David Bowie - Outside (Exp)
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Free Music Notes for Outside (Exp)
Free Music Review: expanded reissues should have more
Hit: 4 Stars
i love this album. i think the remastering is beautiful. however, if it's quality of packaging you're looking for seek out the original issues, namely the japanese outside version 2, which has all this on disc 1, and a bonus disc full of other b-sides. i compared the art on this to the original cardboard sleeve, which i thought was gorgeous, and this issue does not do it justice. the transfer is weak, the images flat and fuzzy, whereas the original art is full of color and very lively. 5 stars for the album, 1 star for the packaging, or should i say the lack of care in reproducing it.Free Music Review: This cd just gets better and better.....
Hit: 4 Stars
I have to admit, when I first got this CD I didn't like it at all. But it grows on you and now it is one of my favorite Bowie CDs. It is almost up there with Scary Monsters and Station to Station in my humble opinion (hence 4 stars instead of 5).
I particluarly like Small Pot of Land, Hallo Spaceboy, and Strangers When We Meet. So stop complaining about how dark and 'noisy' it is, IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE!
PS. Get the deluxe double disc edition. It has TONS of remixes on the bonus disc.
"Bye bye spaceboy...."
Free Music Review: A Bit Much... Maybe a Bit Too Much
Hit: 3 Stars
When I was kid, about 8 or 9 years old, the song "They're Coming To Take Me Away" by Napoleon XIV would induce some type of sickness in me. Every time it came on the radio, it would upset me to the point where I'd get physically ill. It was so bad that I would sometimes vomit when I heard it (this happened on three separate occasions, much to my own embarrassment and consternation). I presume that it had something to do with the way that the pitch rolled around, making me feel seasick, while the subject matter scared me to death. Well, thank God this album wasn't around back then, or I might have done a lot worse than just lose my lunch. Outside concerns itself with the saga of Baby Grace, a female child raised in captivity for the sole purpose of sensual deprivation, torture and eventually, her ritual murder, dissection, and dismemberment, and subsequent display of her body parts as a work of art; "(Her) intestines (were) removed, disentangled and reknitted as it were, into a small net or web and hung between the pillars of the murder-location". Do you want to vomit yet?
Talk about tough love. With subject matter like this, Outside qualifies as `tough like'. The tone of the album could hardly be more dark and grisly, and it is therefore difficult to say that the album is `enjoyable' on any level, and yet Bowie somehow manages to pull it together. Outside is more of a storyboard album than a `rock opera' (an absurd term for almost anything, but it's especially ludicrous here). Bowie illustrates the story by portraying the various characters through dialogue and through a musical mosaic that is almost as disturbing as the gruesome storyline. At times, the music borders on cacophonous insanity, atonal and relentlessly driving (as any depiction of art-based ritual murder should be, I suppose). Melodies are minimal, often working against the chord structure as a means of depicting mental imbalance.
Musically, Outside is excellent, with tight, ominous arrangements that could seep the oxygen right out of the room. In particular, the off-kilter piano work of Mike Garson is exceptional throughout. If nothing else, this album proves that Bowie's creative imagination is still intact, albeit commercially challenged. In that sense, Outside is the polar opposite of Never Let Me Down (released only two years previously), an album that bent over backwards to please everybody but failed artistically. Artistically, Outside is a triumph. Commercially, it is doomed. There are no hit singles here, believe me, but there is plenty for you to mull over; just don't do it on a full stomach. B Tom Ryan
Free Music Review: Ok
Hit: 3 Stars
This is Bowie going back to his gender bending days, when he pushed boundaries and revelled in the wierd and wonderful. It's nice to have him back, but it certainly isn't one of my favourites. I definitely enjoyed Black Tie White Noise, and all of his releases after Outside, but this one was a little too wierd for me, and a little too detached. It didn't seem to have any real flow throughout the album, and each song was part of a story but still didn't seem like it fitted in. Still, with Bowie he will always make a few quality tracks at the very least on every album, and 'Hello Spaceboy', 'Outside', 'We Prick You' and 'No Control' are quality tracks. Average release, but still worth checking out.Free Music Review: Why did he left out the extra song?
Hit: 3 Stars
I bought this CD when it first came out. Not this enhanced version. Loved 80% of it. Would love 100% like I do for all his music. But 2 songs seem to be just fillers: "I Am With Name" and "Wishful Beginnings". It would have been more likelable if he took those out and kept "Get Real" Not sure if I would buy the CD again just for one more song?