Bowie's Space

It wasn't until the Flight of the Conchords parodied David Bowie that I looked at my Bowie collection and realized that I was missing his "Berlin Trilogy". Low, Heroes and Lodger were co-produced with Brian Eno and along with two Iggy Pop albums represented a creative peak for Bowie that he couldn't sustain. A detailed and finely done book by Thomas Jerome Seabrook called Bowie In Berlin (Jawbone) is the best summation of this period to date. Seabrook's a Bowie fan but this isn't a fan book. Bowie gets no pass for his drinking and drugging (along with Pop) during this era. After the Conchords, I bought all 3 (used, of course) and my own rankings differ with most people. I like in order Lodger, Heroes and Low, and was most disappointed by the latter, which is almost an E.P. But if you factor in Lust for Life and the Idiot, Pop's best solo albums that Bowie produced than this was Bowie's last great moment of critical acclaim. By the time of Let's Dance, he's in need of a hit. Everything after that album has been a mess. Bowie was a mess himself during the Berlin period. But his creative juices were at their peak. Seabrook puts you right there.