Earthling (album)

Earthling
Studio album by David Bowie
Released 3 February 1997 (1997-02-03)
Recorded March – August 1996
Studio
Genre
Length 48:57
Label Virgin (US) BMG, RCA (UK)
Producer
David Bowie chronology
Outside
(1995)		 Earthling
(1997)		 Hours
(1999)
Singles from Earthling
  1. "Telling Lies"
    Released: November 1996
  2. "Little Wonder"
    Released: January 1997
  3. "Dead Man Walking"
    Released: May 1997
  4. "I'm Afraid of Americans"
    Released: October 1997
  5. "Seven Years In Tibet"
    Released: January 1998

Earthling (stylised as EART HL I NG) is the twentieth studio album by David Bowie released in February 1997 via Virgin Records, later reissued on BMG Records. The album showcases an electronica-influenced sound partly inspired by the industrial and drum and bass culture of the 1990s.[6] This was the first album Bowie self-produced since his 1974 album Diamond Dogs.[7] Shortly after the release of this album, Bowie received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[8]

Album background and development

David Bowie returned to the studio five days after finishing up his tour for his previous album, Outside. Bowie said "I really thought it would be great if we could do a photo, almost a sonic photograph of what we were like at that time. So, Reeves [Gabrels] and I started writing immediately after we finished on the road."[9] Despite going into the studio with no material ready,[10] the album took only 2 1/2 weeks to record[9] (typical for a Bowie album).[11] Bowie compared this album with his 1980 album Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), saying "I think there's quite a link between Scary Monsters and this album, to a certain extent. Certainly, the same intensity of aggression."[12] Bowie described the album as an effort "to produce some really dynamic, aggressive-sounding material."[9]

On the production of the drum 'n bass sound of the album, Bowie had this to say:

Unlike most drum and bass things, we didn't just take parts from other people's records and sample them. On the snare drum stuff, Zac [Alford] went away and did his own loops and worked out all kinds of strange timings and rhythms. Then we speeded those up to your regular 160 beats per minute. That's very much how we treat the album. We kept all sampling in-house and created our own soundscape in a way.[9]

Earthling was the first Bowie album recorded entirely digitally, "entirely on hard disk."[6] During interviews promoting the album, Bowie stated "I did nearly everything on the guitar. A lot of screechy-scrawly stuff was done on saxophone, then transferred to sampler, and then distorted and worked on on the synthesizer."[12]

Bowie and Gabrels used a technique they'd started while working on Bowie's previous album Outside, where they'd transfer bits of guitar to a sampling keyboard and construct riffs from those pieces. "It's real guitar," said Bowie, "but constructed in a synthetic way. But Brian Eno got in the way - in the nicest possible way - so we didn't get to that until this album. We want to go further with that, because it's a very exciting idea."[6] Bowie considered this album, along with its predecessor, to be a "textural diary" of what the last few years of the millennium felt like.[13]

Bowie's and Gabrels' musical influences at the time had a big impact on the sound of the album: Bowie was influenced by a "euro" sound and bands like Prodigy, while Gabrels was still into the American industrial sound and bands like Underworld.[6]

Bowie said that he approached the production of this album similarly to how he approached Young Americans:

[For Young Americans,] I wanted to work within the Philadelphia soul experience, and the only way that I knew was to bring what's thoroughly European about me to this intrinsically black American format. And this [album was] not a dissimilar situation. It was the hybridizing of the European and the American sensibilities, and for me, that's exciting. That's what I do best. I'm a synthesist.[14]

Bowie summed up the meaning of the songs on the album by saying:

I guess the common ground with all the songs is this abiding need in me to vacillate between atheism or a kind of gnosticism. I keep going backwards and forwards between the two things, because they mean a lot in my life. I mean, the church doesn't enter into my writing, or my thought; I have no empathy with any organised religions. What I need is to find a balance, spiritually, with the way I live and my demise. And that period of time - from today until my demise - is the only thing that fascinates me.[1]

The album's cover features a photograph of Bowie wearing a Union Jack-based coat designed by Alexander McQueen, who had previously designed stage costumes for Bowie and his band.[15] Before the album was released, Bowie considered using Earthlings (plural) for the album's title.[16]

Song development

Bowie and the band continued their experimental approach to making music, first used in the Berlin Trilogy: for the track "Looking for Satellites", Bowie told guitarist Gabrels that he "only wanted him to play on one string at a time. ... He was hemmed in by the chord until it changed, and that made his run-up most unorthodox." The guitar riff used for the track "Dead Man Walking" was based on a pattern Jimmy Page (of Led Zeppelin) had played for Bowie back in the '60s. According to Gabrels, part of the bass track on "Little Wonder" was a recording of bassist Gail Ann Dorsey as she tried to get a sound from her pedalboard while not knowing she was being recorded. For "Battle for Britain", Bowie challenged Mike Garson to play based on "the idea from a piece of Stravinsky wrote called "Ragtime for Eleven Instruments". I said 'If you could kind of get into the character of that...' and he did it immediately."[12]

