The most complicated and underappreciated rock masterpiece of the 90s, David Bowie’s 1. Outside is to rock music what Blade Runner is to science fiction filmmaking.
Bowie has in his head a dark and fascinating sci-fi story along the lines of the work of Philip K. Dick and William Burroughs. He’s taken the story, scrambled the chapters, and then presented it like non-linear excerpts from a futuristic murder mystery. While the visions presented here are bleak, the characters desperate, broken, and lonely, this is only the beginning of the story. Love lurks around the edges, acknowledged in these laments of its absence.
The music is the product of creative brainstorming sessions with master producer Brian Eno, and promises to be the first of a series of installments. Unlike other aging rockers who merely try to sustain the sounds that have made them popular, Bowie continues to follow his muse to new places. And, rather than harness technology to make music about teen angst and suicidal tendencies, as many of his imitators do, Bowie has taken the sounds at the cutting edge and applied them to univeral themes and imaginative explorations.
For that, I admire him.
Outstanding tracks: “The Heart’s Filthy Lesson”, “No Control”, “I Have Not Been to Oxford Town”
In five words or less: A dark and glorious masterpiece