How would you rate "Outside" (1995) by David Bowie?

I bet you're all fed up with me posting about Outside by now. I don't care. Keeping the flame alive.

I've been listening to Buddha Of Suburbia & Outside together today and I agree that Strangers is much better on Outside. His vocal is richer/better (eg "Hotter than the sun") and the arrangement is much more effective - less 'Miami Vice theme tune' fiddly and more like he did it live. It doesn't really fit with the rest of the tracks since it's more conventional, but if you hear it as an "end of film credits" track it works well - lyrically it's about an illegitimate violent relationship I suppose which could work in a way for the overall theme.

I'm really struggling to think of it as a weak track. For me Outside is such a strong album that there are no weak tracks at all - they're all really good, and all for me have lasting playability - I'm not bored of any of them after 22 years. The more I hear this version of SWWM the more I'm coming to the conclusion that it is a bona fide Bowie classic. It could be covered as a standard by any good artist, and there's not many Bowie songs you could say that about.

As soon as I hear that Kizilcay bassline I'm in the Zone.

The b-side track Get Real doesn't fit on Outside, and it's not up to the standard of the rest, even though it's OK and has an interesting vocal/lyric. It sounds more like a track off The Next Day to me, or as one of the comments on this YT clip suggests - like a good one off NLMD.

 

This is the most confusing Bowie album to me in that some people really, really love it and consider it one of his best. And for me when I first got it I thought it was overall kind of boring and silly. But then someone would say how great it was. So I'd go back and put it on and listen to it and felt it was just Bowie trying to be 'modern' and chase the Nine Inch Nails or something but it didn't suit him well. Then later I'd hear people talk about how amazing the whole thing is and I really should give it another shot. And then I would and it was overall kind of boring and silly.

I love Bowie but never quite got Outside or something. I even prefer Black Tie White Noise.

 

I'm a huge fan of "Outside" and I think it is easily the finest of Bowie's '90s albums. Such a dark and atmospheric vibe, really menacing and challenging. So glad that Bowie really dove back into serous artistic expression after his adventures in arena rock with "Never Let Me Down" and then getting reacquainted with down and dirty straightforward edgy rock and roll with Tin Machine.

The vocals on "Outside" are tremendous. "Strangers When We Meet" is incredibly powerful -- a much better, more fully realized version than he included on "Buddha of Suburbia". I'm glad he resurrected it. "Oxford Town" is another favorite, but really the entire album is outstanding and endlessly fascinating. I'm still hearing new things every time I play it.

 

I hope "1. Outside" will someday be released in its original 2 album configuration. I would very much like to hear it as db/Eno originally intended/submitted. It's highly unlikely that will ever happen...

Though I know the segues can be annoying, I adore every bit of the album. Music aside (!), the album's release will always carry a special meaning for me as, when it was released in Fall 1995 I was 19, a sophomore at Berklee College of Music just beginning to turn into a music snob, and before "1. Outside" I didn't care about Bowie at all, writing him off as pop music garbage (in my defense, I grew up in the 80s). A friend of mine into 'avant' music bragged about how great the album was, and he talked me in to a listening session from start-to-finish. I was lucky to have such friends...post-listen my spirit was forever changed, and many musical adventures followed, inspired by the artistic depth, implied fearlessness, and overall tonality of "1. Outside".

Worth noting that the musicians gathered for this LP and the ensuing tours for it and "Earthling" are, in my opinion, the best musicians/configuration Bowie ever played/toured with. Mike Garson, Reeves Gabrels, Zack Alford, and Gail Ann Dorsey (w/honorable mention to Joey Baron, Carlos Alomar, Erdal Kizilcay, and Sterilng Campbell). I missed an opportunity to see said config in Hartford w/NIN (that show happened right before my love affair w/db began). I think the first time I saw them altogether was on MTV Live from the 10 Spot the Fall of the following year; I taped it and watched it over-and-over again.

I know some folks can't stand Gabrels, and I respect that.

I didn't really write about the music at all, but for now I can note that my favorite track, and definitely all-time favorite db track (close call with 'Subterraneans'), is 'A Small Plot of Land'. It takes me to a new place every time I listen to it. \../

 

I just want to say that the opening guitar riff on Heart's Filthy Lesson might be the best one on any Bowie album.

 

It really is. One track that deserves more credit. Somehow I would like to hear a stripped version, with less prominent drums, yet the firm clunck-clunck-clunck-clunck-tssss does give it a good drive.

 

Well. I didn't really call it a weak track. I said it's possibly the weakest on the record, which is different. I actually like it quite a bit. Maybe I should have said "least awesome".

 

'Strangers', for however great it is, does feel out-of-place on "1. Outside". I suspect label influence or commercial-potential-seeking (however laughable that notion in context) inspired its inclusion/bookending.

'Get Real' would've definitely felt out-of-place on the album proper. However, the other B-Side 'Nothing to Be Desired' would've felt right at home on the album proper (possible as the last track in place of 'Strangers'), and it's probably the best 'glimpse' of the type of raw material the Mountain Studios improvisation sessions yielded.