"Little Wonder" was one of the first tracks Bowie and Gabrels wrote for the album,[12] and Bowie called writing the track a "ridiculous" exercise in pure stream of consciousness. "I just picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and made a line for each of the dwarves' names. And that's the song [laughs]. And then I ran out of dwarves' names, so there's new dwarves in it like 'Stinky'."[10]

"I'm Afraid of Americans" was an unused track from the Outside sessions: Bowie said "That was something that Eno and I put together, and I just didn't feel it fit Outside, so it didn't go on it. It just got left behind. So then we took just the embryo of it, and restructured it with this band."[12]

Bowie re-recorded Tin Machine's song "Baby Universal" for inclusion on Earthling. Bowie said "I thought [it] was a really good song and I don't think it got heard. I didn't really want that to happen to it, so I put in on this album. I really like this. I think this version is very good."[7] "Baby Universal" was ultimately not included on the final release of Earthling.

Album reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[5]
Chicago Tribune[17]
Robert Christgau[18]
Rolling Stone[19]
Pitchfork Media(8/10)[20]
Entertainment WeeklyA[3]

Though not a major commercial success, the album scored a number of positive reviews[9] with one reviewer calling it a "richly textured" "return to excellence"[21] and another saying the album represented "some of his [Bowie's] finest music in a decade".[17] In the 1998 Grammy awards Earthling was nominated for Best Alternative Music Performance and the song "Dead Man Walking" was nominated for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. The album performed better than its highly experimental predecessor, Outside, reaching number 6 in the UK charts and number 39 in the US.[22] Rolling Stone magazine praised the album, noting that exposure to Nine Inch Nails on Bowie's previous tour had apparently influenced him on this album, and they called it "his best since 1980s Scary Monsters."[23] The album scored a minor hit with a Trent Reznor remix of "I'm Afraid of Americans".

Remixes and videos

Bowie's enthusiasm for remixing reached its peak when this album was released and the numerous singles from it were also issued to clubs, as well as online: three versions of "Telling Lies" were released on Bowie's official website months prior to the album's release, constituting the first ever downloadable single by a major artist.[24] "Little Wonder" was the album's biggest hit, reaching number 14 in the UK.

Three more singles — "Dead Man Walking", "Seven Years in Tibet", and "I'm Afraid of Americans" (with participation of Trent Reznor) — did not fare so well, although the latter did remain in the U.S. charts for 16 weeks, peaking at number 66.[22]

The music videos for Earthling were elaborate. Artist and director Floria Sigismondi directed the short films for "Little Wonder" and "Dead Man Walking", while Dom and Nic directed "I'm Afraid of Americans", the latter being nominated for an MTV Video Music Award. A video was also made for "Seven Years in Tibet", composed largely of concert footage.

Live performances

Bowie took songs from this album on the road in September 1996, performing four US east coast "club" shows, including one at the Roseland Ballroom in New York, to positive reviews. Prior to taking the stage for the shows, Bowie would play his new song ("Telling Lies") over the loudspeaker, but as the single was only available for download over the Internet, most fans did not recognize the song. The set list for these shows was similar to the set list he'd use during the upcoming 1997 Earthling Tour.[25][26]

On 9 January 1997, the day after he turned 50, Bowie held a 50th birthday concert for himself, performing tracks off the album, as well as a selection of songs from his back catalogue. He played to nearly 15,000 fans at New York's Madison Square Garden.[27] Bowie was joined onstage by artists including Billy Corgan, Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Frank Black, Robert Smith and Lou Reed, to perform many of his songs.[27] Other non-performing guests included Beck, Moby, Julian Schnabel, Prince, Charlie Sexton, Fred Schneider, Christopher Walken, Matt Dillon and Bowie's wife Iman. Artist Tony Oursler designed some of the artwork for the video backdrop that played behind the band onstage. The event was recorded for a pay-per-view special commemorating the event,[28][29] and a portion of the proceeds from the event were donated to the charity Save the Children.[27]

At the Phoenix Festival in 1997, Bowie and his band played in the Radio 1 Dance tent as 'Tao Jones Index'. They performed in darkness with dry ice and strobe lights. Tao Jones Index was a pun based on Bowie's real name, David Jones, and the 1997 Bowie Bond issue (Tao is pronounced "Dow", as in Dow Jones Index from the US stock market).[30]

Bowie went back on the road in support of this album, with his Earthling Tour taking place between May 1997 and the end of the year.[9]

Some songs from the album's various live performances were released on the promotional-only album Earthling in the City (1997).

