OUVREZ LE CHIEN: LIVE DALLAS 95

This is a live release which (if you ignore the bonus tracks - as I habitually do) hails from an October 1995 show in Dallas, from the tour in which Bowie co-headlined with Nine Inch Nails. This was an apt pairing, considering that Bowie's latest album (Outside) delved about as deeply into the textures and terrains of industrial rock as Bowie would ever venture.

Given that the audience was most likely equally enthusiastic (or more so) for Nine Inch Nails as Bowie, the Duke and his band calibrate their renditions of the material accordingly. Rather than radically reworking the Outside material to make it feel less incongruous next to Bowie's classic work, Bowie instead leaves it mostly as is (though the live setting gives it a warmth the rather clinical studio renditions lack), whilst selecting older material which either already kind of foreshadows the dark turf of Outside (Look Back In Anger, Joe the Lion) or which can be rearranged accordingly (there's a distinctly different take on The Man Who Sold the World here which is quite good).

By this point, of course, Bowie was an old hand at reinterpreting his old work to make it make sense next to newer material. It never quite goes 100% industrial, but then again Outside doesn't either - rather, it explores this strange art rock space in which industrial fumes have seeped in and warped the scenery but the more classic rock roots of Bowie can still be discerned here and there.

If you absolutely couldn't stand Outside - even the best parts like I'm Deranged - then you probably won't enjoy this. If you can at least find some charm in that effort, this offers a valuable further exploration of a sound that Bowie would swiftly move away from after this.