David Bowie - Under Review 1976-79: The Berlin Trilogy

Look back in wonder

With such a small timeframe to focus on, Under Review really gets a chance for an in-depth look at one of the most fascinating periods of any musician’s career. RC’s Daryl Easlea and Mark Prendergast trace the Berlin Trilogy’s gestation through Eno, Station To Station and The Man Who Fell To Earth, while Neu!’s Michael Rother and Cluster’s Dieter Moebius talk candidly about the initial plans to have them play on Low, before management stepped in and lied to both sides. But it’s not just Krautrock that played such an important part in shaping Bowie’s most influential (and astonishing) works. Many forget that his pop nous is refracted through the likes of Low’s cocaine vision and Be My Wife, foisting onto the mainstream the angular pop that many now take for granted. And if serious analysis and factual discussion get a little too much, Paolo Hewitt lightens things up with back-to-basics enthusiasm. Archive audio interviews of Bowie himself are well woven into the mix, adding for an all-round appreciation and look at two of the greatest albums of all time, plus Lodger. And making us go back and re-listen to Bowie’s entire catalogue can only be a good thing.

Chrome Dreams/Sexy Intellectual | SIDVD 512

Reviewed by Jason Draper
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