Product Description

Though he continued to evolve throughout his career, Bowie's post-SCARY MONSTERS output was markedly less stellar than his acclaimed '70s work. LET'S DANCE, however, is arguably his most memorable '80s recording. It didn't hurt that he reached out to some talented friends, like Stevie Ray Vaughan (who makes his recorded debut here as lead guitarist) and co-writers Iggy Pop ("China Girl") and Peter Godwin (of "Imagesof Heaven" fame, who helps out on "Criminal World".) Ultimately, though, it's Bowie's unique vision that makes LET'S DANCE a success. His funky, synth-driven avant-pop romps are shot through with a romance and poignancy that sets them apart from much of his later work. "Modern Love", for example, manages to be irresistibly catchy and ostensibly upbeat whiledepicting alienation and unfulfilled desires.

Track Listing

1. Modern Love
2. China Girl
3. Let's Dance
4. Without You
5. Ricochet
6. Criminal World
7. Cat People (Putting Out Fire)
8. Shake It

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7003 in Music
• Released on: 1999-09-20
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

Amazon.co.uk Review
When Bowie returned to music-making after an unprecedented three year break, looking tanned, healthy and suited for the first time in his career, it was with this relatively clean-cut album to match. Although featuring another definite new direction, with co-producer Nile Rodgers of Chic helping produce a stylish post-disco dance sound, the Let's Dance is a mixed bag. Much of the album's success was due to its three danceable hit singles: "China Girl", a sensuous Bowie/Iggy Pop collaboration already recorded by the latter, the distinctive "Modern Love" and the funky title track. However, most of the rest of the album is bland and vapid, marking the start of a period of serious decline in Bowie's songwriting skills. A cover of Metro's "Criminal World" and "Cat People" are the only two other strong tracks, although the latter--previously released as a single in 1982--is not a patch on the original version. The re-release of Let's Dance includes the Bowie/Queen collaboration "Under Pressure". Although far from a highlight of the work of either of the artists involved, it is nevertheless a welcome addition for completists.--James Swift

Customer Reviews

Let's Dance: What Ed thinks
I like this (but still only worth 3*). Revisiting Let's Dance after a long time, it is not as completely bad as some of the reviews may suggest. Don't get me wrong, it is no classic as a whole, but it has good singles fodder in the title track, Modern Love and a reworking of the Iggy tune 'China Girl' (incidentally, I prefer the Ig's version, which appeared on Lust For Life in 1977; but that's another story...). Also included is the worldwide #1 duet with Queen, Under Pressure, which has one of the all time top bass lines, a bass line so good that you can't believe it took til 1981 for them to come up with it. To dismiss the other tracks on this as simple 'filler' is doing them something of a disservice. I find them 'of their time' (ie, the end of disco): I turn the volume up for 'Shake It' and 'Without You', which on its original release in 1983 I did not care for, but now, as familiar as I am with the singles on this, I find them strangely refreshing. Not the best Bowie album by a long way, but easily the best post-RCA product that goes someway to plotting the descent from Scary Monsters to the monsters that came later on in the '80s.

Nostalgic for some, worthy of investigation for newcomers!
Yes, this is very different Bowie to what had come before. Personally, I had quite a dislike to most 80's music, having lived through that decade investigating '60's music instead!

However, nostalgia does change things, and I have recently bought this remastered album on the strength of hearing more eighties tunes on the excellent BBC Ashes to Ashes time traveller cop series and actually liking hearing them. The recent Feeling album , Join With Us, also has a track called Won't Go Away on, which is a direct lift / tribute to Modern Love, again prompting the purchase.

This is a really enjoyable album - as others have said, 4 wonderful songs on, and some others not at all bad. I wouldn't say they're fillers - I really like Richochet too. Maybe get it for under a fiver and you would certainly be quids in!

This Bowie offering is still much better than Tin Machine output - get it in perspective please!!

The beginning of the end, but still a good album....
Rating: 6.5/10

Best tracks: "China Girl", "Without You", "Let's Dance", "Modern Love".

Let's Dance finally appeared in 1983 after the longest hiatus Bowie fans had to endure to date; in the seventies, he was practically delivering album after album, year after year, each one a classic of its own kind. However, there was a whopping three-year wait after Scary Monsters, only alleviated by one classic single (`Under Pressure'), some soundtrack work and a few film appearances. I doubt anyone would have expected Bowie to return the way he did; true, Bowie had been a star in the past, as he'd made it big in the UK during the Ziggy/Aladdin Sane period, and in the US with Young Americans and Station to Station, but for the first time he became a fully-fledged SUPERSTAR, with a blockbusting album to accompany. Now, Let's Dance can be harshly dismissed as the beginning of the end, as it was his weakest album since The Man Who Sold the World, while its populist stance paved the way for his worst ever musical period. Yet as work on it's own, it's a pretty good pop record, and with its combination of Nile Rodgers' super-slick production with Stevie Ray Vaughan's distinctive blues-guitar sound, it proved he wasn't quite ready to stop trying out new things. However, Bowie's step into the mainstream meant a sacrifice of personality, edge and what made him such a thrilling artist for ten or so years.

The catchy "Modern Love" kicks off the album in strong style; this is unashamed pop, more pop than anything Bowie had ever done; more seemingly determined to hit the top of the charts, which is no bad thing if it's a great song, and luckily it is. In fact, the first side of Let's Dance is excellent; obviously not as good as his best seventies work, but a refreshing, new, stylish and exciting Bowie sound all the same. The terrific "China Girl" is probably the best thing here, and an absolutely sterling example of how to do a great cover version. The original was written by Bowie and Iggy Pop and featured on the latter's 1977 album The Idiot. That version was a searing, intense, beautiful and very powerful classic, while Bowie cranks up the pop, throws in loads of new unbeatable hooks (the opening guitar line, the `uh-oh-oh-ohhh...little China Girl' vocal refrain, the memorable bass line), and is given the best super-smooth, super-funky Nile Rodgers production in town. The sign of a great cover version is that it becomes all its own, to the point where both versions can stand proud against each other. I love both versions of "China Girl", they both work in different ways, beautifully so. The huge, huge hit that was the title track is featured here in what I presume is its 12" version, which is all very good indeed, as this song's got such a fantastic hook that I don't mind it going on for over seven minutes. There's a very good case for this being the last truly great Bowie single. The first side ends on a deliciously mellow, moonlit note with the underrated `Without You", which features some lovely Bowie vocals and some cool guitar.

Unfortunately, the second side doesn't work very well at all; it's as though all the best shots were fired on the first side, making Let's Dance a work that kicks off with a bang but ends with a whimper. 'Ricochet' attempts experimentation, but aside from great sounding production, it's all a bit of a mess. The reworking of `Cat People' is okay, but the original single is better, while `Shake It' is a total throwaway, and throwaways on albums that are only eight songs longer are simply not allowed. Still, `Criminal World' has a fantastic guitar section in the middle, and saves the latter half of this album from being totally redundant. After this, there was the poor Tonight album, the guilty pleasures of Labyrinth, Glass Spider, Tin Machine and lots of very bad hairstyle decision. True, plenty of the afore-mentioned isn't quite as horrendous as you'd believe, but it was clear that Bowie's glory days were well and truly over. Still, at least Let's Dance proposed the idea of Bowie as Pop Star, and for a while, that wasn't a bad thing at all.