David Bowie
Tonight

THE REVIEW

The second piece of the "infamous trilogy" of the '80s, this album with its lavish cover is characterized by scarcity: scarce duration, about half an hour; scarcity of new songs, abundant with covers and self-remakes, a sign of creative stagnation; scarcity (or rather, absence) of musician Bowie, who delegates, even more than in "Let's Dance", the arrangement and sound choices to sound engineers and producers.

It is clear the desire to strike while the iron is hot, to ride the long wave of the global success of "Let's Dance", the subsequent world tour, and the media omnipresence of the former white duke (on cinema screens, pre-MTV videos, and posters hanging in the bedrooms of the cousins of those teenagers from the early '70s who enjoyed Ziggy's epic).

The contractual obligation towards the major EMI results in 1984 in a half fiasco: in contemporary interviews, Bowie claimed to have sought and achieved a fresh sound, where brass harmoniously blended with synthesizers and acoustic instruments, but a quarter of a century later, the album appears out of focus, the tracks are forgettable, and the sound is bloated, pompous, and artificial.

The participation of Tina Turner goes unnoticed, at the time just returned to the limelight, in the hardly credible reggae reinterpretation of "Tonight", already appeared on Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life"; but the dishonorable mention goes to "God Only Knows", a Beach Boys cover stripped of its essence by an emphatic and dramatic approach, with a sugary and irritating sound.

Even the audience of the time noticed this confusion, which after enthusiastically pushing (also fueled by a long video directed by Julian Temple for Blue Jean, the first single) the album into the world top ten, soon lost interest, not at all excited by the release of subsequent extractions.

To be generous, three tracks are worth saving: "Loving the Alien", an anticlerical tirade on a soft sonic carpet partially spoiled by the bombastic drums then in vogue, with a dreamy sampled sigh looped throughout the long song (appropriately cut in the version released on the 45 RPM single); "Blue Jean", an aggressive and concise romantic song, a prototype of what the album could have been with more essential production; "Dancing with the Bog Boys", where Iggy's baritone singing can be recognized in the background vocals (cynics still claim that the choice of tracks was driven more by an attempt to continue helping the friend with royalties than by creative necessity, trying to replicate the glories of China Girl).

The album did not result in a tour but rather a plethora of promotional appearances, even thrilling live performances (a Tina Turner concert and especially Live Aid), and more videos, films, other soundtracks, calendars, social events, gossip...; confirming that Bowie of the '80s is more pop artist and less musician.