B is for David Bowie ‘Never Let Me Down’

He’s not exactly a ‘forgotten vinyl’, but I couldn’t not pick a Bowie record. Everyone needs a bit of Bowie in their collection.

Trust me to pick one of his worst albums: ‘Never Let Me Down’. 

‘Never Let Me Down’ unfortunately let me down. This album is in Bowie’s rock/pop style mixed with a bit of dance and a few saxophone solos. It’s not bad, but it’s certainly not great at the same time. Bowie even claimed that is was the worst album of his career.

‘Day-in Day-out’ kicks off with synths and a strong beat – a promising opening. Chants of “ooh ooh” and a catchy chorus only adds to the start. Not a bad beginning to the album. Sadly it goes downhill from here.

‘Time Will Crawl’ is apparently inspired by the disaster at Chernobyl. It’s an alright track and I enjoyed the solo guitar and sax solos but it was nothing special.

Title track ‘Never Let Me Down‘ is your standard pop song kicked off with a harmonica intro, whilst ‘Glass Spider‘ is one of the only interesting songs, on the topic of black widow spiders and also providing the name for Bowie’s following tour. Next song ‘Shining Star (Makin’ My Love)’ is just plain awful. Although it could be the quality of my record, it just didn’t sound good at all.

Final track ‘Bang Bang‘ is probably the best track off the album. The Iggy Pop cover finishes the album well. It’s a catchy song but feels slightly like it’s been shoved on the end in an attempt to improve the album as a whole.

A mediocre album and not Bowie’s best, by far. I just wish I’d picked the Ziggy Stardust album instead.

Released 1987 on EMI Records Ltd.
Side One – ‘Day-in Day-out’, ‘Time Will Crawl’, ‘Beat of Your Drum’, ‘Never Let Me Down’, ‘Zeroes’
Side Two – ‘Glass Spider’, ‘Shining Star (Makin’ My Love)’, ‘New York’s in Love’, ’87 and Cry’, ‘Too Dizzy’, ‘Bang Bang’