How would you rate "Let's Dance" (1983) by David Bowie?

"Let's Dance" is David Bowie's fifteenth studio album. It was released on April 14, 1983. This album saw what many perceived as an unintentional attempt to appeal to a more commercial audience. Selling 10.7 million copies as of January 2016, it is Bowie's best selling album of all time.


Track listing:
-Modern Love
-China Girl
-Let's Dance
-Without You

-Ricochet
-Criminal World
-Cat People (Putting Out Fire)
-Shake It
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Here is a recap of the series so far:
"Heroes" poll Rating: 4.28/5

 

First CD I ever bought. On 5th April 1985.

I'd had the LP a couple of years at that point and decided to go for something 'safe' as my first CD purchase. They were expensive then. I was blown away by the sound of the disc in comparison to the LP. I still have that CD, though I've retired it now in favour of the SACD.

As for the album itself, it was my first Bowie one. A friend at work who was a huge fan tried to dissuade me from buying it as it was "commercial crap". I replied, "But I love commercial crap". He tried to steer me in the direction of Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust, but I wasn't interested in 'old' stuff at that point. I mean, they were good suggestions, and I did eventually take him up on it.

I still really enjoy Let's Dance and voted for the second option here. It's not his best work of course, but it's great fun to listen to. It also reminds me of 1983/4 which were good years for me.

 

Not ground-breaking like so much of the 70s work BUT sometimes music doesn't need to be that-just fun listening. Side One is a blast for the first three cuts, then a nice and I think under-appreciated slow song. Side Two has at least one weak spot and not as stellar front to back, but sill good. One of my faves.

 

For me it was the 80's with an exclamation mark!

 

Side A only

 

Although I have a CD copy, the equivalent of "Side 1" is what I like best. Whilst I do like the whole album, just the first half blows it out of the water for me. Actually I can say the same thing for "Too Low For Zero" by Elton John and "An Innocent Man" by Billy Joel. Come to think of it, I can say the same again for that Neil Finn album I have from 1983 as well. There must be a thing about 1983 albums .....

 

I love Let's Dance and China Girl, but aside from those the material is pretty average.

 

Forgettable. I have.

 

If Bowie had released the Moroder produced Cat People instead of the lame version on the album it would have bumped the album up a few notches.

 

A product of it's time and place, a reflection of the MTV era. People danced, Bowie made money and everyone was happy. Some of the songs hold up better than others. Not among his greatest, but nothing to be ashamed of either.

 

Not great, but a helluva lot better than the next two or three albums that followed.....

 

3 good singles
Great videos, but have never loved this album.

 

I voted #2

A great little time capsule of my past when I was 13

I played the album a lot when I first got it alongside his earlier work (Ziggy, Hunky, Pin Ups, Man Who Sold The World etc).

I miss him

 

For the record I voted for "average". Half of the songs are brilliant (the three singles and Cat People), the other half range from meh to average IMO.

 

Yeah, no kidding. Me, too.

 

I rated it "Pretty great, worth recommending". I think he was trying to emulate the sound of early 80's Roxy Music. Definitely slick 80's production, which catapulted Bowie into the real mainstream on the singles charts. Unfortunately it resulted in him trying to repeat the success with a number of lackluster sound-alike albums afterward for a few years until finally snapping out of the formula in 1989 with the harder edged Tin Machine project. Commercially-speaking, "Let's Dance" was his career peak, but definitely not critically. Still a very enjoyable listen though.

 

Essential listening. One of his best.

 

Funny the past two weeks i have been listening to this album quite a bit after not hearing it for a long time , i voted "
Pretty great, worth recommending"
It's slick , it's 80's but a lot of well written songs & some great playing from the band , you certainly couldn't go anywhere that year without hearing one of the singles which to me still hold up as strong songs , a few clunkers but overall a pretty good album & a blast to crank up .

 

The title track is great. Modern Love is fun. The rest is forgettable, with the possible exception of Cat People.
China Girl is a good song but I prefer Iggy's original version.

 

Pretty great for me.

 

Side 1 is what makes this worth recommending. Side 2 I put in the same league as his later 80s work.

 

Found out that other solo artists used this as a template: involving A-list musicians and producer, while keeping the overall musical sound relatively consistent to be radio friendly. The obvious attempts at similar success of this type would be Mick Jagger- She's the Boss and Bryan Ferry - Boys and Girls, off the top of my head, to varying results. So from that perspective, it was extremely important.

 

Right in the middle of Essential listening - a true classic and Pretty great, worth recommending. Modern Love hasn't aged well for me, but Criminal World and Cat People are ace, along with China Girl and the title cut.

 

Looks like I'm the only one so far that loves Criminal World.

 

Man, that looks like an unnatural hairline.