Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS & RELATED ARTICLES

Uncut JANUARY 2005 - by Rob Hughes

DAVID BOWIE: 1. Outside / EARTHLING / 'HOURS...'

The Dame's late-'90s period revisited, with three bonus discs of rarities.

Received wisdom declares that Bowie's critical comeback only began in earnest with 2002's Heathen. In truth, 1993's The Buddha Of Suburbia was a partial return to form, but 1. Outside (co-produced with Eno two years later, and despite its convoluted "art crime" narrative) was a densely textured, paranoiac record of immense scope, not least The Hearts Filthy Lesson and Thru' These Architects Eyes. Earthling (1997), often ignorantly dismissed as a junglist folly, contains some grippingly sublime moments (I'm Afraid Of Americans reeks of classic '70s Bowie). The 1999 follow-up '...Hours' found Bowie in belligerent fettle, standouts Something In The Air and Survive steeped in Low-like melancholia.