Description
Never Let Me Down is the 17th studio album by David Bowie, released on 20 April 1987 on the label EMI America. Bowie conceived the album as the foundation for a theatrical world tour, writing and recording most of the songs in Switzerland. He considered the record a return to rock and roll music. Three singles were released from the album, "Day-In Day-Out", "Time Will Crawl" and "Never Let Me Down", which all reached the UK Top 40.
One of Bowie's better-selling albums, Never Let Me Down was certified Gold by the RIAA in early July 1987, less than three months after its release date, and charted in the top 10 in several European countries, although it only reached No. 34 on the US charts. Despite its commercial success, this album was poorly received by fans and critics, many of whom regard the mid-to-late 1980s as a low point of creativity and musical integrity for Bowie. Bowie later distanced himself from the arrangement and production of the finished album but also admitted a fondness for many of the songs, eventually remixing the track "Time Will Crawl" (one of his favourites) for inclusion on his career retrospective release, iSelect (2008).
In support of this album, Bowie embarked on the Glass Spider Tour, a world tour that was at that point the biggest, most theatrical and most elaborate tour he had undertaken in his career. The tour, like the album it supported, was commercially successful but critically panned. The critical failure of the album and tour were factors that led Bowie to look for a new way to motivate himself creatively, leading him to create the band Tin Machine in 1989 and to retire his back catalogue from live performances following his 1990 Sound+Vision Tour. Bowie did not release another solo album until Black Tie White Noise in 1993.
In July 2018 it was revealed that the album would be re-released as Never Let Me Down 2018 in October 2018 with "a brand new production" and new instrumentation, overseen by producer/engineer Mario J. McNulty.
Release info
Label: Parlophone 0190295671433
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered
Country: UK, Europe & US
Released: 2019
Genre: Rock
Style: Pop Rock
Tracklist
A1 Day In Day Out
A2 Time Will Crawl
A3 Beat Of Your Drum
A4 Never Let Me Down
A5 Zeroes
B1 Glass Spider
B2 Shining Star (Makin' My Love)
B3 New York's In Love
B4 '87 And Cry
B5 Bang Bang