known classic track. The other tracks are good as well.

From Crumpet 01/06/2018 16:18

Very much in the lowest echelon of Bowie albums, Black Tie, White Noise has only two songs that stand out as good and only one that is great. The good songs are the titular Black Tie, White Noise (which is catchy enough to be one of the only memorable songs on the album) and I Know it's Gonna Happen Someday (a cover of a Morrissey song which Bowie changes just enough to make the cover necessary, but the original song is worlds better than this rendition, much like Bowie's cover of Across the Universe, it is worth a listen, but it is no where near the level of brilliance of the original) and the great song being Jump They Say, a song about his brothers suicide (I believe).

Jump They Say is the only thing that makes the album worth owning, but it's on many best of collections, so just get one of them instead.