David Bowie - Night and Day (1977)

David Bowie had made the trip to Berlin in late 1976. Eager to make connections and draw inspiration from the burgeoning German culture, Bowie, and his good friends Iggy Pop and Brian Eno, took many trips around the city wanting to find out what Berlin got what America don't. They found their answer in krautrock, a broad genre of German experimental rock, careened by Tangerine Dream, Neu!, and Kraftwerk. Bowie had first heard the of the genre when the Beatles' own Station to Station was described as such. He knew it was the natural next step in his musical direction, and he decided to climb the next rung of his ladder of musical excellence.

Or at least that would've happened immediately if Bowie hadn't gotten caught up producing Iggy Pop's debut record, The Idiot. Similarly krautrock/art rock, the album was divisive, being a major sound change for the former Stooge. This put Bowie's label, RCA, into a panic of if Bowie's eventually next solo album would sound the same. RCA would physically block any releases made by Bowie during this time. On the bright side, this allowed Bowie to continue to gather influences. When he finally decided to start recording his own music, he once again got sidetracked by producing Iggy Pop's second album, Lust for Life, which would end up doing better than his debut. By the time RCA discontinued the boycott of Bowie's "experimental" music, it was now September, and they released his first post-Beatles album on October 14, 1977.

The one thing people noticed immediately was his singing, or a lack thereof. The album was composed entirely of electronic soundscapes, nothing that any Bowie or Beatles fan had heard before. On top of that, Bowie released no singles to promote the album, leaving it almost entirely drowned in mystery to the average buyer. It would later receive mostly positive reviews, with many diehard Bowie fans considering it a favorite.

DAVID BOWIE - NIGHT AND DAY

Released: 14 October 1977

Genre: Ambient, progressive electronic, art rock, space ambient, electronic

Producer: David Bowie, Tony Visconti

Side A

V-2 Schneider

A New Career in a New Town

Abjulmajid

Art Decade

The Weeping Wall

Side B

Sense of Doubt

Moss Garden

Neukoln

Subterraneans

But Some Are...

Track list sources:

All tracks are sourced from Low and "Heroes", with the exception of "Some Are" and "Abdulmajid" which are sourced from the 1991 reissues of the two albums respectively.

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