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FROM_THE_OUTSIDE
November 30, 2025
On the David Bowie project with Brian Eno, "The Outside"
https://www.reddit.com/r/eno/comments/1oycs5e/1outside_and_eno/np402mk/
When I first listened to "Outside" I didn't
like it very much-- I was a college radio DJ
at the time (over at KZSU, the Stanford
station) and none of us cool music snobs
seemed to think very much of it. It wasn't
advancing the state-of-the-art, but it wasn't
going for any kind of retro-cool...
In retrospect, listening to it again later, I
didn't really hear anything to complain about
though-- I think something about it seemed out-of-
touch with the tenor of the times (like Bowie's
late-80s projects, perhaps), but there's
nothing wrong with it really, and I like
listening to it these days. If you're a member
of a different musical tribe, you might've
gotten there ahead of me.
On the Eno tip, if you read Eno's book, "1995:
A Year With Swollen Appendices", you'll see
that Eno gave the band a set of fictional
characters described in detail, and they were
all supposed to try to play-in-character as
they performed. It's a really interesting experiment--
something like Bowie's 1970s approach to music,
but maybe expanded to include the entire band--
but myself I had trouble hearing it listening
to the music, something about it seemed over-
blown, not quite functional...
After looking at this video where Bowie talks
about creating "Outside", I could not feel more
puzzled about the project:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2NaRwMvIUk
Bowie talks about how he and Eno wanted to create
a document of what was going on around the end of
the millenium; they were going to do this by
working with a fictional scenario with a half
dozen different characters; and Bowie remarks that As an aside: Bowie
his own existing body or work is now so extensive remarks that one of
that he can do a lot just working with it without his standard ways
going "Outside"-- of working through
problems with his
Yeah, he uses the word "Outside". musical work is to
The album under discussion is named "Outside". switch to doing a
painting--
Bowie isn't the kind of person who would miss
that, but damned if I know what it means. That's an exciting
bit of news-- could
we see an exhibition
First of all: is Bowie saying his own of David Bowie
work is representative of the end of the originals some day?
millenium, so he can look inward to get But they show us one
to the "Outside"? of his paintings in
progress, and it
That seems unlikely, and weirdly egocentric, looks pretty weak--
but on the other hand Bowie's work has a
stronger claim in that direction than most.
And isn't there a touch of irony about my
perception that this release-- supposedly Bowie comments that he
representative of the end of the millenium and Eno carefully
was out-of-touch with the times? selected musicians
they've worked with
before who they though
But okay, so what is this story about? would be able to handle
It's supposed to be rough and inconclusive they're style of
("like life"), but still you ought to be experimentation, i.e.
able to get *something* about it from goofing around on spec
listening to the lyrics... not to mention to see where it goes.
the ancilliary sources, the various public
remarks about what it's supposed to be Perhaps that resulted
about. in that feeling that
there was nothing
There's the private detective dude. really new here--
Things are happening in a place called a look into the
Oxford Town in New Jersey (or "Joisey"). past rather than an
I'm seen remarks that there's something examination of the
going on about art crimes, e.g. people latest things...
committing murders to make art with the
bodies? There's a music video about
people making a Minotaur out of castings
of human bodies and a bull's head. He remarks that the
Bowie remarks that the Minotaur is live show based on this
this story's version of The Beast is going to include
(aka Moloch?). several older works he
thinks fit in well with
And this all adds up to what, the material:
exactly? What, for example is
the Private Detective investigating? Man Who Sold the World
Something about those Art Crimes? Andy Warhol
Who hired him?
Yes: it turns out the story
underlying the sketchy lyrics
is in the CD case, albeit in The detective is investigating
the usual microprint. the ritual murder of a teenage
girl-- which is Bowie
extrapolating from *and
completely misunderstanding*
the Modern Primitives scene of
Bowie comments that he the late-80s and early 90s.
feels like playing a half
dozen characters gives A murderer mutilating
him some distance from the a body is profoundly
material, but here it creates uninteresting compared
so many levels of indirection to someone choosing to
I can't get through it-- modify their own body.
A simple point: who is the viewpoint
character in the song "Hallo Spaceboy"?
Some lower-class British woman?
Perhaps Ramona A. Stone?
Wikipedia says "Paddy" (who?).
Toll the Bell
Pay the Private Eye
All's well
20th Century dies
It's happening now.
The music is outside. I was an artiste
It's happening outside. In a tunnel
But I've been having a midi-life crisis
And I've been dreaming in a sleep
And ape men with metal parts
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