Track listing

All lyrics written by David Bowie.
All music composed by Bowie, Reeves Gabrels and Mark Plati, except Track 4, 5 and 9 by Bowie and Gabrels, Track 6 by Bowie, Track 8 by Bowie and Brian Eno.

  1. "Little Wonder" – 6:02
  2. "Looking for Satellites" – 5:21
  3. "Battle for Britain (The Letter)" – 4:48
  4. "Seven Years in Tibet" – 6:22
  5. "Dead Man Walking" – 6:50
  6. "Telling Lies" – 4:49
  7. "The Last Thing You Should Do" – 4:57
  8. "I'm Afraid of Americans" – 5:00
  9. "Law (Earthlings on Fire)" – 4:48
Bonus tracks on 2004 reissue
Bonus disc for 2005 Digibook expanded edition
  1. "Little Wonder" (Censored Video Edit)
  2. "Little Wonder" (Junior Vasquez Club Mix)
  3. "Little Wonder" (Danny Saber Dance Mix)
  4. "Seven Years in Tibet" (Mandarin version) (Chinese: 剎那天地; literally: "A Fleeting Moment") (Mandarin lyric interpretation: Lin Xi; project concept: Elvin Wong)
  5. "Dead Man Walking" (Moby Mix 1)"
  6. "Dead Man Walking" (Moby Mix 2 US Promo 12")
  7. "Telling Lies" (Feelgood Mix)
  8. "Telling Lies" (Paradox Mix)
  9. "I'm Afraid of Americans" (Showgirls Soundtrack Version)
  10. "I'm Afraid of Americans" (Nine Inch Nails V1 Mix)
  11. "I'm Afraid of Americans" (Nine Inch Nails V1 Clean Edit)
  12. "V-2 Schneider" (Tao Jones Index) (live at Paradiso, Amsterdam in June 1997)
  13. "Pallas Athena" (Tao Jones Index) (live at Paradiso, Amsterdam in June 1997)

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1997) Position
Australian ARIA Albums Chart[33] 45
Austrian Albums Chart[34] 15
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[35] 13
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[36] 5
Canadian RPM Albums Chart[37] 21
Dutch Mega Albums Chart[38] 19
Finnish Albums Chart[39] 12
French SNEP Albums Chart[40] 9
German Media Control Albums Chart[41] 11
Italian Albums Chart[42] 14
Japanese Oricon Albums Chart[43] 20
New Zealand Albums Chart[44] 15
Norwegian Albums Chart[45] 13
Spanish Albums Chart[46] 40
Swedish Albums Chart[47] 5
Swiss Albums Chart[48] 20
UK Albums Chart[49] 6
United States Billboard 200[50] 39

Year-end charts

Chart (1997) Position
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[51] 100
Italian Albums Chart[42] 121

