[SynthethicalY]

God I am halfway through this record, and by god is it amazing.

[total-trash]

word

[SynthethicalY]

Come on, does anybody like this record?

[Ono Soul]

I was way into "Earthling" back when it first came out. I also saw him on that tour at the Aragon here in Chicago. It was GA so I ended up about third or fourth row, centerstage. One of the most memorable concert experiences of my life. The setlist was awesome- "Quicksand", "The Supermen", "Always Crashing In The Same Car", "Panic In Detroit", "Look Back In Anger", "Jean Genie", "I Can't Read", "Fame", "Stay", "Fashion" etc. etc. And the "Earthling" tunes like "Little Wonder" and all the others more than held their own in the company of such classics.

As far as the remixes go, I would say the Trent Reznor mix of "I'm Afraid Of Americans" is most definitely the definitive version of that particular song and it was actually that arrangement I saw him do live. The single came out not long after that....

[Smokers Gifts]

I always had a soft spot for this album. The criticism at the time was that it was Bowie 'trying to grab a slice of the dance scene pie', but I think that's kind of missing the point. The album is probably easier to enjoy now it's removed from the time it was produced and the musical trends that surrounded it.
Little Wonder is not my favourite song, but that video is amazing, never saw it before!
My favourite tracks are Law (Earthlings on Fire), Battle For Britain, Dead Man Walking and I'm Afraid of Americans.

[PAULYBEE2656]

wow, im totally in the minority here. i hated it. havent listened to it in ages, must unearth the thing again and try it later tonight....

[Ono Soul]

Originally Posted by Smokers Gifts

I always had a soft spot for this album. The criticism at the time was that it was Bowie 'trying to grab a slice of the dance scene pie', but I think that's kind of missing the point. The album is probably easier to enjoy now it's removed from the time it was produced and the musical trends that surrounded it.
Little Wonder is not my favourite song, but that video is amazing, never saw it before!
My favourite tracks are Law (Earthlings on Fire), Battle For Britain, Dead Man Walking and I'm Afraid of Americans.

Yeah, I do recall him getting a bit of flak at the time. People making cracks about a "fifty year old rock star jumpin' on the drum and bass bandwagon", but really there's only a couple songs on there that have a "drum and bass" foundation, namely "Little Wonder" and "Telling Lies", and he's always excelled at drawing from different influences to create his own unique synthesis. That's something I remember him remarking on not long after the album's release. My personal favorite tracks are probably "Little Wonder", "Looking For Satellites", "Seven Years In Tibet" and "Dead Man Walking". I also really like the Trent Reznor mix of "I'm Afraid Of Americans".

A couple interesting "Earthling" related tidbits for y'all....

You may notice the main riff for "Dead Man Walking" bares a resemblance to the old "Man Who Sold The World" song "The Supermen". According to Bowie it is basically the same riff he based both songs on and it was something he nicked from a young Jimmy Page way back when. He did a really cool acoustic version of "Dead Man Walking" which highlights the similarity between the two songs on Conan I think it was. Might be floating around on youtube....

Another interesting thing about "Earthling" is the manner in which the lyrics were composed. As a lot of you probably are well aware Bowie had taken to using the "cut up technique" most commonly associated with William Burroughs around the time of "Diamond Dogs". By the time of "Outside" and "Earthling" he had a custom computer program created. He said he would often start by writing a poem and then feed it into the computer along with a newspaper article or whatever and then assemble the lyrics from there. I thought that sounded so cool I always wished I could get my hands on a program like that. Well, of course now a couple variations are available here on the net and they're very easy to use. Here's a link to one of them....

http://www.fetish23.org/words/cutup.html

[atsonicpark]

bahahahahashaha

[therealglenstyler]

Looking for satellites has one of my favourite ever guitar solos on, I get freaked out by the lyric "boys own" though cuz it sounds like he sings "boyzone" which is a shame because i work quite hard never to have the horned one (ronan c**ting) infiltrate my consciousness in even the most tangential way and this innocent gaffe by Bowie means that I have had to turn my back on this otherwise fantastic and unfairly maligned album. Fortunately he went on to do Heathen which has 9:15 and the angels have gone on it which floors me completely.

[PAULYBEE2656]

ok, i listened to it again. nope, does nothing for me. sounds like bowie trying to be something he isnt... or conversly, bowie trying to relive the splendour that wasnt tin machine.......

[Ono Soul]

Originally Posted by Bytor Peltor

Not long after 'Earthling' was released, MTV started a show called: Live At The 10 Spot. The very first artist set to perform on this live show was the Rolling Stones. Something happened to where the Stones couldn't perform that night and David Bowie played instead. He played several songs from 'Earthling' and they sounded great live.

Yes, I remember this well! I'm pretty sure I still have the tape I made from the original broadcast around here somewhere. That was actually right prior to when I saw him at the Aragon. Couldn't have been more than a week or two after that.

Do any of you guys remember the 50th b-day PPV thing he did right around the time "Earthling" was first released? It had a bunch of special guests including Sonic Youth who joined him for "I'm Afraid Of Americans". I had completely forgotten about that.

A couple more "Earthling" tidbits for y'all....

It was the first Bowie album since "Diamond Dogs" he produced himself (although Reeves Gabrels and Mark Plati are credited as co-producers).

"Telling Lies" was the first single released by a major recording artist exclusively via the internet (there was two or three different remixes of the song he released on the net prior to the album's release).

He recorded a version of "Seven Years In Tibet" in Manadarin Chinese which if I remember correctly, was a number one single in Hong Kong. Hee hee....

[gmku]

Quite honestly, Syn, I've never heard of it.

[drrrtyboots]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agj0AIVDuA8

This is for the true bowie fans.

[Everyneurotic]

bowie's done more bad than good to music.

anyhoo, i liked it when it came out, but it gets tiring after a couple of listens. it aged terribly, i think outside aged a little better, i should listen to that and black tie white noise.