Look Back in Anger (song)
| "Look Back in Anger" | ||||||||||
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| Single by David Bowie | ||||||||||
| from the album Lodger | ||||||||||
| Released | 20 August 1979 (US) | |||||||||
| Format | 7" single | |||||||||
| Recorded | Mountain Studios, Montreux, September 1978; The Record Plant, New York, March 1979 | |||||||||
| Genre | Rock | |||||||||
| Length | 3:08 | |||||||||
| Label | RCA Records PB 11724 (US) |
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| Producer | David Bowie, Tony Visconti | |||||||||
| David Bowie singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"Look Back in Anger" is a song written by David Bowie and Brian Eno for the album Lodger (1979). It concerns "a tatty 'Angel Of Death'",[1] and features a guitar solo by Carlos Alomar.
RCA Records was unsure if America was ready for the sexual androgyny of "Boys Keep Swinging",[2] the lead-off single from Lodger in most territories, and "Look Back in Anger" was issued instead.[3] The B-side was another track from Lodger called "Repetition", a story of domestic violence. The single failed to chart.
"Look Back in Anger" has a mixed reputation among Bowie commentators. NME critics Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray have described it as "probably the low point" of the album,[1] while Nicholas Pegg considers it "one of Lodger's dramatic highlights".[3]
Beyond the shared title, the song has nothing to do with the John Osborne play Look Back in Anger.
The song has been performed on the 1983/84 "Serious Moonlight" Tour and was reworked in the mid-90s as a heavy rock song for the "Outside" and "Earthling" tours.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
- "Look Back in Anger" (David Bowie, Brian Eno) – 3:08
- "Repetition" (Bowie) – 2:59
[edit] Production credits
- Producers:
- Musicians:
- David Bowie: Vocals, Guitar, Backing vocals
- Dennis Davis: Percussion
- George Murray: Bass
- Carlos Alomar: Guitar
- Sean Mayes: Piano
- Brian Eno: Synthesizer, Horse trumpet, Eroica horn
- Tony Visconti: Backing vocals
[edit] Music video
David Mallet directed a music video for the song, featuring Bowie in an artist's studio. The scenario was based on the conclusion of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, as a self-portrait of the protagonist grows more handsome while he himself physically decays.[4]
[edit] Other releases
- It appeared on the following compilations:
- Chameleon (Australia/New Zealand 1979)
- Christiane F. soundtrack (1981)
- Golden Years (1983)
- Sound and Vision (1989)
- The Singles Collection (1993)
- The Best of 1974/1979 (1998)
- In 1988 Bowie recorded a "new, brutal version of the song" with Reeves Gabrels on guitar and Erdal Kizilcay on bass and drums; it was the first arrangement Bowie and Gabrels collaborated on, taking place shortly before the formation of the band Tin Machine.[5] The recording was issued as a bonus track on the Rykodisc CD release of Lodger in 1991.
[edit] Cover versions
- Kaligare - .2 Contamination: A Tribute to David Bowie (2006)
- Swans of Avon - The Dark Side of David Bowie: A Tribute to David Bowie (1997)
- Tender Fury - Thoughts of Yesterday (1992)
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). Bowie: An Illustrated Record: p.106
- ^ Nicholas Pegg (2000). The Complete David Bowie: p.43
- ^ a b Nicholas Pegg (2000). Ibid: p.131
- ^ David Buckley (1999). Strange Fascination - David Bowie: The Definitive Story: p.355
- ^ David Buckley (1999). Ibid: pp.449-450
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