Search - David Bowie :: Tonight

OK, OK, Relax!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Michael J. Cleary | U S of A | 02/04/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I know everyone who is a hardcore fan doesn't like this album ,but please calm down. Lets look at it for a moment. All albums reflect the time they were released in.This is 1984 to a tee. Heavy dance and sythn tracks etc. Very few people could have covered the wide range of musical genres that Bowie does on this album. I can't believe so many people hate the reggae version of "dont look down". I mean the guy never gets pigeonholed by music. He simply does what he likes and pulls it off. Is this his best album? No. Is it bad? No! Give this CD a play. I bet once you put this in you won't pull it out until it's over! Feel me! Peace!"

Underrated, and with some gems

Roger Plamondon | Birmingham, Alabama | 01/23/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have always felt this album underrated, and have been mystified as to why it inspires such criticism. Even from Bowie himself. I've read Bowie interviews where he's dissed his music of the Let's Dance phase of his career, and those that followed shortly thereafter, i.e., Tonight, and Never Let Me Down. Neither of these latter albums were terribly consistent, nor were they terrible.



Specific to Tonight, personally I liked all the tracks, with some being "filler" between stronger tracks. I'd rank Loving the Alien among the better of Bowie's work in general, and had it been included on a stronger, more coherently themed album it probably would have been received better. One reviewer described God only Knows as cheap, which surprises me, but to each their own. Personally, I enjoyed that cover a lot, and while melodramatic in my opinion, I didn't feel it had crossed the border to cheap or tacky.



Another reviewer made a nice point that "albums that suck" are not always equal to albums you personally disliked. Still another noted that if 80's pop is not your bag, you might not be thrilled with this one. I tend to concur with those ideas and would recommend a listen if you bypassed this album due to negative reviews. You might find a few faves among the tracks."

A More Rewarding Album Than You Might Think

Andre S. Grindle | Brewer Maine | 02/24/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Where some might think of Let's Dance as leaning heavily toward radio pop it's an interesting surprize that this follow up,which came very close onto the previous album compared to the previous lengh of time between albums is an entirely different animal. On all of the nine tunes on this album David Bowie isn't quite as concerned with creating deliberate pop song structures and as with most of his best music the best songs on the album don't leap right out at you the first second. As with classic Bowie the tunes take time to work there way into your subconious as the melodies reveal themselves more in the middle of the song. And there is a substantial difference in musical approch as well. Whereas the previous album concentrated on hard hitting dance-rock and funk the general flavors of this album lean more toward dub/reggae and light techno-pop. The reggae influence is very prominant on the likable title song which actually does have a pretty quick hitting melody. "Don Look Down" embraces a moodier Police style flavor and that being said it makes a lot of sense that Iggy Pop co-wrote these songs with Bowie. The co-producer of this album,Heatwave's own bassmaster Derek Bramble really let himself go on this album as every song firmly lands in the domain of the rhythm section he created with the one and only Carlos Alomar and the other bass playe4r Carmine Rojas. Now some might scoff at the stripped down,somewhat synthesized texture Bowie brings to his verison of "God Only Knows" but the fact is the rhythm of the song is again guided by a more new wave flavor than the Spector-styled original and the song is completely re-harmonized. It's not until Bowie's vocals come in do you actually realize it's the same song. Bowie rocks up a Leiber/Stoller classic on "I Keep Forgettin'" in much the same and that takes you into the rock n soul style of "Tumble And Twirl"-higher octane than either Huey Lewis or Hall & Oates would've probably put to a song of the type but this along with "Dancing With The Big Boys",the hit "Blue Jean" and the tension filled rock of "Neighborhood Threat" it's one of a series of songs on this album that have a slight resemblance to what was on the previous album. Musically speaking this album doesn't deserve much of it's bad reputation in terms of quality and your appreciation of it will probably depend largely of what era of Bowie's music your more interested in."