NEVER LET ME DOWN

This will be only the fourth review for this album. It doesn't deserve much more. (It came out at the time when I was 16-17 years old and quite often bought vinyls, especially from bargain bins. Naturally the majority of those buyings are long gone.) It had been three years since his previous studio album, Tonight (if Labyrinth O.S.T. is not counted) and with this album he tried to rise from the low season in his career. Commercially he probably succeeded, but artistically? It depends what you compare this one to. I'd say this is better than Tonight (which is generally regarded as one of his worst albums ever). If it's better than his later albums, I can't really say, because I have never got much interest towards them. Outside I know to be better, that's all.

This is very very 80's album, starting from the cheap-looking colourful collache cover art. The hits had heavy circulation in the MTV ('Day-In-Day-Out', 'Time Will Crawl') and I sense a little joyous yuppie feel here: most of the the album is up-tempo, catchy pop with rather light contents.

Of course in the big picture of BOWIE's vast discography this one has very little weight, but as a product of its time, I wouldn't bark at it harshly. The production is relatively good, and there are some good songs. The adventurous 'Glass Spider' is easily the best one. 'Time Will Crawl' isn't bad either. Even some of those light pop tunes do have a certain charm (title track, 'Shining Star'). However there are quite many songs I wouldn't care to visit again even for nostalgic purposes. Not quite three stars, but two deservedly.