I just finished listening to Bowie's Outside album: I had not played it in a while, even though it is one of my favorite Bowie albums. In these days of iPods and playlists, it seem I don't often listen straight through to a complete album.
I remember going to watch Bowie play in Dublin during the Outside tour: most people really just wanted to hear the hits (the place absolutely lit up when he played Under Pressure) so I must have been one of the only attendees to have been absolutely riveted with the "new" material.
More so than any other Bowie alnum, Outside has incredible movement in the music: songs such as "Voyeurs of Utter Destruction" , "I'm Deranged" and "The Motel" have an almost symphonic pacing, wrapped around the rather anarchic rock riffs.
Although the storyline is somewhat loose and "non-linear", the lyrics contain some memorable Bowie gems, such as :
"The prison priest are decent, my attorney seems sincer" (from I Have Not Been to Oxford Town)
"Sit tight in your corner, don't tell God your plans" ( from "No Control")
"Researchers peirced all extremes of my sex" (from "The Voyeurs of Utter Destruction")
What does it all mean? Like a lot of Bowie material, not very easy to figure that out, but then, that's not the point .....