To be a fly on the wall witnessing those sessions...

 

Saying it's the weakest track on Outside doesn't mean it's weak IMO - I knew you liked it.

 

I missed out on the early Outside Tour, but I caught the summer 96 festival part. (Phoenix). Those early US gigs with NIN are some of my favourite live Bowie - they must have been amazing (but perhaps not appreciated by all NIN fans). The Outside/Festivals/Earthling tours are a high point for me.

 

One of the only two Bowie albums I have never heard, along with Earthling. I was discouraged by the contemporary reviews. It is possible to find advocates for everything on this forum so I need to see a really compelling argument for exploring it. I have always imagined that it is something of a Trent Reznor knock off and I am not fond of Trent's oeuvre.

 

I remember hearing from others who actually went to that Hartford gig (my brother was attending the Hartt School of Music at the time; I remember visiting him the weekend right after the show) that most folks left after NIN (as in maybe half the audience or more), and that ultimately they thought Bowie sucked.

I know it was the first show of the tour. Still mad at myself for missing it...I'd wager I would've gotten to be very close to the action since so many bailed post-NIN.

 

I haven't read or looked at it in a decade or more, but Eno's "A Year with Swollen Appendices" book offers insight into the recording of "1. Outside".

Also, 'The Voyeur of Utter Destruction' is one the first tracks I can remember listening to critically (with headphones) that I thought was too hot/compressed. One of the first instances I think of when it comes to the 'loudness war', wherein the material gets brittle and is clearly distorted, likely unintentionally. It's very apparent 'round the 'Needle point light blinds the will to be next' lyric. P'haps it'll be fixed if it's ever remastered proper.

 

THE SCREW!!!
(Is a tightening atrocity)


My favourite track.
Yep - you're right about that - While my cd (Japanese special package) looks almost brickwalled and reads less than DR 7 for that track, I just did a rip of my Friday Music white vinyl Outside and it looks totally different on waveform analysis. More like DR 11 (but not a fair comparison because it's vinyl) and no signs of nastiness - quite a lot of lovely curves and spikes.
Sad, but what can you do anymore with Bowie - it's a bit like complaining about North Korea testing missiles. It's just how it is going to be.

 

Phoenix '96 was a fantastic show and some definitive live versions for me. "Heroes", All The Young Dudes, Moonage Daydream and Strangers When We Meet have never sounded better, IMO.

@karmaman I know you're not crazy about live versions but the performance of SWWM from Phoenix Festival does just that. I can't find a broadcast version on YouTube, just a crap audience recording. "Cold tired fingers, Ta-ta-ta-tapping out your memories.."
You may have heard it.

 

I saw a Wembley show in November '95. NIN would have been a welcome support act as Morrissey and his band sounded awful. A burger van lady outside the arena said business was good those few nights as people were leaving the Bowie show early saying it was poor and no hits were being played.

 

The 1995 live band were superb. As for Reeves, I wonder how long it would have taken for me to become interested in Bowie, being that I got into Tin Machine before any solo Bowie. He is my favourite Bowie guitarist of the whole lot.

 

Don't slag the Mozz. The Morrissey fans wouldn't have been the ones buying the burgers!
Edit - I love Reeves too, but Bowie had many great guitarists - Fripp, Ronson, Alomar, Slick, SRV.

 

I can slag Morrissey all I like, thank you I'm a fan. He's cancelled on me twice and been crap on the two occasions I have seen him.

 

So-so.
I expected better from Bowie and Eno.

 

I have heard sections of this and actually have a few of the songs, but have never had the time to sit and listen to the whole thing together, mainly because of screen burn in. My TV does not need the same image on it for over an hour and I never have that much time on the computer anymore to play it in the back ground. I must remedy that. I need to understand just what I am hearing.

 

I applaud how vigorously you support this oft-overlooked album – and I am very surprised you're not the one with the Outside avatar.

 

Not to get too far off topic, but Morrissey is the absolute king of cancelled shows. I know people who traveled a considerable distance for his shows only to discover upon arrival (and sometimes whilst standing in the actual venue waiting for the show to start) that the show wasn't happening. And yeah, he's played some crap shows. Last time I saw him was at Radio City Music Hall, and that remains one of the all-time worst concerts I've ever attended. Plus, there was a point when he had a tendency to slag Bowie off onstage. I saw him and Bowie within days of each other in 2003, Morrissey in Pasadena, Bowie in Los Angeles, and Moz made multiple jealous remarks about his fans going to see Bowie. Not super well-received by the audience.

 

The 2nd show [Roundhouse, London] had no idea until we got to the venue. Felt very sorry for the lads right behind us; they'd come from Brazil.

Morrissey didn't stand a chance on the Outside Tour and I reckon Bowie knew it. I suffered The Dandy Warhols on multiple nights of A Reality Tour. Bowie ain't stupid.

 

I always thought Get Real would have been good with some more oddness or messing about with it, maybe it was unfinished? I don't know or can't remember. We Prick You is sort of similar, but more interesting due to its generally more bizarre properties !