Lodger (album)

Lodger
Studio album by David Bowie
Publication (s)	May 18, 1979
Label (s)	Rykodisc , EMI Group
Format (s)	CD
Genre (s)	Art rock , new wave , world music
Title (number)	10
running time	35:07
production	David Bowie Tony Visconti
chronology Stage (1978) Lodger Scary Monsters (1980)

Lodger is a 1979 musical album by David Bowie and the last of the three consecutive albums he worked with Brian Eno on. It follows Bowie's time in Berlin (the term Berlin Trilogy for the three albums is therefore misleading) and was recorded at Mountain Studios, Montreux , Switzerland and Record Plant Studios, New York City and released on May 18, 1979. It reached number 4 in the UK as well as number 20 on the American Billboard charts and placements in other countries.

The album contains ten songs. In 1991 it was released on CD with the bonus tracks I Pray, Olé , which was also written by Bowie in 1979, but first appeared on this CD in 1991, as well as a newly recorded version of Look Back in Anger from 1988.

As with the two previous releases, Low and “Heroes”, many songs are mainly written by David Bowie and Brian Eno.

style

Although Lodger is considered the third album in the “Berlin Trilogy”, it contains many new elements that Bowie did not incorporate in his previous albums. New musical experiments were added, which sometimes only become apparent after listening to it several times.

The first song Fantastic Voyage is a relatively calm piano piece with soft drums. It continues with the song African Night Flight , in which Bowie uses African sounds for the first time, inspired by a trip to Kenya. This is followed by the song Move on . In Yassassin you can hear elements of Turkish music, violin interludes with oriental effects. After that of Krautrock bands like new! inspired Red Sails follow DJ , which is somewhat reminiscent of Bowie's hit "TVC 15" from 1976 and the rocky look back in Anger . Boys Keep Swinging , the first single from Lodger , made it into the English top 10 in mid-1979. Most recently, the songs Repetition and Red Money , which are New Wave style, come.

Cover

David worked with British pop artist Derek Boshier on the cover design. On the outside of the gatefold cover , Bowie is depicted as an accident victim with an apparently broken nose. For the effect, the picture was deliberately taken in a low resolution with a Polaroid SX-70 camera. The inside of the gatefold shows pictures of Che Guevara's body, Mantegna's Lamentation of Christ, and Bowie's preparation for the cover photo. These images were not used for Rykodisc's 1991 CD edition.

Track list

All lyrics by David Bowie ; Music by David Bowie and Brian Eno with the exceptions mentioned.

1. Fantastic Voyage - 2:55
2. African Night Flight - 2:54
3. Move On (Bowie) - 3:16
4. Yassassin (Turkish for Long Life, Bowie) - 4:10
5. Red Sails - 3:43
6. DJ (Bowie, Eno, Carlos Alomar ) - 3:59
7. Look Back in Anger - 3:08
8. Boys Keep Swinging - 3:17
9. Repetition (Bowie) - 2:59
10. Red Money (Bowie, Alomar) - 4:17

New editions

Lodger has been reissued as a CD several times. RCA's 1984 CDs came in at least two editions: Japanese and German Pressing (at least some of the early Japanese CDs were flawed, with severe dropouts throughout the album). Rykodisc (in the US) and EMI (other countries) released a version with two bonus tracks in 1991. The last issue was published by EMI in 1999 (24-bit digitally remastered without bonus tracks); later editions are just new editions of the current EMI edition.

Bonus tracks (only on the new edition from 1991)

1. I Pray, Olé (recorded in 1979, first published here) - 3:59
2. Look Back in Anger (Re-recorded version from 1988) - 6:59

occupation

• David Bowie - vocals , backing vocals , piano , guitar , synthesizer , Chamberlin , producer
• Carlos Alomar - guitar, drums
• Dennis Davis - percussion , bass
• George Murray - bass
• Sean Mayes - piano
• Simon House - violin , mandolin
• Adrian Belew - guitar, mandolin
• Tony Visconti - backing vocals, guitar, mandolin, bass, producer, sound engineer , mixing
• Brian Eno - Synthesizer, Ambient-Drone, Prepared Piano, Cricket Menace, Guitar Treatments, Trumpet , Horn , Piano
• Roger Powell - synthesizer
• Stan - saxophone
• David Richards - sound engineer
• Rod O'Brien - Mixdown

Charts

The album and individual singles reached the following chart positions:

album

year	country	Chart	(Highest) position
1979	Austria	Austriancharts.at	13
1979	United Kingdom	everyhit.com	4th
1979	United States	Billboard.com	20th

Singles

year	single	country	Chart	position
1979	"Boys Keep Swinging"	United Kingdom	everyhit.com	9
1979	"DJ"	United Kingdom	UK Singles Chart	29

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lodger in the UK Top 40 Hit Database (accessed August 21, 2009)
2. ↑ Boys Keep Swinging at www.allmusic.com (accessed August 20, 2009)
3. ↑ The album at www.derekboshier.com (English, accessed 16 August 2009)
4. ↑ austriancharts.at (accessed on August 21, 2009)
5. ↑ Lodger in the UK Top 40 Hit Database (accessed August 21, 2009)
6. ↑ Boys Keep Swinging in the UK Top 40 Hit Database (accessed August 21, 2009)

Web links

• Lodger Review at www.rollingstone.com (accessed August 16, 2009)