Never Let Me Down

Side One

1          Day-In Day-Out, 5:35

2          Time Will Crawl, 4:18

3          Beat Of Your Drum, 5:04

4          Never Let Me Down, 4:04

5          Zeroes, 5:45

 

Side Two

6          Glass Spider, 5:30

7          Shining Star (Makin’ My Love), 5:04

8          New York’s In Love, 4:32

9          ’87 and Cry, 4:19

10        Too Dizzy, 3:59

11        Bang Bang, 4:29

 

Bonus Tracks

(on Virgin re-release1995, Virgin CD VUS 98

12        Julie, 3:40

13        Girls, 5:35

14        When The Wind Blows, 3:32

 

Recorded:               Mountain Studios, Montreaux, Switzerland

                               Power Station Studios, New York, USA

(late 1986)

Musicians:              David Bowie, vocals, guitar, keyboards, mellotron, moog,

                               harmonica, tambourine

                               Carlos Alomar, guitar, guitar synthesizer, tambourine,

                               backing vocals

                               Erdal Kizilcay, keyboards, drums, bass, trumpet,

                               backing vocals, guitar (Time Will Crawl),

                               violins (Bang Bang)

                               Peter Frampton, guitar

                               Carmine Rojas, bass

                               Philippe Saisse, piano, keyboards

                               Crusher Bennett, percussion

                               Laurie Frink, trumpet

                               Earl Gardner, trumpet, flugelhorn

                               Stan Harrison, alto sax

                               Steve Elson, baritone sax

                               Lenny Pickett, tenor sax

                               Robin Clark, backing vocals

                               Loni Groves, backing vocals

                               Diva Gray, backing vocals

                               Gordon Grodie, backing vocals

                               Sid McGinnis, guitar (Bang Bang, Time Will Crawl,

                               Day-In Day-Out)

                               Coco, backing vocals (Zeroes)

                               Sandro Sursock, backing vocals (Zeroes)

                               Charuvan Suchi, backing vocals (Zeroes)

                               Joe, Clement, John, Aglae, backing vocals (Zeroes)

                               Mickey Rourke, rap (Shining Star)

Producers:              David Bowie, David Richards

Released:               29 April 1987

Label:                     EMI AMLS 3117

 

Never Let Me Down (1987) was worse, almost every one of David Bowie's high-falutin notions proving turgid. He reached what many felt was his lowest creative ebb on the ensuing Glass Spider tour. But even that folly was outstripped by the dislikable Tin Machine, the four-piece band he formed in 1989 with Reeves Gabrels (guitar) and Tony and Hunt Sales (bass, drums). Supposedly a streetwise heavy metal group, they had the honour instead of delivering David Bowie's worst album-until Tin Machine II in 1991. Bonus tracks (Absolute Beginners, Under Pressure, This Is Not America etc) flesh out these CDs.

 

Adam Sweeting

Q Magazine 1995