Seemingly having gotten his experimental artistic ambitions out of his system after recording the critically acclaimed \u201cBerlin Trilogy\u201d of albums, Low<\/i>, Heroes<\/i>, and Lodger<\/i>, David Bowie once again shifted musical direction with his 1980 release, Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Although it\u2019s intentionally more commercial-sounding in nature, it would be a mistake to label Scary Monsters<\/i> as a pop record, for there is strong current of melodic eccentricity that flows throughout the album, likely a residual influence from the Stylistically, Scary Monsters<\/i> is reflective, finding Unfortunately, while the music throughout the album is consistently interesting due to the presence of most of the expert musicians involved in the last few Bowie albums, with the exception of Brian Eno (even Robert Fripp once again turned up to lay down his typically head-scratching robotic guitar riffs), little of the rest of the material reaches the lofty heights reached on \u201cAshes To Ashes.\u201d Indeed, there are even some notable misfires. <\/p>\n Some of these songs suffer from lazy songwriting. \u201cTeenage Wildlife,\u201d for example, is a blatant copy of \u201cHeroes,\u201d and considering that it\u2019s also seven minutes long, it\u2019s an utterly pointless exercise that drags on needlessly. The title track begins in fine form with great guitar work and serviceable verses, but the monotonous, hookless chorus arrives with zero impact. Talk about disappointing \u2013 the songwriting couldn\u2019t have been any lazier.<\/p>\n Then you have tracks like \u201cIt\u2019s No Game, Part 1,\u201d once again containing very inspired, cutting-edge (for the time) new wave rock musicianship, but sufferng greatly from abrasive, downright annoying vocals and piercing screams by Bowie as well as a really irritating, distracting spoken-word element by some Japanese woman. Another aimless, somewhat ugly vocal reminiscent of Bowie\u2019s tendencies to over-sing in the early 70\u2019s makes the otherwise gritty \u201cScream Like A Baby\u201d a chore to listen to, though I suppose his approach fits the nightmarish tone.<\/p>\n So, is Scary Monsters<\/i> David Bowie\u2019s last great album, as is often claimed? Obviously that\u2019s debatable, and while it\u2019s weaker than quite a few of the ones that came before, it nonetheless provides an engaging listen and contains a lot of interesting material.\u00a0 That material may not always be executed in the most ideal manner, but it\u2019s delightfully quirky at all times and ends the dramatic decade that defined his persona competently enough. It is unquestionably however a