Zeit! 77-79

With the ongoing interest in the solid "The Next Day" it comes as no surprise that the record label EMI determine to strike while the irons hot when it comes to all things Bowie by releasing a five CD box set entitled "Zeit! 77-79" covering that miraculous halcyon period badged loosely under the name of the "Berlin Trilogy". In addtion they add a copy of the 1978's live double rather tediously entitled "Stage". The price of the set in a five disc package comes in 50p cheaper than the current selling price of "The Next Day" on Amazon signalling a budget release with no bonus tracks, the approach of CDs all residing in a jewel case (rather tightly fitting in the box) with the original sleeves but no new remaster. They do however have the merit that "Stage" is the 2005 Tony Visconti remaster with "Stay" and "Be My Wife" added. Thankfully the running order is also corrected to reflect the order the songs were played at the actual gigs (the original release and subsequent CDs had a chronological running order). The other albums use the 1999 EMI remasters as their sound template. As for the "Berlin trilogy" substitute that label for another threesome the names of Bowie, Eno and Visconti and more accuracy can be achieved for these albums are "Team" Bowie at their magisterial and creative peak."LOW" 1977 - It is the collaboration on the album that counts. On "Low" not only did Brian Eno play keyboards on six of the eleven tracks and co-write "Warszawa," but he acted as the rigorous intellectual challenger to Bowie at the height of musical powers and craft having fled from the cocaine blitz of his years in Los Angeles. Visconti's sheer precision in terms of production duties does to some extent make any remastering exercise superfluous. "Low" stands today as an astounding musical intervention. As the BBC has rightly stated "without Low we would have no Joy Division, no Human League, no Cabaret Voltaire, and no Arcade Fire". It is one of those era defining albums which requires mandatory ownership for any self respecting music lover and a respectful wink to the great Guardian Angels of music. It is probably best to start from the icy shades of ambient soundscapes like the beautiful "Art decade", the tinkling melodic synths of "Weeping Wall" and then gravitate to the cool funk of the title track, the almost Tony Newley sounding hard rock of "Be my wife" and one of Bowie's best songs "Always crashing in the same car". This album is a veritable feast of modern sounds for modern days and easily one of the best of the latter part of a defining musical era.. Is it any surprise that the great composer Phillip Glass reconfigured its wonders in his own brilliant interpretation of constructing the Low Symphony?"HEROES" 1977 - This reviewer can still happily recall the shock of listening to this album a few months after falling in love with "Low" and sitting in in awe and rapture. John Lennon was quoted as saying just before his death in 1980 his ambition was to "do something as good as 'Heroes". Recorded with Eno at Hansa Tonstudio in what was then West Berlin this album succeeded, as much as any piece of music can, in capturing the chill of cold war tension of what then appeared to be the eternally divided German city and its huge granite wall of separation. Even more than "Low" it drew on the German innovators like Neu, Can and Kraftwerk but also drew in sounds of world music before it was invented such as the rare beauty of the Japanese sounding "Moss Garden". The magisterial title track inevitably is the key which unlocks the whole record, but soon your love for songs like the brilliant rock of "Joe the Lion" about performance artist Chris Burden and with Robert Fripp on fire on guitar grows exponentially. Add in the imposing grey darkness of "Sense of doubt" and the superb funk of "The Secret life of Arabia" and a masterpiece unfolds in front of your eyes."STAGE "1978 - This is David Bowie's second live album after 1974s "David live", recorded on the Isolar II world tour and capturing concerts from a number of large US cities. It sees the emergence of the ace ex-Frank Zappa sideman Adrian Belew on guitar who later filled Fripp's shoes in King Crimson. It contains great versions of "Station to Station" and a huge metallic funk version of "TVC15". "Low" and "Heroes" tracks are done proper justice but unsurprisingly none sound quite as good as the originals. The Dame hams it up on Brecht's "Alabama Song" although it sounds out of tune in parts and the inclusion of five crowd pleasing Ziggy tracks is ok but not essential. Nonetheless "Stage" is not the waste of space that many critics derided at the time and captures the Bowie stage act in all its wondrous flaws and brilliance."LODGER" 1979 - This album was largely written off by critics at the time. It was recorded not in Berlin but actually put together from sessions in September 1978 at Mountain Studios, Montreux, Switzerland and March 1979 at Record Plant Studios, New York City. It is for many Bowie aficionado's one of his most underrated album and has over time grown to be recognised as a truly great album. During the period Eno has just returned from producing Talking Heads and according to one critic "Lodger" is "the record where David most wholeheartedly adopted Brian's oblique strategies and embraced errors and random events". The glam single "Boys keep swinging" is fine, but what sucks you into "Lodger" is the strength of songs that grow on repeated listens. The Talking Heads sound is all over the brilliant "Red Sails", the almost spoken "African night flight" is great fun, while the pounding "Look back in anger" is proof that Bowie rocks as good as the best. Edging all others is the standout "Repetition' later to be covered by the Au Pairs and which owes a clear debt to the Velvets. While "Lodger" is not as good as Low or Heroes there is no shame in this for in its own right it stands as a brilliant album in the Bowie canon.If David Bowie had prematurely passed away after the period 1977-79 he would be hailed as greatest rock innovator of modern times. Like many great artists he blotted his copybook in the 1980s with horrors like "Tonight" and "Never let me down" plus the horrible Tin Machine, but recovering from sad failures are the touchstone of true genius and better was to come. In any case it was always going to be downhill from the lofty heights reached in the German Capital. These albums radically expanded the boundaries well beyond the label of "rock music" and even with seminal albums such as Television's "Marquee Moon', Wire's Pink Flag" and the Clash's debut album released in 1977 nothing can remotely touch the double combination of the pure sound and vision of Low and Heroes.

