Maps of Music

Never Let Me Down (1987)

Where the lyrics of Never Let Me Down take you, and where it was really made.

Bowie made this album to undo the damage of Tonight, yet fans and critics rejected it, and he later called it his nadir.

Key places

Where the backing tracks were laid down (1987)

Recording site Mountain Studios — Recording began here in autumn 1986 and the backing tracks were laid down over the first two weeks. Guitar overdubs followed later. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Where horns and backing vocals were added (1987)

Recording site Power Station Studio — Sessions moved here after the guitar overdubs. Horns and backing vocalists were added, and the album was completed in New York. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Never Let Me Down: 17th studio album by David Bowie
• Released 21 April 1987 on EMI America Records
• Co-produced by Bowie and David Richards
• Peter Frampton plays guitar on most tracks
• Recorded September to November 1986
• Characterised as pop rock, art rock and hard rock
• Reached the UK top 10; its three singles all reached the UK top 40

Background

• Bowie wanted to record it differently after his disappointment with 1984's Tonight
• The 1983 rise with Let's Dance and the Serious Moonlight Tour left him feeling disconnected from his new fanbase
• Mid-1986 work included Blah-Blah-Blah with Iggy Pop and the Labyrinth soundtrack
• Bowie considered the record a return to rock and roll
• The album and the Glass Spider Tour were both critically poor, and this led him to form Tin Machine in 1989

Recording

• Sessions began at Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland, and finished at the Power Station in New York City
• Bowie, Richards and Kızılçay recorded backing tracks at Mountain for the first two weeks
• Alomar and Frampton were flown in later for guitar overdubs
• Bob Clearmountain, the Let's Dance engineer, returned for this album
• Frampton was hired after Bowie listened to his record Premonition (1986)
• Sid McGinnis played lead guitar on three tracks
• Bowie played keyboards, synthesiser and rhythm guitar, and lead guitar on two tracks
• Actor Mickey Rourke performed the mid-song rap on Shining Star

Cover

• Mike Haggerty designed the artwork, which he also designed for Let's Dance and Tonight
• Photographer Greg Gorman took the picture
• Bowie described the style as vaudevillian
• Long-haired Bowie jumps through a circus ring surrounded by elements from the songs

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

• Contemporary reviews of the album were mostly unfavorable.
• Negative reviews found the production overblown and criticised the heavy use of synthesisers.
• Trouser Press (Ira Robbins): the first side is quite good, with provocative pop-culture lyrics.
• The Canadian Press (Tim O'Connor): an improvement over Tonight, though not a record that sets any styles.
• Billboard (Steve Gett): hailed it as Bowie's finest work up to that point.
• Rolling Stone (Steve Pond): an odd, freewheeling pastiche of elements from all the previous Bowies.
• Creem (Roy Tarkin): a creative low point for Bowie.
• USA Today: named it the second worst pop album of 1987.

Reappraisal

• In later decades, it is generally regarded as one of Bowie's weakest releases.
• Bowie was critical of the album throughout his life and distanced himself from its arrangement and production.
• Biographer Nicholas Pegg: not Bowie's finest hour, but by no means his worst.
• Rolling Stone ranked it 17th on its 2023 list of 50 Genuinely Horrible Albums by Brilliant Artists.
• A separately recorded version, Never Let Me Down 2018, was issued in the 2018 box set Loving the Alien (1983–1988) and received mixed reviews.

Records

• UK Albums Chart peak: number 6
• Initial sales were strong but dropped off disappointingly.
• Lead single Day-In Day-Out peaked at number 17 in the UK.
• Time Will Crawl peaked at number 33 in the UK.
• The title track peaked at number 34 in the UK and number 27 in the US.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Too Dizzy was deleted from later reissues at Bowie's request, reportedly because it was his least favourite track on the album.
• The title track is about Coco Schwab, Bowie's long-time personal assistant.
• Mickey Rourke performed the mid-song rap on Shining Star after meeting Bowie in London.
• Bowie covered Iggy Pop's Bang Bang, which had originally flopped as a single, because he felt it could be a hit.
• It was the first Bowie album released on vinyl and CD at the same time.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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