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

I put Essential listening but Let's Dance is somewhere between that and Pretty great. It gets slammed for its commercial success but it achieved it in a way that didn't compromise Bowie's music. These songs are very clever and provide off kilter stretching of mainstream conventions.That such a feat is very hard was proved by an inability to repeat that (non existent) formula. Fame also gets dumped on for similar reasons. BTW Stevie Ray Vaughan makes some of these songs come alive.

 

Side 1 is fantastic!! Highly recommended.

Side 2 doesn't date as well. Plus, the soundtrack version of Cat People (Putting out the Fire) is way cooler.

 

I was in high school when it came out, it was a good song to make out with. Rip David!!!! you are missed.

 

I haven't listened to the whole album and I didn't really like any of the songs I heard, but "Cat People" is an absolute masterpiece and I'm baffled that nobody seems to talk about it (or call it forgettable when they do). The one-major-chord, not-much-of-a-melody chorus is kind of annoying (bar the first one where everything drops out) and I wouldn't have done that myself if I'd written it (I say if you've got Stevie Ray Vaughan on the track, let him play there!) but I still think it's an indispensable Bowie tune. The first three songs didn't make an impression on me and "Shake It" just sounds awful to me, I can't remember if I've heard any of the other ones, but "Cat People" is a monster.

 

I like the three hit singles well enough, but IMO, the importance of Let's Dance, then and now, wasn't so much artistic in a pure musical sense as it was culturally and commercially: In the USA at least, Bowie had kind of fallen off the map a bit as the 70s turned into the 80s. In the previous 5-6 years, trends like disco, punk, new wave,and arena rock had risen (and in some cases fallen) and Bowie hadn't really been able to ride any of them. So circa early 1983, he needed a Big Hit Record to kind of re-establish his cultural presence and general Rock Stardom over here.

Let's Dance achieved that, in spades. Suddenly, Bowie was "Bowie" again, in terms of overall rock star stature, and that carried him through to his later career.

 

I've always found Let's Dance and Young Americans to be a wonderful diversion/progression/change or whatever one ones to call it. The music is just so uplifting and energetic.

 

The problem for me here is that with Let's Dance, Bowie became everybody else.

 

I'd rank it in the middle. The weakest album he put out since "David Bowie/Space Oddity" IMO but better than its reputation for the "crime" of being a successful pop album with hit singles. To me, the singles are great but the other tracks are weak.

 

Not one of his best.

 

Cat People is my favorite off the album. Never heard the Moroder version.

 

I actually like the album, one that I listen to here and there (not as much as, say, Ziggy Stardust or Blackstar, but one I will play and not be bored of).

Also, I like the stories behind making the album, like Bowie showing Nile Rodgers a photo of Little Richard in all bling, sitting in a pimped out Cadillac and saying he wants that put to music.

 

I bought the album when it was released.Played it a couple of times and never since.I was thinking the other week that I should give it a spin again cause I think I am ready for it now and now I am older I like the songs better than when it came out.

 

Cannot have that ... the 12" is glorious

 

Listening to it now, the album still sounds very good after not have played it for over 30 years! I like it, brings back memories..

 

One cool dude!

 

He isn't. He's miming SRV's guitar parts there.

 

To me this album was an oasis in a desert of crap in 1983 with U2's War being the only other exception that year. Incredible album.

 

Oh, that's right, just for looks... Jeez, got me all excited there for a minute!

 

He was always doing something "different" anyway...

 

It's fun for what it is. I'll admit to being pretty disappointed with it when it came out but I can enjoy it just fine now knowing that Bowie's output would get a little worse and then a lot better. If it had been the beginning of a permanent downward slide to commercial mediocrity, I'd have a hard time forgiving it but, really, who ever liked him for his safe predictability?

Bowie gonna Bowie.

 

The album would then have comprised 50% classic material and 50% weak filler.

 

Three great tracks, all front loaded ("Modern Love", "China Girl" and the title track), one good track ("Cat People (Putting Out Fire") and the rest is junk.

 

This has been said a lot of times (including by me) but this album is sequenced really badly. The three singles, probably the best songs on the album, are all on side one. Thus the album starts off really well but quickly fizzles away.

 

I would rate Let's Dance as the final Bowie album that was worth a listen and even then it loses its spark after side one. There are better performances of 'China Girl' and 'Cat People' to be heard elsewhere, IMHO. I loved the videos, though.

 

outside is pretty good also... and don't forget blackstar