Heroes

With the Rock world stunned by David Bowie's previous album, Low, an album that had many critics shouting accolades but had a predominantly confused audience scratching its collective head...Bowie headed back to Berlin with Brian Eno to create once more.

David Bowie: Heroes

Bowie: "There's something about Berlin. Always throughout the 20th century, it's been the cultural crossroads of Europe... There's an artistic tension in Berlin that I've never come across the like of anywhere else. Paris? Forget it. Berlin has it..."

"At that time, with the [Berlin] Wall still up, there was a feeling of terrific tension throughout the city. It was either very young or very old people. There were no family units in Berlin. It was a city of extremes. It vacillated between the absurd, the whole drag, transvestite night-club type of thing and real radical, Marxist political thought. And it seemed like this really was the focus of the new Europe. It was right here. For the first time, the tension was outside of me rather than within me. And it was a real interesting process, writing for me, under those conditions." NYrock.com

Neither the critics nor the audience would have tolerated a Low 2, so another approach was needed...and given his inability to articulate his angst coherently, what Bowie did was really interesting. He actually used 3 different vectors to create a marked difference between the albums.

Firstly, as I pointed out in my Low review, that album, in its stripped back, monosylabbic, truth-drug minimalism, was the closest that Bowie ever got to a singer-songwriter album (despite Hunky Dory having pretentions to being that)... but even if you dig deeply into Low...there's not a lot there...or certainly not a lot that were relayed through lyrics.

So, if he couldn't provide the emotional data, why not someone else...why not something else?

What Bowie did was to try and channel the Cold War tension of the city of Berlin. It was a brilliant move that worked spectacularly, even spawning a well-loved hit single, Heroes, the title track, about two lovers at the Berlin Wall.

"...when Bowie does put it all together, it's just magnificent...Heroes...from the very first down-stroke, tweaks you like a photo of an old girlfriend..." Amazon.co.uk reviewer Mr. O. Buxton

We all know Heroes so well that there seems little point mentioning it, other than to say it's somehow grown in stature, exponentially, over the years. Why, I'm not quite sure.

However, even more interesting for me, is the extremely oblique Sons Of The Silent Age. 

...which must have given hope to millions of skinny, pale existential teenage boys and Blackout, a weird, dramatic psychodrama.

"...When I bought Heroes I was twenty years old and in the middle of an emotional breakdown. I didn't know it at the time...I was falling into mania, unaware I had bipolar disorder. l pulled away from my friends and stayed at home, listening to this album. I couldn't sleep, I was tense and nervous, and songs like Blackout seemed written for me...I developed a fantasy that Bowie and I were going through the same pain..." Amazon reviewer Philip J. Brubaker

The lyrics aren't really worth quoting, they're mostly disconnected babble but that's fairly normal here, as on Joe The Lion:

"...Joe the Lion
Went to the bar
A couple of drinks on...
...The house and he...
Was a fortune teller
He said: 'Nail me to my car
And I'll tell you who you are'..."

But the second vector that Bowie uses to make Heroes come alive was to use an interesting technique. He suddenly draws you out of Joe The Lion's chaotic word-spew and somehow involves you, the listener:

"...It's Monday
Slither down the greasy pipe
So far, so good no-one saw you
Hobble over any freeway
You will be like your dreams tonight
You get up and sleep..."

...and then, jarringly returns to the disjointed chaos:

"...Joe the Lion
Made of iron..."

       Joe The Lion

It's a subtle lyrical technique that implies order (well, you're sane, aren't you?) amidst chaos, much like a one-way off-the-wall conversation in which the main speaker stops occasionally to involve you by asking "Do you know what I mean?"

"...Joe the Lion...is the tale of the performance artist Chris Burden, who liked being put in a bag on a motorway, being hung over a pool of water with 2 electrodes in his hand and yes, being nailed to his car..." Amazon.co.uk reviewer milt ingarfield

On other Heroes songs Bowie uses "I", "us" or "we" to the same effect, very smart...and I'd wager $50 that it was accidental...but it works.

The third vector is the introduction of legendary King Crimson guitarist (and Eno collaborator) Robert Fripp, who, like Mike Garson on Aladdin Sane, almost inadvertantly steals the show. Fripp's dazzling, heavily treated runs are like the railway arteries of the paranoid city, transporting tension and fear into every corner, every office, every home. Magnificent.

Guitarist Robert Fripp's memories of the Heroes sessions, his first gigs after coming out of a year in virtual seclusion.

When I did that album I was completely out of my brain. I didn't know whether I was coming or going. I hadn't played as Robert Fripp for three years. I had no idea what I was going to do, no preconceptions. I just went in and did it. I said to Mr. B: "...Look, I haven't played for three years. I don't know what I play like..." and he said: Well, do you think you can play some hairy rock'n'roll? I said: "...I don't know. I 'spect so. I'll try..." So I went in to listen to what they'd been doing and they said: "...Well you might as well plug in..." "...I suppose I might..." I said...and the very first thing they did was put up Beauty And The Beast and I played straight over it. This is the way I did the rest of the album. They'd put up a track and I'd play. I wouldn't bother rehearsing it. I'd just play. (source unknown)

If Bowie seemed a little shy on the instrumental side of Low, on Heroes he's completely at ease. The side is top and tailed by 2 rhythmic instrumentals (with silly lyrics) that house 3 astonishing, deeply human and moving pieces, Moss Garden, Neukoln & Sense Of Doubt

David Bowie: Sense Of Doubt

Heroes saw David Bowie at the top of his game and as far as I'm concerened, it's David Bowie's most mature and lasting piece of work. It's highly recommended. 