Certifications

Region Certification
Japan (RIAJ)[52] Gold
United Kingdom (BPI)[53] Silver

References

  1. 1 2 Cavanagh, David (February 1997), "ChangesFiftyBowie", Q magazine: 52–59
  2. ↑ Brown, Mick (14 December 1996), "A Star Comes Back to Earth After a Lifetime of Identity Crisis", The Daily Telegraph, retrieved 2 August 2013
  3. 1 2 Farber, Jim. "Review: Greetings, "Earthling"". Entertainment Weekly (Time, Inc) (14 February 1997): 59.
  4. ↑ Lariviere, Aaron (22 March 2013). "David Bowie Albums From Worst To Best: Earthling". Stereogum. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Review: Earthling – David Bowie". Allmusic. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Gore, Joe (June 1997), "Changes 2.1", Guitar Player: 45–58
  7. 1 2 Haefeli, Mark (1996), Music Video Shoot, retrieved 2 August 2013
  8. ↑ David Bowie Launches New Album 'earthling' With Network Television Appearances, A Pay-per-view Concert, A National Radio Broadcast, And Star On Hollywood Blvd's Walk Of Fame, 30 January 1997, retrieved 5 July 2013
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Laban, Linda (13 February 1997), "Bowie Hits a Fab 50", The Seattle Times: E3
  10. 1 2 Kuipers, Dean (March 1997), "David Bowie: Is There Life on Earth?", Raygun magazine (44)
  11. ↑ Isler, Scott (August 1987), "David Bowie Opens Up - A Little", Musician (106): 60–73
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 "David Bowie: The FI Interview" by J.D. Considine, Fi magazine, October 1997, pp 36-41
  13. ↑ Paul, George A. (1995), "Bowie Outside Looking In", Axcess magazine 3 (5): 60–62
  14. ↑ Pond, Steve (March 1997), "Beyond Bowie", Live! magazine 2 (2)
  15. ↑ Wilkinson, Peter (22 March 2013), "Bowie exhibition charts life of pop's ultimate Starman", CNN, retrieved 10 April 2013
  16. ↑ David Bowie- Little Wonder (Pre-Earthling Live Version at D.C. 1996) on YouTube
  17. 1 2 Kot, Greg (14 February 1997), "David Bowie Earthling (Virgin)", Chicago Tribune, retrieved 28 August 2013
  18. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Review: Earthling (Virgin, 1997)". Retrieved 3 August 2009.
  19. ↑ Kemp, Mark. "Review: Earthling – David Bowie". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  20. ↑ Pitchfork Media review
  21. ↑ Laban, Linda (13 February 1997), "Earthling: Substance wins over fashion", The Seattle Times (Seattle, WA), p. E3
  22. 1 2 Buckley, David (2000) [1999]. Strange Fascination – David Bowie: The Definitive Story. London: Virgin. pp. 517–527, pp.624–625. ISBN 0-7535-0457-X.
  23. ↑ Kemp, Mark (20 February 1997), "Earthling Review", Rolling Stone magazine (754): 65–66
  24. ↑ Pegg, Nicholas (2004) [2000]. The Complete David Bowie. London: Reynolds & Hearn. ISBN 1-903111-73-0.
  25. ↑ Wiederhorn, Jon (31 October 1996), "David Bowie Performance Review", Rolling Stone magazine (746): 33–34
  26. ↑ Strauss, Neil (16 September 1996), "David Bowie, Without All the Gadgetry", New York Times, retrieved 29 October 2013
  27. 1 2 3 Schneider, Tresa (28 February 1997), "David Bowie: Spectacular and Acclaimed 50th Birthday Concert to Air as a Television Pay Per View Event", MSOPR.COM, retrieved 18 November 2013
  28. ↑ Kemp, Mark (6 March 1997), "All The Young Dudes", Rolling Stone magazine (755): 24
  29. ↑ Earthling David Bowie Celebrates 50th Birthday With Triumphant Sold-out Concert At Madison Square Garden Before 14,500 Fans, 23 January 1997, retrieved 5 July 2013
  30. ↑ Tao Jones Index
  31. ↑ Altenburg, Ruud. "Illustrated DB Discography (Earthling album)". Retrieved 11 May 2011.
  32. ↑ Altenburg, Ruud. "Illustrated DB Discography (The Radio Edits promo CD)". Retrieved 11 May 2011.
  33. ↑ "australian-charts.com David Bowie – Earthling" (ASP). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  34. ↑ "David Bowie – Earthling – austriancharts.at" (ASP). Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  35. ↑ "ultratop.be — David Bowie – Earthling" (ASP). ultratop.be/nl, Hung Medien (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  36. ↑ "ultratop.be — David Bowie – Earthling" (ASP). ultratop.be/fr,, Hung Medien (in French). Ultratop. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  37. ↑ "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 64, No. 25, February 24, 1997" (PHP). RPM. 4 February 1997. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  38. ↑ "dutchcharts.nl David Bowie – Earthling" (ASP). dutchcharts.nl. MegaCharts. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  39. ↑ "finnishcharts.com RDavid Bowie – Earthling" (ASP). Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  40. ↑ "lescharts.com David Bowie – Earthling" (ASP). lescharts.com (in French). SNEP. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  41. ↑ "Album Search: David Bowie – Earthling" (ASP) (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  42. 1 2 "Hit Parade Italia – Gli album più venduti del 1997" (in Italian). hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  43. ↑ デヴィッド・ボウイ-リリース-ORICON STYLE-ミュージック "Highest position and charting weeks of Earthling by David Bowie" Check |url= value (help). oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). Oricon Style. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  44. ↑ "charts.org.nz David Bowie – Earthling" (ASP). Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  45. ↑ "norwegiancharts.com David Bowie – Earthling" (ASP). Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  46. ↑ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  47. ↑ "swedishcharts.com David Bowie – Earthling" (ASP). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  48. ↑ "David Bowie – Earthling – hitparade.ch" (ASP). Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  49. ↑ "David Bowie > Artists > Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  50. ↑ "allmusic ((( Earthling > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". allmusic.com. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  51. ↑ "Rapports annuels 1997". Ultratop (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  52. ↑ "RIAJ > The Record > July 1999 > Certified Awards (May 1999)" (PDF). Recording Industry Association of Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  53. ↑ "British album certifications – David Bowie – Earthling". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 10 October 2012. Enter Earthling in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Silver in the field By Award. Click Search

External links

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