What a bargain! Four great albums for £13.72! Already had Heroes, but you couldn't get the other three for the price! These albums take some listening to, but are worth the time and effort! Now I have all the Bowie up to Scary Monsters. Not so keen on his later work even though he was more popular then. Personal taste I guess! Thanks for this brilliant package anyway! 😎

To be honest the effect of the so-called Berlin Trilogy was to create further bewilderment about Bowie in the general mainstream music audience and alienate him from the hippies, punks and rockers around at the time. This was when all that type of music was at its commercial peak of course in the late 70's. Instead, however, Bowie, Eno & Fripp were at a musical crossroads offering something different, very European, but somehow familiar. Apart from Heroes, at the time, most of these albums were to be found in most music stores bargain bins because they were quite simply way ahead of their time and music for certain types of musicians in a way. Transatlantic it was not the public was bemused. This is most definitely not America. Musical experiments abound, with Bowie getting more than a little Ambient, World Music, Electro, Proggish & Kraut rockish rhythmic European funk, along the way. As usual taking a lot of good ideas and influences from those other artists and managing to distil it all, and still hit the mark in his own unique way. The passing of time has in my opinion only made Low, Heroes & Lodger better as stand-alone pieces from that period. These albums are classics in the same way as say The Velvet Underground first album is pointing to the future of rock, only more accessible. Arguably, with a few exceptions, there's been nothing released since, which comes anywhere near this collection for understated musical brilliance and influence, as released by any other artist of my generation. Plus with every passing year, the trilogy just seem to get better.The bonus here is Stage. At the time 'Stage' for me, made no sense, was pure cabaret and just felt like a 'potboiler' thrown together. The new running order and Visconti's work on it changes all that to my mind and it feels more relevant now today than it did at the time of its release. It's now a very enjoyable listen and the document of Bowie's live set that it always should have been at the time.This boxset like the original remasters it contains is underrated. Also Bowie's approved it all, musically speaking. What's not to like?

I hate to do this, marking down Bowie music - as of course this contains three of the finest and most innovative albums ever made (Stage is pretty good too) but until Amazon get their act together and provide a forum for reviewing condition / content aside from the actual music, I have no choice. Like other reviewers I bought this because the total price of the box is currently less than buying 'Stage' individually. What has concerned me is how shoddy the actual CDs are - especially 'Low' which is already own individually in the 1999 remaster format. The 'Low' in this box set looks fake to me - terrible colours and even the text on the disc is blurred. Yes it's a bargain, but genuinely concerned that I have been sold a fake product or this has been cheaply mass produced - God forbid - to cash in on the rush on sales of Bowie music following his sad passing away. I really hope not. Has anyone else encountered this problem - especially with Low?