Everything about David Bowie's Berlin Trilogy: History, Release, and Greatest Hits

In the late '60s, David Bowie became a well-known figure in rock music and pioneerThe middle of the new decade brought the musician commercial success with albums considered to be commercially successful. The middle of the new decade brought the musician commercial success with albums considered important The first of these was a milestone in Bowie's work, which marked the development his style.

However, critics and David himself consider the end of the '70s to be the most fulfilling period of David's life, the one that gave the music world trilogy of the albums "Low", "Heroes" and "Lodger". About how they were created revolutionary Bowie's records, about their recording and the best The tracks will be discussed in this article.

Background and inspiration

Despite the success of "Yong Americans" and "Station to Station," the musician's well-being worsened with each passing day because of his substance use. For about two years, Bowie's addiction worsened, so the singer decided to leave the detrimental Los Angeles for Europe. The move to another country was made only after the end of the "Isolar Tour.", at a time when the musician changed his image again and received negative publicity for it.

The first impetus for the trilogy's initial album was to work on the musical setting of the film "The Man Who Fell to EarthIn which the musician was given the lead role. After David managed to record about six of compositions for the film, he was told that the works would be considered on an equal footing with the songs of other composers. After that, the director declined to include Bowie's compositions in the film because he needed the sound of of another format, and the tracks written by the vocalist were never released.

In 1976, David and the keyboard player of Roxy Music meet in a landmark way. Brian EnoThe singer's solo work was repeatedly inspired by Eno's work. Eno's influence on Low would later be noted by critics and singer biographers. Much of what the musicians listened to was reflected in their work on by all Berlin Trilogy albums, including German influences of electronic music and Krautrock.

Another basis for Bowie's new work was an album by his buddy Iggy Popp "The Idiot"recorded in Switzerland. Colleagues tried to abstract from addiction, so they decided to start joint work, on which David showed his production talents. Many of the ideas for Popp's record soon became album material "Low."which was the reason for critics to tacitly include Iggy's release as part of the trilogy.

Process of creation

The creation of the album "Low" began even before the musician moved to Berlin, and together with Bowie, Eno and Tony Visconti began to work, and their musical orientation, together with the singer's desire to make atypical record, helped create the base of experimental and art rock, ambient and electronic music by German artists. An important point was the creation of special atmosphere for the record. Location tracks was also one of the interesting points of creation: the first side had the classic short songs, and the second side had the long instrumental songs. This album was the cutting edge for all rock music in the late 70's, and despite the lack of advertising, it sold well.

HeroesThe recordings have, in the words of the participants, empowered the musicians and become a more positive version of "Low. Here you can see everything bigger The bias toward experimentalism and artistry, as well as the deliberate departure from guitar music. Among other things, "Heroes" was the only album of the trilogy, recorded entirely in Berlin. The slightly different sound of the record was influenced by Bowie's interest in new forms of art, as well as the singer's improved health. This time the release was promoted actively both by the label and by the musician himself.

Two years later, the final album of the trilogy is released. "Lodger.". Unlike the previous two, it was the forerunner of a new musical trend world music, as reggae and Middle Eastern motifs dominated most of the compositions, both textually and melodically. In many ways, this sound supported by Eno's innovative songwriting methods. The structure of the album has changed: now the musician is back to to the typical the arrangement of the tracks. The theme of the record also became important; the lyrics now had a non-fantastic character, but were addressed to perpetual motifs of art.

Top 5 Favorite Tracks

Favorite and most top David Bowie compositions from the Berlin Trilogy:

Sound and Vision

One of the best tracks from the "Low" album. At Eno's insistence, Bowie's voice does not appear in the song until two minutes after the start of the track, and this idea is designed to deceit expectations of the listeners. The important point is that this particular composition reflects internal the state of the singer at the time the recording was made, and the lyrics and the dense, avant-garde sound help to understand depth musician's feelings.

Warszawa

The melancholy of this track also conveys saturation this sense of David Bowie's soul. The song was named after the Polish capital after the musician's visit to it, and is fully reflecting Bowie's attitude to the history of this city. One feature worth noting is the basis of the track: the singer bought a recording of one of the local choirs and sang his part identical to theirs, thus creating a touching and at the same time aesthetic tune.

Heroes

Despite the lack of success in the early days after its release, this track has now become iconic and carries with it great significance. Thanks to his influence, the Berlin Wall was in fact destroyed, and this is the most main a sign of the success and greatness of the track. Impact Krautrock noted both Eno and Bowie, while admitting that they were inspired by the rhythmic feel of one of The Velvet Underground's songs.

V-2 Schneider

In this composition there is a clear influence of the godfather of electronic music Florian Schneider, co-founder of the legendary Kraftwerk. The technique of creating a melody connects to Bowie's sensual impulse and his uncomplicated The words, and the abundance of effects immerses you in a tense, and at the same time unreal atmosphere.

Boys Keep Swinging

One of the best compositions from the last trilogy album. It's an upbeat beat, ironic The lyrics and Bowie's parodic movements in the video for the song underscore what the musician is talking about. Here we can note the musician's particular playfulness with the theme masculinity in the moments of dressing up in drag costumes to perform the backing vocals. Also already in this composition you can see background to the musician's new image and album, to be released one year after the release of "Lodger.

What's the point?

In spite of ambiguous The first album of the trilogy was critically acclaimed, and to this day it remains one of the musician's most innovative works. More highly acclaimed was "Heroes," titled favorite of all the records released that year, and "Lodger" was received coldly and named the most weak Bowie's work after the release of the second record.

Many music critics agreed that artfully The record was actually the first of its kind to be compiled by Low, incorporating the best traditions of the new vision of the world and of art. In addition, the record was actually the first unconventional not only in the musician's work, but also in rock and pop music in general.

"Heroes" was. breakthrough not only creative, but also commercial, and "Lodger" was still in last place. After the release of all the albums conceived for the trilogy, Bowie called them his DNAand the critics confirmed epochality The recordings have a lot of sonic and structural ideas that are new to all music.

An influence that has not diminished to this day

The breakthrough of the late '70s is still considered by critics to be special a page in the life of the musician. The trilogy has been called the progenitor of synth-pop and industrial, and Iggy Popp's first album and record are considered the start of the genre post-punk and post-rock. They have gained iconic status with musicians who began their careers in the '90s in these very directions, such as Joy Division, The Cure, Arcade Fire and Gary Newman.

"Heroes" has become guide in music for Andy McCluskey, Vince Clarke, Ian Astbury, and John Lennon on his album Double Fantasy and the band U2. The third album was impressive for the Brit-pop current and the bands Oasis and Blur, who used elements of songs from the record in their works.

The trilogy had a great influence on the composer Philip GlassThe adaptation of pop music into academic music was the same as the adaptation of pop music into academic music. The adaptation of pop music into academic music was the same pioneeringAs with all of David Bowie's work, and in this, Glass is completely identical to his idol. There were ideas to create Third symphony, but the project could not be realized at first. Only a couple of years after David Bowie's death was Glass's work released.