David Bowie - The Best of David Bowie 1980/1987: Sight & Sound Review
by Zane Ewton
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David Bowie will be long remembered for being the iconic rock 'n' roll chameleon everyone says he is. Those same people would be kind to forgive him for his spotty track record in the 1980s as well. Bowie's commercial nadir with Let's Dance began a quality decline into the '90s.
Even with the few missteps, Bowie created some of the classic rock and pop songs of the 80s. These are now adored in a new compilation, The Best of David Bowie 1980/1987: Sight & Sound. At the dawn of the 1980s, Bowie wrapped up the innovative Berlin trilogy of records and released what some consider his last classic album, Scary Monsters.
That is where this new collection begins including the Scary Monsters standouts "Fashion", "Ashes to Ashes", "Up the Hill Backwards" and the title track.
Bowie took a calculated stab at the pop mainstream with co-producer Nile Rodgers on 1983's Let's Dance. The album was a massive hit, spurned by the incredibly catchy (and included in the compilation) "Modern Love", "China Girl", "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" and the title track.
Nobody could have been a better fit for music video consumption than Bowie and his quirky videos contributed greatly to his success. Sight & Sound includes an extra DVD with 15 videos that range in degrees of quality and intelligent clarity. The continent of Asia, as a whole, should be slightly unnerved by the politically incorrect video for "China Girl". Never again will you see an English gent make "Chinese eyes" as a loving tribute to his woman.
Bowie took the next year to release a poor carbon copy of Let's Dance with Tonight. Only "Loving the Alien" and "Blue Jean" made the cut for Sight & Sound. "Time Will Crawl" and "Day-In Day-Out" come from 1987's Never Let Me Down.
A few soundtrack cuts round out Sight & Sound but they are nothing to be worked up over. This compilation seems incredibly unnecessary considering the truly remarkable songs are on other compilations that pull from his entire career. If the '70s never existed this would be a fantastic collection. Bowie's whole career has been too good to pare down into just 7 years. Particularly not seven of his best years.
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David Bowie - The Best of David Bowie 1980/1987: Sight & Sound
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