David Bowie – Let's Dance (1983)

The penultimate CD bought in Market Harborough last week is David Bowie's 1983 album with the help of Chic's Nile Rodgers on production. It's another step on my Bowie journey, so let's dance. Actually, let's not. It's not a pretty sight.

I haven't heard this album before, but I'm familiar with the first three tracks, all of which were hit singles. Modern Love, is alive, exciting and frantic, and kicks off the album in style, followed by the co-write with Iggy Pop (and also on Iggy's 1977 The Idiot album), China Girl, while not the finest of Bowie's hits, a likeable song nonetheless. The title track, Let's Dance is one of my favourites of his songs, and one of the few things he's done to make me sit up and say "Wow!". Nile Rodgers really catches the mood with the powerful bass rhythm which permeates the whole piece, and pushes along one of Bowie's highlights. Sadly, it's something which is almost impossible to follow, and Without You and Ricochet sound limp in contrast. The cover of Metro's Criminal World is little better, and there's not much of a spark of life until the lively Cat People Putting Out Fire, co written with Giorgio Moroder, and while Shake It may be a little bit disposable, it is bright and likeable, and a decent enough ending to the album.

So a bit of a mixed bag, with its highs and lows, the number of revisits (China Girl and Cat People) and covers (Criminal World) suggest that not even Bowie was confident he had enough strong new material to back up the title single at this point. Even so, it's an enjoyable forty minute listen, even if it's apparent why many aficionados of Bowie are ambivalent about this one.

Link to album tracks

3* - Despite its trio of blockbuster hit singles to kick off, the album fades quickly.