Let’s Dance

Side One

1          Modern Love, 4:47

2          China Girl, 5:33

3          Let’s Dance, 7:37

4          Without You, 3:09

 

Side Two

5          Ricochet, 5:12

6          Criminal World, 4:24

7          Cat People (Putting Out Fire), 5:10

8          Shake It, 3:47

 

Bonus Track

(on Virgin re-release 1995, CD VUS 96)

9          Under Pressure, 3:56

 

Recorded:               Power Station Studios, New York

(December 1982)

Musicians:              David Bowie, vocals

                               Nile Rogers, guitar

                               Stevie Ray Vaughan, guitar

                               Carmine Rojas, bass

                               Tony Thompson, drums

                               Ray Sabino, keyboards

                               Mac Gollehon, trumpet

                               Robert Arron, tenor sax, flute

                               Sammy Figueroa, percussion

                               Bernard Edwards, bass (on Without You)

                               Frank Simms, backing vocals

                               George Simms, backing vocals

                               David Spinner, backing voices

Producers:              David Bowie, Nile Rogers

Released:               14 April 1983

Label:                     EMI AML 3029

 

Bowie's debut for EMI lives up to the tantalizing promise of the title single, already a deserved smash with multiformat muscle: in teaming with co-producer Nile Rodgers, the influential stylist restores the directness of his mid-'70s plunge into richly r&b-inflected dance music without abandoning the textural subtlety of his subsequent pioneering swing into electronic pop. Here, that visionary stance brings authority to Bowie's most accessible music in years, pared with propulsive economy by Rodgers' own arranging contributions and liquid, insistent guitar. Whether tender ("China Girl"), tough "Richochet," "Criminal World") or in between, the music is bracing, state-of-the-art urban dance rock. Bowie's first tour in five years will only enhance sales fire.

 

Billboard

Originally reviewed for week ending 16 April 1983