LODGER

The third leg of the Berlin trilogy has little to do with Berlin actually. It was written mostly during the "Stage" tour and recorded in New York and Montreux. The Berlin reference being used for its experimental angle (which is much less obvious than on his prior two albums) and the collaboration with Brian Eno (who is also less involved on "Lodger" than on "Low" or "Heroes").

Exit Fripp and welcome Belew on the guitar. An old acquaintance is also doing a come back: dear Tony Visconti is playing some bass and guitar. He is also performing some backing vocals.

This album is more pop oriented and holds several good numbers: "Fantastic Voyage", "Move On", "Red Sails" which clearly announces "Scary Monsters" but along these good moments the world music oriented "African Night Flight" or the Turkish-reggae-ish "Yassassin" sound rather flat.

The B-side opens again on a pre-Scary monsters song. The popish "DJ" which depicts a jobless DJ (disc jockey or is it David Jones?.) and can be considered as a parody of the disco way of life which is dead by then.

The rise and fall of the disco era: "I am a D.J., I am what I play. I got believers (kiss-kiss) Believing me, oh". It was released as a single in the UK only (probably due to its relatively poor scoring in the charts).

One of my fave on the album is the excellent "Look Back In Anger" and actually, this album is not as bad as often described. The next song is one of the best of the album. David wanted to convey some sort of "garage band" sound to the song and asked Carlos to play the drums while the drummer (Dennis Davis) is holding the bass.It will peak at the seventh spot of the UK charts.

I personally feel more relation between "Lodger" and "Scary Monsters" than with any of "Low" or "Heroes" album. This one is much more accessible.

One is now used to be surprised with almost each new Bowie release. This aspect is largely avoided here. It is a more conventional album.

Three stars.

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