Maps of Music

Heathen (2002)

Where the lyrics of Heathen take you, and where it was really made.

Bowie made this album in a studio on a Catskill mountain estate, reuniting with a producer he had not spoken to for almost 20 years.

Key places

Where the album was recorded (2002)

Recording site Allaire Studios — Bowie and Visconti chose this studio on the Catskill Mountains estate, and recording began here in August 2001. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Where 'Everyone Says Hi' was completed (2002)

Recording site Wild Bunch Studios (London) — Vocals and guitars for Everyone Says Hi were completed at this London studio, which is placed at city-centre level. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Heathen: the twenty-third studio album by David Bowie
• Released in Europe on 10 June 2002, and in America the following day
• First release on his own ISO label
• Reunited with producer Tony Visconti for their first full-album collaboration since 1980
• Recorded at New York studios from August 2001 to January 2002
• Guest musicians include Dave Grohl and Pete Townshend
• Two tracks evolved from the shelved Toy project; three tracks are covers

Background

• Toy, a collection of remade songs, was slated for March 2001 but shelved due to financial troubles at EMI/Virgin
• Bowie and Visconti reconciled in 1998 after almost 20 years apart and recorded one-off projects before this album
• Spring 2001: Bowie wrote songs alone at Looking Glass Studios in New York City
• Daughter Alexandria was born in August 2000
• Mother Margaret died in April 2001; friend Freddie Buretti died in May 2001
• June 2001: Bowie moved into Visconti's home in West Nyack, New York

Recording

• At the suggestion of guitarist David Torn, Bowie and Visconti chose Allaire Studios in Shokan, New York
• The studio sits on a Catskill Mountains estate, and its isolation influenced 'Sunday' and 'Heathen (The Rays)'
• Recording began in August 2001 with drummer Matt Chamberlain
• Mixing began at Looking Glass in October 2001
• Overdubs continued on and off until January 2002

Cover

• Photographed by Markus Klinko, who had also shot the cover for Iman's autobiography I Am Iman
• The upside-down typeface by Jonathan Barnbrook evokes the writings of Jacques Derrida

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Early life

• Born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947 in Brixton, London.
• Studied art, music and design; took up saxophone in 1961.
• Adopted the stage name David Bowie in 1966 to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of the Monkees.

Career

• Breakthrough with "Space Oddity" in 1969, reaching the UK top five.
• Glam rock success in 1972 with the Ziggy Stardust persona and album.
• Berlin Trilogy (Low, "Heroes", Lodger) with Brian Eno and Tony Visconti in the late 1970s.
• Greatest commercial success with Let's Dance in 1983.
• Fronted the hard rock band Tin Machine from 1988 to 1992 before resuming a solo career.
• Final studio album Blackstar was released two days before his death in 2016.

Legacy

• Sold over 100 million records worldwide.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
• Widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Heathen was Bowie's best-received album in years.
• Reviewers called it a return to form and his best work since Scary Monsters.
• The Guardian (Alexis Petridis): a 'strident, confident' album packed with fantastic songs, the sound of a man who has worked out how to grow old with style
• BBC Music (Chris Jones): not a return to form but a continuation of the qualities listeners love in Bowie
• AllMusic (Stephen Thomas Erlewine): an understated, utterly satisfying record despite a lack of innovation
• NME (Sarah Dempster): Bowie remains rock's most worship-worthy oddity
• Rolling Stone (David Fricke): most of the album sounds like Bowie covering himself
• Pitchfork (Eric Carr): Bowie will never recapture his trend-setting finesse, and accepting that is the record's greatest strength
• Time Out: strong, melodic songs sung with a force that would be remarkable in a man half his age
• Time (Benjamin Nugent): the only good songs were the covers
• People (Kyle Smith): a general lack of melodicism
• The Village Voice (Robert Christgau): named it his dud of the month
• Blender (John Aizlewood): the track listing is incohesive, with songs that plod rather than spring
• Uncut (Ian MacDonald): a negative review, saying none of the 12 tracks have memorable choruses

Reappraisal

• Biographer Nicholas Pegg: the three covers were excessive, but the performances and lyrics make it a positive triumph
• Biographer David Buckley: a valid and at times excellent piece of work, though it does not match the creativity of the 1970s
• Biographer Paul Trynka: Bowie's vocals are his finest since Baal
• Ultimate Classic Rock (2016): placed it 17th of 26 in a ranking of Bowie's studio albums
• Consequence of Sound (2018): placed it 19th in a ranking that included the two Tin Machine albums

Records

• UK Albums Chart: number five, on the chart for 20 consecutive weeks
• US Billboard 200: number 14, Bowie's highest-charting album since Tonight (1984)
• Europe: number one in Denmark, number two in Norway, number three in France, number four in Austria
• Sold one million copies worldwide by the end of 2003
• Nominated for the Mercury Prize
• 'Slow Burn' received a Grammy nomination for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards in 2003

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Two of the covers were originally slated for an abandoned sequel to the 1973 covers album Pin Ups.
• Dave Grohl guested on the Neil Young cover after performing with Bowie at his 50th birthday concert in January 1997.
• Commentators at the time linked 'Sunday' and 'Slow Burn' to the September 11 attacks, but Bowie denied any influence.
• Visconti brought back a vocal effect first used on 'Heroes' for 'Sunday' and 'I Would Be Your Slave', with three microphones set at different distances from the singer.
• The Heathen Tour ran from 10 May to 23 October 2002 with 36 dates, and Bowie performed Heathen in full at several shows.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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