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Earthling (album)

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Untitled
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Piero Scaruffi(6.5/10)[2]
Robert Christgau(dud)[3]
Rolling Stone[4]
Select[5]

Earthling is an album by David Bowie released in February 1997 via BMG. The album showcases an electronica-influenced sound partly inspired by the Industrial culture of the 1990s.

Background

Though not a major commercial success, the album scored a number of positive reviews and scored a minor hit with a Trent Reznor remix of "I'm Afraid of Americans". 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 featured elements not common to dance electronica, such as live acoustic and electric guitar, jazzy live piano, and song structures more common to pop-rock than techno. The album performed better than its highly experimental predecessor, Outside, reaching number 6 in the UK charts and number 39 in the US.[6]

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.[7] "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" — did not fare so well, although the latter did remain in the U.S. charts for 16 weeks, peaking at number 66.[6]

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.

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).[8]

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
  • "I'm Afraid of Americans" first appeared in 1995 on the soundtrack for the movie Showgirls, in a version that was extremely rough compared to the Earthling recording.
Bonus tracks on 2004 reissue
  • "Little Wonder (Danny Saber Dance Mix)"
  • "I'm Afraid of Americans (Nine Inch Nails V1 Mix)"
  • "Dead Man Walking (Moby Mix 2 US Promo 12")"
  • "Telling Lies (Adam F Mix)" (This version is not on the Digibook Expanded Edition.)
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)" (The Mandarin title of this version translates as "A Fleeting Moment".)
  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)"
  13. "Pallas Athena (Tao Jones Index)"
  • Track 11 is mistakenly labeled as the V1 Edit. Apparently, it happens to be an edited album version, which previously only appeared on the 1997 promotional CD "The Radio Edits", alongside with the edits of "Seven Years in Tibet" (which was later released as a single) and a unique edit of "Looking for Satellites", which has never been released in any other form. Disc 1 in this edition contains a mastering error, since at the end of "Dead Man Walking", there are 36 seconds of silence before "Telling Lies" begins.[9][10]

Personnel

Production
Musicians

Chart performance

Album
Year Chart Position
1997 UK Albums Chart 6
1997 Billboard Pop Albums 39
1997 Norway 13

References

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Review: Earthling – David Bowie". Allmusic. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
  2. ^ Scaruffi, Piero. "Review: Earthling (1997)". scaruffi.com. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
  3. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Review: Earthling (Virgin, 1997)". Retrieved 3 August 2009.
  4. ^ Kemp, Mark. "Review: Earthling – David Bowie". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  5. ^ Harrison, Ian. "Review: David Bowie – Earthling, Sony". Select (March 1997). EMAP Metro: 101.
  6. ^ a b Buckley, David (2000) [1999]. Strange Fascination – David Bowie: The Definitive Story. London: Virgin. pp. 517–527, pp.624–625. ISBN 075350457X.
  7. ^ Pegg, Nicholas (2004) [2000]. The Complete David Bowie. London: Reynolds & Hearn. ISBN 1903111730.
  8. ^ Tao Jones Index
  9. ^ Altenburg, Ruud. "Illustrated DB Discography (Earthling album)". Retrieved 11 May 2011.
  10. ^ Altenburg, Ruud. "Illustrated DB Discography (The Radio Edits promo CD)". Retrieved 11 May 2011.
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