Bowie Revisited: Earthling

David Bowie toured his 'Outside' album with co-headliner Nine Inch Nails throughout 1995.  He must have liked what he heard from his band, for immediately following the tour, Reeves Gabrels (guitar), Gail Ann Dorsey (bass), Zach Alford (drums), and Mike Garson (piano) were pulled into the studio to harness the road energy into the recording of an album.  The work produced during these sessions formed the tightest group of songs on any Bowie collection in the previous 20 years.  Yes, there is some experimentation with the club sounds of the time - but this is not the 'jungle' album that its reputation would lead you to believe - this is first and foremost a rock album, and rock it does!  Hard!

Opener 'Little Wonder' is a revelation - almost non-sensical lyrics, in the 'cut-up' style (purportedly written about the 7 Dwarves, with a couple of new ones - Stinky, etc. - thrown in for good measure) lend a playfulness not heard since, what?, 'Kooks?'  And this over a pounding Garson piano driving the listener toward the drum & bass explosion in the middle of the song (perhaps the most exhilarating 75 seconds of any Bowie recording).  'Looking For Satellites' with its whirling carnival back beat and Lennon sound-alike vocals contains one of the greatest guitar solos in DB's catalog.  'Battle For Britain (The Letter)', with its warring elements: classic piano solo, stuttering, machine gun fire effect, soft whirring drill noise, adding up to a fantastic whole.

The album is kept to a trim 9 songs - a wise choice as each is at least very good, making for a fairly consistent listening experience. It's difficult to pick out key tracks, as they're all so good from the hushed pulse, honking, sleazy sax & hard rock workout of 'Seven Years in Tibet,' to the fun, yet strangely aggressive swipe at his adopted land in 'I'm Afraid of Americans.'  The only negative is choice of closer: 'Law (Earthlings on Fire),' with its rapid fire chant, is the weakest track on the album, but barely so and is still better than many a track on recent efforts.
 
The trajectory of experimentation with rock mixed with contemporary club trends, begun with 1993's 'Black Tie White Noise' finds fruition with 'Earthling.' It is a very satisfying collection, and in a way closes the book on one phase of Bowie's career.  On his next project, he would move away from albums like 'Outside' and 'Earthling' at a complete right angle, both stylistically, and in terms of songwriting.  True to form, however, the unexpected is to be expected from an artist like David Bowie, right?