Black&White&BlueMoon Town
Well-Known Member
This artist had just put out successive top 10/5 albums in the UK and US, and then was told the record company feared this one would bomb, so they put it on ice for 3 months to avoid making it available over the holidays. The exact words used by the label's execs were '"distinctly unpalatable" for the Christmas market'. There would be no tour following this album.
This person was on an emotional decline, addicted to cocaine and pretty much spiraling out of control. A change of scenery and influence was needed, perhaps for survival. A quote later on noted 'I'm quite certain I wouldn't have survived the [decade] if I'd carried on doing what I was doing. I was lucky enough to know somewhere within me that I really was killing myself, and I had to do something drastic to pull myself out of that."
The change of venue from Los Angeles to the French countryside, recording without drugs, and adding two music geniuses to the team as producer and musician created this album the record company feared to release. It was the artist's first explorations of electronic and ambient music, a big departure to albums prior.
The tracks off this album were credited for influencing the likes of Joy Division, Human League, Cabaret Voltaire, Arcade Fire, Gary Numan, Ultravox, The Cure, OMD, and yes, even Radiohead.
Given all that happened after this release, it is considered one of this artist's best work. Experimental, ambitious, intense, and influential have all been used to describe this.
I considered the single off of this album, but I went for one that showcased the overall sound of the album given how unique it was.
The lyrics of the song reference an incident where the artist kept ramming his car into that of a drug dealer who was ripping him off while in the middle of the addiction prior.
"Always Crashing in the Same Car" - David Bowie (from the album Low, the first of the Berlin Trilogy)
(face paint not seen on the album cover for the curious, and geniuses referred to above include musician Brian Eno and producer Tony Visconti)
This person was on an emotional decline, addicted to cocaine and pretty much spiraling out of control. A change of scenery and influence was needed, perhaps for survival. A quote later on noted 'I'm quite certain I wouldn't have survived the [decade] if I'd carried on doing what I was doing. I was lucky enough to know somewhere within me that I really was killing myself, and I had to do something drastic to pull myself out of that."
The change of venue from Los Angeles to the French countryside, recording without drugs, and adding two music geniuses to the team as producer and musician created this album the record company feared to release. It was the artist's first explorations of electronic and ambient music, a big departure to albums prior.
The tracks off this album were credited for influencing the likes of Joy Division, Human League, Cabaret Voltaire, Arcade Fire, Gary Numan, Ultravox, The Cure, OMD, and yes, even Radiohead.
Given all that happened after this release, it is considered one of this artist's best work. Experimental, ambitious, intense, and influential have all been used to describe this.
I considered the single off of this album, but I went for one that showcased the overall sound of the album given how unique it was.
The lyrics of the song reference an incident where the artist kept ramming his car into that of a drug dealer who was ripping him off while in the middle of the addiction prior.
"Always Crashing in the Same Car" - David Bowie (from the album Low, the first of the Berlin Trilogy)
(face paint not seen on the album cover for the curious, and geniuses referred to above include musician Brian Eno and producer Tony Visconti)
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