Listen to the Podcast:
Boys keep swinging...Boys always work it out.
That, of course, was a line from the song Boys Keep Swinging, from David Bowie's 1979 release, Lodger. I'm a huge Bowie fan, but I'm also kind of a basic Bowie fan. My top Bowie albums cycle between Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust, and Station to Station. When you get to the Berlin Trilogy, which are the late 1970s albums made up of Low, Heroes, and Lodger, I can appreciate them, but they don't quite get into my head and my heart the way that the earlier stuff tends to. I do own the New Career in a New Town Box set on CD - the only Bowie Box set that I have, but...it's kind of cheating because I won it from a local record store in a Facebook contest.
Anyway, I picked Lodger last September while on vacation in Asheville, NC at a store called Citizen Vinyl. If you're in the area I'd highly recommend checking it out. It's downtown in a cool old newspaper building. They made newspapers there - it's not made of newspapers…There's a coffee shop in there, a record store in the corner with a really well-curated selection of new and used records - stuff I've never seen before on vinyl. I spent some money there. Oh, and they have a record pressing plant where you can watch records being born through glass while you have your Americano. It’s pretty cool.
Let's get to the album. For some context, here are portions of a review of Lodger by Mike Powell in Pitchfork in 2016 - just weeks after Bowie's passing:
“The thing to know about David Bowie's 1979 album Lodger is that there really isn't anything special to know: No creation myth, no alter ego, no 10-minute-long song-suites or spooky instrumentals or pretentious backstories about George Orwell and "the squashed remains of ethnic music as it survives in the age of Muzak rock." Actually, Lodger might be the first David Bowie album marketed as nothing more than an album of recorded music by David Bowie.”
Another excerpt:
“Lodger has 10 songs, all of which are three to four minutes long. One is a great Talking Heads impression called "D.J." and another is basically a Brian Eno song with vocals by David Bowie instead of Brian Eno ("Red Sails"). The music is punky and dramatic and a little odd, with detours into reggae and near-Eastern tonalities ("Yassassin") and nebulously exotic "world" sounds ("African Night Flight"), all filtered through the ears of a British guy with plenty of money and the imperial leeway to appropriate whatever he felt like.”
There's a definite point of view in this review - which is fine. I don't disagree and suspect Bowie wouldn't either.
“To this day, no musician has better mastered the hermetic intensity of cocaine, a drug that makes you want to have long conversations with everyone you've ever met without leaving your room.”
Did Lodger make me feel the hermetic intensity of cocaine while I was pushing through my workout today? Not exactly. I came away with feelings about this album that are kind of the same as my feelings have always been when listening to it while sedentary, which are: It's David Bowie and I love him. Hey, why don't we try Alladin Sane instead?
It's just ok. So let's take it through track by track:
David Bowie: Lodger (1979)
Side 1
Fantastic Voyage
- Tempo: 110bpm - moderate
- Energy: ethereal, dark but reassuring
- Workout Rating: 5
- Notes: There are moments that keep you interested and engaged in your workout, but it's not ideal.
African Night Flight
- Tempo: 160 bpm - Fast
- Energy: Frenzied, electric, hurried
- Workout Rating: 7
- Notes: If your goal is to keep moving on the treadmill or elliptical at a brisk pace, this one should do it. I wouldn't call it a good song, but it's certainly interesting.
Move On
- Tempo: 148bpm - fast
- Energy: Brisk but calm
- Workout Rating: 8
- Notes: This one keeps pace with African Night Flight quite well, and I like the song better. It's more familiar as a Bowie tune, which kept me engaged.
Yassassin
- Tempo: 85bpm Moderate
- Energy: Meandering but joyful
- Workout Rating: 6
- Notes: Bluesy, but in a middle eastern way, by way of Jamaica, if that makes sense at all. It's an interesting song and I like it. It's not especially built for a workout - probably better suited for a large joint.
Red Sails
- Tempo: 145bpm - fast
Energy: High
- Workout Rating: 7
- Notes: It's a good song. It's happy. It's strong. I like it, and it kept me moving.
Side 2
DJ
- Tempo: 115bpm moderate
- Energy: Funky and energetic
- Workout Rating: 8
- Notes: This one's not fast but it's got a good funky groove that keeps you in it from top to bottom. Definitely a Talking Heads influence, but I like the Talking Heads so...
Look Back in Anger
- Tempo: 250bpm - very fast!
- Energy: Steady, driving
- Workout Rating: 8
- Notes: This is a good one in a good place on the album, because I was really struggling to get through the second half of my workout today.
Boys Keep Swinging
- Tempo: 120bpm - March tempo!
- Energy: Happy, Beach Boys-y
- Workout Rating: 8
- Notes: When you're a boy, you find a lot in this track to keep you engaged, including the interesting lyrics and the crazy but cool guitar solo - which I think is Adrian Belew of King Crimson fame.
Repetition
- Tempo: 128bpm - upbeat
- Energy: Even and, dare I say, repetitive
- Workout Rating: 6
- Notes: It does have a good beat, the guitar is cool, but it bores me a little
Red Money
- Tempo: 105bpm - moderate
- Energy: Cool, layered
- Workout Rating: 6
- Notes: I quite like this song, but I wouldn't call it great for a workout. It's again, quite repetitive, which I believe to be on purpose. It seems like a better driving song than an exercising song.
The Bottom Line:
after listening to this album, I've decided I should come back to it again and give a listen on my good turntable with headphones, and really get to know these tunes better. With that said, I would call The Grand Illusion from Styx, our last album, a better workout album. With that said, the overall score was the exact same as the Styx album. Weird, huh?
Overall workout rating: 6.9
These are subjective. I was still a little sore today from the last workout and it didn't go as well, so perhaps that was creeping into my perceptions of The Grand Illusion vs. Lodger. I also hold The Grand Illusion among my favorite Styx albums, and it's full of huge hits. Lodger is not among my favorite Bowie albums, so maybe that's got something to do with it.
Let me know what you think of Lodger if you've listened to the album. Listen to it yourself this week while you're working out and let me know what you thought. I'd like to hear your thoughts.