David Bowie: Heroes

"...it is...in my opinion, the greatest achievement by this most amazing artist..." Amazon reviewer stowaway

"...(It) sounds like it was recorded with total abandon...You'll hear everything from chaotic disco to nightmarish ambient. Recommended..." Amazon reviewer Dean Dirge

"...compared to a lot of what was considered seminal at the time, Heroes is an album that sounds as if it could have been released last week...a truly great album whose themes may touch on the bleaker aspects of Humanity but is...curiously uplifting..." Amazon.co.uk reviewer Paul S. Whiston

"...There is something about the cover to this album - a black and white photo of Bowie mimicking an Erich Heckel painting, looking like a mannequin - that perfectly represents the music: cold, steely and bloodless. Aside from the title track there is very little warmth to be had from most of these songs. That's not to say the album is in any way bleak but, like it's predecessor, Low, seems to exist in a strange emotional place all it's own.

Someone once said about this album that it has a 'strange pull' and in many ways that perfectly sums it up, but what exactly this 'strange pull' may be is difficult to nail down. One possible explanation could be the way the album becomes, as odd as this may sound, more accessible yet equally more peculiar with every play, some songs being interchangeably both..." Amazon.co.uk reviewer Cosely Jay

Heroes T-shirt

Bowie then took Heroes on a world tour with a band including:

• guitarist Adrian Belew. Here's a 2007 entry from his Elephant blog and another about Eric, Stage's tour manager
• keyboard player Roger Powell (from Utopia) &
• violinist Sean Mayes (from Fumble), who published a book on his experiences, Life On Tour With David Bowie: We Can Be Heroes... 

Sean Mayes: LIFE On Tour With David Bowie

"...This is a really interesting book about the highs and lows of being on a major year long tour in the late 1970s...First class travel and high end parties one day, crappy hotels and seedy bars the next...If you are expecting the majority of the book to be about the actual shows and Bowie, then again this isn't for you. The shows are discussed and it's interesting but it's mainly in passing...If nothing else it made we want to break out my copy of Stage and give it a spin..." Amazon.co.uk reviewer Paul S. Whiston

I caught the show in Sydney and can attest that the LIVE album Stage is pretty representative of the night, essentially bits of Station To Station, Low & Heroes with a big chunk of Ziggy thrown in...

David Bowie LIVE: Stage

"...In April of 1978, I had the pleasure of seeing this tour at the Milwaukee arena...I sat in the second row, shot about 150 photographs and listened in amazement to one of the best concerts I have ever attended. Bowie's voice has never sounded better and the band assembled for this tour was incredible. What was really impressive at the time was that Bowie was showcasing some decidedly non-commercial music from Low and Heroes and it sounded so good in concert..." Amazon reviewer Donald R. Labonte Jr.

"...If you've ever wondered how a slow song like Warsawza could have ever been good in concert - just take a listen. It's hypnotizing! This double CD was tough to find, but this new remastered editon is fantastic..." Amazon.co.uk reviewer Martin A Hogan

"...The album now comes in a 6-part foldout digi-pak sleeve with new notes, unpublished pictures from the tour and the complete tour itinerary. Tony Visconti has (produced a) superb restoration..." Amazon.co.uk reviewer Milt Ingarfield

"...The reissue of Stage...is vastly different from the original double vinyl album. For one, the sequencing of the tracks follows the actual concert...For another, two tracks have been added, Be My Wife and Stay. CD1 concentrates on songs from the then-current Low and Heroes albums, with a great Speed of Life and Breaking Glass as highlights. CD2 showcases older songs like Ziggy Stardust, Station to Station...and a truly excellent Stay...It should also be noted that the remastered sound is a remarkable improvement over the original album..." Amazon reviewer Paul Allaer

As part of the promotion for Heroes, Bowie appeared on a Bing Crosby Christmas special, which resulted in this rare collaborative single...

David Bowie & Bing Crosby: Peace On Earth

"...I think this is the only place you'll find this classic and poignant recording. It was taken from a 1977 special that Bing Crosby just months before his untimely death and aired a few months after the sad news. Bing is (in)fine voice, especially considering this was one of his last performances..." Amazon reviewer W. Langan

"...The track here includes the dialogue spoken between Bing & Bowie before they break into the song, as well as the song itself. The dialogue is pretty corny but charming. The song is great, which you already know if you've heard it..." Amazon reviewer Johnny Heering

Philip Glass: Bowie And Eno Meet Glass

"...This is not one of those 'The String Quartet Tribute to...' albums. Bowie's music from some of his best albums (two of his Berlin trilogy) is re-processed by Philip Glass and given his trademarked minimalist/repetitive treatment. For the most part, casual listeners will find almost impossible to recognize the source material, even after reading the titles. This is Philip Glass at his most accessible but it's still Philip Glass: Bowie fans should try before they buy..." Amazon reviewer Giancarlo Cairella