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Posted by MF DU on 2007-06-11 08:23:07 +0000

I got into this record by way of the song David Lynch used over the opening credits of his film Lost Highway : 'I'm Deranged' On further listens, a lot didn't really grab me, but Hallo Spaceboy is a gem. I believe this record was the tour Bowie did with NIN and Bowie and Trent would regularly do a couple of numbers together.

Posted by Chopper on 2007-06-11 09:22:32 +0000

A Chopper favorite. Bowie's best effort in two decades, this is a lengthy concept album with another paranoid, George Orwell, world-gone-very bad plot. Outside was supposed to be the first of five volumes in a still-unfinished nonlinear narrative of art and murder. The plan was to release one album a year from 1995 to 1999 culminating into something "big" for the millenium. The second and third volumes were rumored to be titled Contamination and Afrikaan. This album features a weird mix of muscians from all sorts of earlier eras - Carlos Alomar, Mike Garson, Erdil Kizilcay, Reeves Gabrels, and the strangest of all, Briano Eno, who not only handled synthesizers, but co-produced and co-wrote almost all the tracks. As a result, this work ends up being a disturbing, yet fun, blend of music. There is the hard sounding "Hallo Spaceboy," the happy-go-lucky "I Have Not Been To Oxford Town," and the always experimental sound de jour ("Outside"). Most tracks contain hard beating, repetitive hip-hop sounds, eerie, synth sounds ("No Control"), and Mike Garson's always glistening piano ("A Small Plot Of Land"). Reeves Gabrel's influence was kept to a minimum. Everything on this album is solid, but some of the high points are a bunch of funk influenced songs - "Strangers When We Meet" and "We Prick You." The 90s had a unique sound in general and this album certainly played to that - "No Control" and one of my favorites, the very dark "Hearts Filthy Lesson." Like Diamond Dogs, Bowie weaves several in-character monologues based on the short story that comes with the liner notes. I still have not figured everything out, but I got the sense that this was another weird concept album set in a time where murder and mutilation of bodies has become a new underground art craze. In support of Outside, Bowie began a tour in September, 1995. Bowie chose Nine Inch Nails as his US tour partner - not opening act - NIN & Bowie toured as a co-headlining act. NIN appeared on stage first, playing an equal amount as Bowie. While the crew changed sets behind a large sheath backdrop, NIN played Bowie compositions ("Subterraneans," "Hallo Spaceboy," and "Scary Monsters"), followed by two NIN songs with Bowie. I remember that this arrangement was an effort to keep the younger crowd interested in staying for Bowie. I saw this show at Great Woods and remember how few of these "kids" stayed for Bowie's set. How sad that was.

Posted by tommy on 2007-06-11 09:57:36 +0000

In theory, I dig the concept album about art and murder. I also even kinda like the 'feel' of this album -- it sounds like art and murder. However, just because 1995 technology allowed you to cram 75 minutes of music onto 1 disk doesn't automatically make it a good idea. Throw away 25% of these songs, and clip the rest of them to under 4 minutes, and this probably turns into a good album.